title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: His introductions always included some sort of wry humour, such as the description of a recent multi-person execution hampered by having only one electric chair, while two are shown with a sign "Two chairs—no waiting!" He directed 18 episodes of the series, which aired from 1955 to 1965. It became "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" in 1962, and NBC broadcast the final episode on 10 May 1965. In the 1980s, a new version of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was produced for television, making use of Hitchcock's original introductions in a colourised form.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock's success in television spawned a set of short-story collections in his name; these included "Alfred Hitchcock's Anthology", "Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV," and "Tales My Mother Never Told Me". In 1956, HSD Publications also licensed the director's name to create "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine", a monthly digest specialising in crime and detective fiction. Hitchcock's television series' were very profitable, and his foreign-language versions of books were bringing revenues of up to $100,000 a year ().


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: In 1955, Hitchcock became a United States citizen. In the same year, his third Grace Kelly film, "To Catch a Thief", was released; it is set in the French Riviera, and stars Kelly and Cary Grant. Grant plays retired thief John Robie, who becomes the prime suspect for a spate of robberies in the Riviera. A thrill-seeking American heiress played by Kelly surmises his true identity and tries to seduce him. "Despite the obvious age disparity between Grant and Kelly and a lightweight plot, the witty script (loaded with double entendres) and the good-natured acting proved a commercial success." It was Hitchcock's last film with Kelly; she married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, and ended her film career afterward. Hitchcock then remade his own 1934 film "The Man Who Knew Too Much" in 1956. This time, the film starred James Stewart and Doris Day, who sang the theme song "Que Sera, Sera", which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became a big hit. They play a couple whose son is kidnapped to prevent them from interfering with an assassination. As in the 1934 film, the climax takes place at the Royal Albert Hall.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: "The Wrong Man" (1956), Hitchcock's final film for Warner Bros., is a low-key black-and-white production based on a real-life case of mistaken identity reported in "Life" magazine in 1953. This was the only film of Hitchcock to star Henry Fonda, playing a Stork Club musician mistaken for a liquor store thief, who is arrested and tried for robbery while his wife (Vera Miles) emotionally collapses under the strain. Hitchcock told Truffaut that his lifelong fear of the police attracted him to the subject and was embedded in many scenes.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: While directing episodes for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" during the summer of 1957, Hitchcock was admitted to hospital for hernia and gallstones, and had to have his gallbladder removed. Following a successful surgery, he immediately returned to work to prepare for his next project. "Vertigo" (1958) again starred James Stewart, with Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes. He had wanted Vera Miles to play the lead, but she was pregnant. He told Oriana Fallaci: "I was offering her a big part, the chance to become a beautiful sophisticated blonde, a real actress. We'd have spent a heap of dollars on it, and she has the bad taste to get pregnant. I hate pregnant women, because then they have children."


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: In "Vertigo", Stewart plays Scottie, a former police investigator suffering from acrophobia, who becomes obsessed with a woman he has been hired to shadow (Novak). Scottie's obsession leads to tragedy, and this time Hitchcock did not opt for a happy ending. Some critics, including Donald Spoto and Roger Ebert, agree that "Vertigo" is the director's most personal and revealing film, dealing with the "Pygmalion"-like obsessions of a man who moulds a woman into the person he desires. "Vertigo" explores more frankly and at greater length his interest in the relation between sex and death, than any other work in his filmography.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: "Vertigo" contains a camera technique developed by Irmin Roberts, commonly referred to as a dolly zoom, which has been copied by many filmmakers. The film premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, and Hitchcock won the Silver Seashell prize. "Vertigo" is considered a classic, but it attracted mixed reviews and poor box-office receipts at the time; the critic from "Variety" magazine opined that the film was "too slow and too long". Bosley Crowther of the "New York Times" thought it was "devilishly far-fetched", but praised the cast performances and Hitchcock's direction. The picture was also the last collaboration between Stewart and Hitchcock. In the 2002 "Sight & Sound" polls, it ranked just behind "Citizen Kane" (1941); ten years later, in the same magazine, critics chose it as the best film ever made.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: After "Vertigo", the rest of 1958 was a difficult year for Hitchcock. During pre-production of "North by Northwest" (1959), which was a "slow" and "agonising" process, his wife Alma was diagnosed with cancer. While she was in hospital, Hitchcock kept himself occupied with his television work and would visit her every day. Alma underwent surgery and made a full recovery, but it caused Hitchcock to imagine, for the first time, life without her.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock followed up with three more successful films, which are also recognised as among his best: "North by Northwest", "Psycho" (1960) and "The Birds" (1963). In "North by Northwest", Cary Grant portrays Roger Thornhill, a Madison Avenue advertising executive who is mistaken for a government secret agent. He is pursued across the United States by enemy agents, including Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint). At first, Thornhill believes Kendall is helping him, but then realises that she is an enemy agent; he later learns that she is working undercover for the CIA. During its opening two-week run at Radio City Music Hall, the film grossed $404,056 (equivalent to $ million in ), setting a non-holiday gross record for that theatre. "Time" magazine called the film "smoothly troweled and thoroughly entertaining".


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: "Psycho" (1960) is arguably Hitchcock's best-known film. Based on Robert Bloch's 1959 novel "Psycho", which was inspired by the case of Ed Gein, the film was produced on a tight budget of $800,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) and shot in black-and-white on a spare set using crew members from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". The unprecedented violence of the shower scene, the early death of the heroine, and the innocent lives extinguished by a disturbed murderer became the hallmarks of a new horror-film genre. The film proved popular with audiences, with lines stretching outside theatres as viewers waited for the next showing. It broke box-office records in the United Kingdom, France, South America, the United States and Canada, and was a moderate success in Australia for a brief period.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: "Psycho" was the most profitable of Hitchcock's career, and he personally earned in excess of $15 million (equivalent to $ million in ). He subsequently swapped his rights to "Psycho" and his TV anthology for 150,000 shares of MCA, making him the third largest shareholder and his own boss at Universal, in theory at least, although that did not stop studio interference. Following the first film, "Psycho" became an American horror franchise: "Psycho II", "Psycho III", "Bates Motel", "", and a colour 1998 remake of the original.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: On 13 August 1962, Hitchcock's 63rd birthday, the French director François Truffaut began a 50-hour interview of Hitchcock, filmed over eight days at Universal Studios, during which Hitchcock agreed to answer 500 questions. It took four years to transcribe the tapes and organise the images; it was published as a book in 1967, which Truffaut nicknamed the "Hitchbook". The audio tapes were used as the basis of a documentary in 2015. Truffaut sought the interview because it was clear to him that Hitchcock was not simply the mass-market entertainer the American media made him out to be. It was obvious from his films, Truffaut wrote, that Hitchcock had "given more thought to the potential of his art than any of his colleagues". He compared the interview to "Oedipus' consultation of the oracle".


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: The film scholar Peter William Evans wrote that "The Birds" (1963) and "Marnie" (1964) are regarded as "undisputed masterpieces". Hitchcock had intended to film "Marnie" first, and in March 1962 it was announced that Grace Kelly, Princess Grace of Monaco since 1956, would come out of retirement to star in it. When Kelly asked Hitchcock to postpone "Marnie" until 1963 or 1964, he recruited Evan Hunter, author of "The Blackboard Jungle" (1954), to develop a screenplay based on a Daphne du Maurier short story, "The Birds" (1952), which Hitchcock had republished in his "My Favorites in Suspense" (1959). He hired Tippi Hedren to play the lead role. It was her first role; she had been a model in New York when Hitchcock saw her, in October 1961, in an NBC television advert for Sego, a diet drink: "I signed her because she is a classic beauty. Movies don't have them any more. Grace Kelly was the last." He insisted, without explanation, that her first name be written in single quotation marks: 'Tippi'.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: In "The Birds", Melanie Daniels, a young socialite, meets lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a bird shop; Jessica Tandy plays his possessive mother. Hedren visits him in Bodega Bay (where "The Birds" was filmed) carrying a pair of lovebirds as a gift. Suddenly waves of birds start gathering, watching, and attacking. The question: "What do the birds want?" is left unanswered. Hitchcock made the film with equipment from the Revue Studio, which made "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". He said it was his most technically challenging film, using a combination of trained and mechanical birds against a backdrop of wild ones. Every shot was sketched in advance.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: An HBO/BBC television film, "The Girl" (2012), depicted Hedren's experiences on set; she said that Hitchcock became obsessed with her and sexually harassed her. He reportedly isolated her from the rest of the crew, had her followed, whispered obscenities to her, had her handwriting analysed, and had a ramp built from his private office directly into her trailer. Diane Baker, her co-star in "Marnie", said: "[N]othing could have been more horrible for me than to arrive on that movie set and to see her being treated the way she was." While filming the attack scene in the attic—which took a week to film—she was placed in a caged room while two men wearing elbow-length protective gloves threw live birds at her. Toward the end of the week, to stop the birds' flying away from her too soon, one leg of each bird was attached by nylon thread to elastic bands sewn inside her clothes. She broke down after a bird cut her lower eyelid, and filming was halted on doctor's orders.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: In June 1962, Grace Kelly announced that she had decided against appearing in "Marnie" (1964). Hedren had signed an exclusive seven-year, $500-a-week contract with Hitchcock in October 1961, and he decided to cast her in the lead role opposite Sean Connery. In 2016, describing Hedren's performance as "one of the greatest in the history of cinema", Richard Brody called the film a "story of sexual violence" inflicted on the character played by Hedren: "The film is, to put it simply, sick, and it's so because Hitchcock was sick. He suffered all his life from furious sexual desire, suffered from the lack of its gratification, suffered from the inability to transform fantasy into reality, and then went ahead and did so virtually, by way of his art." A 1964 "New York Times" film review called it Hitchcock's "most disappointing film in years", citing Hedren's and Connery's lack of experience, an amateurish script and "glaringly fake cardboard backdrops".


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: In the film, Marnie Edgar (Hedren) steals $10,000 from her employer and goes on the run. She applies for a job at Mark Rutland's (Connery) company in Philadelphia and steals from there too. Earlier she is shown having a panic attack during a thunderstorm and fearing the colour red. Mark tracks her down and blackmails her into marrying him. She explains that she does not want to be touched, but during the "honeymoon", Mark rapes her. Marnie and Mark discover that Marnie's mother had been a prostitute when Marnie was a child, and that, while the mother was fighting with a client during a thunderstorm—the mother believed the client had tried to molest Marnie—Marnie had killed the client to save her mother. Cured of her fears when she remembers what happened, she decides to stay with Mark.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock told cinematographer Robert Burks that the camera had to be placed as close as possible to Hedren when he filmed her face. Evan Hunter, the screenwriter of "The Birds" who was writing "Marnie" too, explained to Hitchcock that, if Mark loved Marnie, he would comfort her, not rape her. Hitchcock reportedly replied: "Evan, when he sticks it in her, I want that camera right on her face!" When Hunter submitted two versions of the script, one without the rape scene, Hitchcock replaced him with Jay Presson Allen.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Failing health reduced Hitchcock's output during the last two decades of his life. Biographer Stephen Rebello claimed Universal imposed two films on him, "Torn Curtain" (1966) and "Topaz" (1969), the latter of which is based on a Leon Uris novel, partly set in Cuba. Both were spy thrillers with Cold War-related themes. "Torn Curtain", with Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, precipitated the bitter end of the 12-year collaboration between Hitchcock and composer Bernard Herrmann. Hitchcock was unhappy with Herrmann's score and replaced him with John Addison, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. Upon release, "Torn Curtain" was a box office disappointment, and "Topaz" was disliked by critics and the studio.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock returned to Britain to make his penultimate film, "Frenzy" (1972), based on the novel "Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square" (1966). After two espionage films, the plot marked a return to the murder-thriller genre. Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), a volatile barman with a history of explosive anger, becomes the prime suspect in the investigation into the "Necktie Murders", which are actually committed by his friend Bob Rusk (Barry Foster). This time, Hitchcock makes the victim and villain kindreds, rather than opposites as in "Strangers on a Train".


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: In "Frenzy", Hitchcock allowed nudity for the first time. Two scenes show naked women, one of whom is being raped and strangled; Donald Spoto called the latter "one of the most repellent examples of a detailed murder in the history of film". Both actors, Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Anna Massey, refused to do the scenes, so models were used instead. Biographers have noted that Hitchcock had always pushed the limits of film censorship, often managing to fool Joseph Breen, the head of the Motion Picture Production Code. Hitchcock would add subtle hints of improprieties forbidden by censorship until the mid-1960s. Yet Patrick McGilligan wrote that Breen and others often realised that Hitchcock was inserting such material and were actually amused, as well as alarmed by Hitchcock's "inescapable inferences".


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: "Family Plot" (1976) was Hitchcock's last film. It relates the escapades of "Madam" Blanche Tyler, played by Barbara Harris, a fraudulent spiritualist, and her taxi-driver lover Bruce Dern, making a living from her phony powers. While "Family Plot" was based on the Victor Canning novel "The Rainbird Pattern" (1972), the novel's tone is more sinister. Screenwriter Ernest Lehman originally wrote the film, under the working title "Deception", with a dark tone but was pushed to a lighter, more comical tone by Hitchcock where it took the name "Deceit", then finally, "Family Plot".


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Toward the end of his life, Hitchcock was working on the script for a spy thriller, "The Short Night", collaborating with James Costigan, Ernest Lehman and David Freeman. Despite preliminary work, it was never filmed. Hitchcock's health was declining and he was worried about his wife, who had suffered a stroke. The screenplay was eventually published in Freeman's book "The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock" (1999).


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Having refused a CBE in 1962, Hitchcock was appointed a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1980 New Year Honours. He was too ill to travel to London—he had a pacemaker and was being given cortisone injections for his arthritis—so on 3 January 1980 the British consul general presented him with the papers at Universal Studios. Asked by a reporter after the ceremony why it had taken the Queen so long, Hitchcock quipped, "I suppose it was a matter of carelessness." Cary Grant, Janet Leigh, and others attended a luncheon afterwards.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: His last public appearance was on 16 March 1980, when he introduced the next year's winner of the American Film Institute award. He died of kidney failure the following month, on 29 April, in his Bel Air home. Donald Spoto, one of Hitchcock's biographers, wrote that Hitchcock had declined to see a priest, but according to Jesuit priest Mark Henninger, he and another priest, Tom Sullivan, celebrated Mass at the filmmaker's home, and Sullivan heard his confession. Hitchcock was survived by his wife and daughter. His funeral was held at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills on 30 April, after which his body was cremated. His remains were scattered over the Pacific Ocean on 10 May 1980.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock's film production career evolved from small-scale silent films to financially significant sound films. Hitchcock remarked that he was influenced by early filmmakers George Méliès, D.W. Griffith and Alice Guy-Blaché. His silent films between 1925 and 1929 were in the crime and suspense genres, but also included melodramas and comedies. Whilst visual storytelling was pertinent during the silent era, even after the arrival of sound, Hitchcock still relied on visuals in cinema; he referred to this emphasis on visual storytelling as "pure cinema". In Britain, he honed his craft so that by the time he moved to Hollywood, the director had perfected his style and camera techniques. Hitchcock later said that his British work was the "sensation of cinema", whereas the American phase was when his "ideas were fertilised". Scholar Robin Wood writes that the director's first two films, "The Pleasure Garden" and "The Mountain Eagle", were influenced by German Expressionism. Afterward, he discovered Soviet cinema, and Sergei Eisenstein's and Vsevolod Pudovkin's theories of montage. 1926's "The Lodger" was inspired by both German and Soviet aesthetics, styles which solidified the rest of his career. Although Hitchcock's work in the 1920s found some success, several British reviewers criticised Hitchcock's films for being unoriginal and conceited. Raymond Durgnat opined that Hitchcock's films were carefully and intelligently constructed, but thought they can be shallow and rarely present a "coherent worldview".


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Earning the title "Master of Suspense", the director experimented with ways to generate tension in his work. He said, "My suspense work comes out of creating nightmares for the audience. And I "play" with an audience. I make them gasp and surprise them and shock them. When you have a nightmare, it's awfully vivid if you're dreaming that you're being led to the electric chair. Then you're as happy as can be when you wake up because you're relieved." During filming of "North by Northwest", Hitchcock explained his reasons for recreating the set of Mount Rushmore: "The audience responds in proportion to how realistic you make it. One of the dramatic reasons for this type of photography is to get it looking so natural that the audience gets involved and believes, for the time being, what's going on up there on the screen." In a 1963 interview with Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, Hitchcock was asked how in spite of appearing to be a pleasant, innocuous man, he seemed to enjoy making films involving suspense and terrifying crime. He responded:


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock's films, from the silent to the sound era, contained a number of recurring themes that he is famous for. His films explored audience as a voyeur, notably in "Rear Window", "Marnie" and "Psycho". He understood that human beings enjoy voyeuristic activities and made the audience participate in it through the character's actions. Of his fifty-three films, eleven revolved around stories of mistaken identity, where an innocent protagonist is accused of a crime and is pursued by police. In most cases, it is an ordinary, everyday person who finds themselves in a dangerous situation. Hitchcock told Truffaut: "That's because the theme of the innocent man being accused, I feel, provides the audience with a greater sense of danger. It's easier for them to identify with him than with a guilty man on the run." One of his constant themes were the struggle of a personality torn between "order and chaos"; known as the notion of "double", which is a comparison or contrast between two characters or objects: the double representing a dark or evil side.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: According to Robin Wood, Hitchcock had mixed feelings towards homosexuality despite working with gay actors in his career. Donald Spoto suggests that Hitchcock's sexually repressive childhood may have contributed to his exploration of deviancy. During the 1950s, the Motion Picture Production Code prohibited direct references to homosexuality but the director was known for his subtle references, and pushing the boundaries of the censors. Moreover, "Shadow of a Doubt" has a double incest theme through the storyline, expressed implicitly through images. Author Jane Sloan argues that Hitchcock was drawn to both conventional and unconventional sexual expression in his work, and the theme of marriage was usually presented in a "bleak and skeptical" manner. It was also not until after his mother's death in 1942, that Hitchcock portrayed motherly figures as "notorious monster-mothers". The espionage backdrop, and murders committed by characters with psychopathic tendencies were common themes too. In Hitchcock's depiction of villains and murderers, they were usually charming and friendly, forcing viewers to identify with them. The director's strict childhood and Jesuit education may have led to his distrust of authoritarian figures such as policemen and politicians; a theme which he has explored. Also, he used the "MacGuffin"—the use of an object, person or event to keep the plot moving along even if it was non-essential to the story. Some examples include the microfilm in "North by Northwest" and the stolen $40,000 in "Psycho".


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock appears briefly in most of his own films. For example, he is seen struggling to get a double bass onto a train ("Strangers on a Train"), walking dogs out of a pet shop ("The Birds"), fixing a neighbour's clock ("Rear Window"), as a shadow ("Family Plot"), sitting at a table in a photograph ("Dial M for Murder"), and riding a bus ("North by Northwest"," To Catch a Thief").


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock's portrayal of women has been the subject of much scholarly debate. Bidisha wrote in "The Guardian" in 2010: "There's the vamp, the tramp, the snitch, the witch, the slink, the double-crosser and, best of all, the demon mommy. Don't worry, they all get punished in the end." In a widely cited essay in 1975, Laura Mulvey introduced the idea of the male gaze; the view of the spectator in Hitchcock's films, she argued, is that of the heterosexual male protagonist. "The female characters in his films reflected the same qualities over and over again", Roger Ebert wrote in 1996: "They were blonde. They were icy and remote. They were imprisoned in costumes that subtly combined fashion with fetishism. They mesmerised the men, who often had physical or psychological handicaps. Sooner or later, every Hitchcock woman was humiliated."


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: The victims in "The Lodger" are all blondes. In "The 39 Steps", Madeleine Carroll is put in handcuffs. Ingrid Bergman, whom Hitchcock directed three times ("Spellbound", "Notorious", and "Under Capricorn"), is dark blonde. In "Rear Window", Lisa (Grace Kelly) risks her life by breaking into Lars Thorwald's apartment. In "To Catch a Thief", Francie (also Kelly) offers to help a man she believes is a burglar. In "Vertigo" and "North by Northwest" respectively, Kim Novak and Eva Marie Saint play the blonde heroines. In "Psycho", Janet Leigh's character steals $40,000 and is murdered by Norman Bates, a reclusive psychopath. Tippi Hedren, a blonde, appears to be the focus of the attacks in "The Birds". In "Marnie", the title character, again played by Hedren, is a thief. In "Topaz", French actresses Dany Robin as Stafford's wife and Claude Jade as Stafford's daughter are blonde heroines, the mistress was played by brunette Karin Dor. Hitchcock's last blonde heroine was Barbara Harris as a phony psychic turned amateur sleuth in "Family Plot" (1976), his final film. In the same film, the diamond smuggler played by Karen Black wears a long blonde wig in several scenes.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: His films often feature characters struggling in their relationships with their mothers, such as Norman Bates in "Psycho". In "North by Northwest", Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is an innocent man ridiculed by his mother for insisting that shadowy, murderous men are after him. In "The Birds", the Rod Taylor character, an innocent man, finds his world under attack by vicious birds, and struggles to free himself from a clinging mother (Jessica Tandy). The killer in "Frenzy" has a loathing of women but idolises his mother. The villain Bruno in "Strangers on a Train" hates his father, but has an incredibly close relationship with his mother (played by Marion Lorne). Sebastian (Claude Rains) in "Notorious" has a clearly conflicting relationship with his mother, who is (rightly) suspicious of his new bride, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman).


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock became known for having remarked that "actors should be treated like cattle". During the filming of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (1941), Carole Lombard brought three cows onto the set wearing the name tags of Lombard, Robert Montgomery, and Gene Raymond, the stars of the film, to surprise him. In an episode of "The Dick Cavett Show", originally broadcast on 8 June 1972, Dick Cavett stated as fact that Hitchcock had once called actors cattle. Hitchcock responded by saying that, at one time, he had been accused of calling actors cattle. "I said that I would never say such an unfeeling, rude thing about actors at all. What I probably said, was that all actors should be treated like cattle...In a nice way of course." He then described Carole Lombard's joke, with a smile.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock believed that actors should concentrate on their performances and leave work on script and character to the directors and screenwriters. He told Bryan Forbes in 1967: "I remember discussing with a method actor how he was taught and so forth. He said, 'We're taught using improvisation. We are given an idea and then we are turned loose to develop in any way we want to.' I said, 'That's not acting. That's writing.'"


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Recalling their experiences on "Lifeboat" for Charles Chandler, author of "It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock A Personal Biography," Walter Slezak said that Hitchcock "knew more about how to help an actor than any director I ever worked with", and Hume Cronyn dismissed the idea that Hitchcock was not concerned with his actors as "utterly fallacious", describing at length the process of rehearsing and filming "Lifeboat".


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Critics observed that, despite his reputation as a man who disliked actors, actors who worked with him often gave brilliant performances. He used the same actors in many of his films; Cary Grant and James Stewart both worked with Hitchcock four times, and Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly three. James Mason said that Hitchcock regarded actors as "animated props". For Hitchcock, the actors were part of the film's setting. He told François Truffaut: "The chief requisite for an actor is the ability to do nothing well, which is by no means as easy as it sounds. He should be willing to be used and wholly integrated into the picture by the director and the camera. He must allow the camera to determine the proper emphasis and the most effective dramatic highlights."


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock planned his scripts in detail with his writers. In "Writing with Hitchcock" (2001), Steven DeRosa noted that Hitchcock supervised them through every draft, asking that they tell the story visually. Hitchcock told Roger Ebert in 1969:


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock's films were extensively storyboarded to the finest detail. He was reported to have never even bothered looking through the viewfinder, since he did not need to, although in publicity photos he was shown doing so. He also used this as an excuse to never have to change his films from his initial vision. If a studio asked him to change a film, he would claim that it was already shot in a single way, and that there were no alternative takes to consider.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: This view of Hitchcock as a director who relied more on pre-production than on the actual production itself has been challenged by Bill Krohn, the American correspondent of French film magazine "Cahiers du Cinéma", in his book "Hitchcock at Work". After investigating script revisions, notes to other production personnel written by or to Hitchcock, and other production material, Krohn observed that Hitchcock's work often deviated from how the screenplay was written or how the film was originally envisioned. He noted that the myth of storyboards in relation to Hitchcock, often regurgitated by generations of commentators on his films, was to a great degree perpetuated by Hitchcock himself or the publicity arm of the studios. For example, the celebrated crop-spraying sequence of "North by Northwest" was not storyboarded at all. After the scene was filmed, the publicity department asked Hitchcock to make storyboards to promote the film, and Hitchcock in turn hired an artist to match the scenes in detail.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Even when storyboards were made, scenes that were shot differed from them significantly. Krohn's analysis of the production of Hitchcock classics like "Notorious" reveals that Hitchcock was flexible enough to change a film's conception during its production. Another example Krohn notes is the American remake of "The Man Who Knew Too Much," whose shooting schedule commenced without a finished script and moreover went over schedule, something that, as Krohn notes, was not an uncommon occurrence on many of Hitchcock's films, including "Strangers on a Train" and "Topaz". While Hitchcock did do a great deal of preparation for all his films, he was fully cognisant that the actual film-making process often deviated from the best-laid plans and was flexible to adapt to the changes and needs of production as his films were not free from the normal hassles faced and common routines used during many other film productions.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Krohn's work also sheds light on Hitchcock's practice of generally shooting in chronological order, which he notes sent many films over budget and over schedule and, more importantly, differed from the standard operating procedure of Hollywood in the Studio System Era. Equally important is Hitchcock's tendency to shoot alternative takes of scenes. This differed from coverage in that the films were not necessarily shot from varying angles so as to give the editor options to shape the film how they chose (often under the producer's aegis). Rather they represented Hitchcock's tendency to give himself options in the editing room, where he would provide advice to his editors after viewing a rough cut of the work.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: According to Krohn, this and a great deal of other information revealed through his research of Hitchcock's personal papers, script revisions and the like refute the notion of Hitchcock as a director who was always in control of his films, whose vision of his films did not change during production, which Krohn notes has remained the central long-standing myth of Alfred Hitchcock. Both his fastidiousness and attention to detail also found their way into each film poster for his films. Hitchcock preferred to work with the best talent of his day—film poster designers such as Bill Gold and Saul Bass—who would produce posters that accurately represented his films.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: Hitchcock was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 8 February 1960 with two stars: one for television and a second for his motion pictures. In 1978, John Russell Taylor described him as "the most universally recognizable person in the world" and "a straightforward middle-class Englishman who just happened to be an artistic genius". In 2002, "MovieMaker" named him the most influential director of all time, and a 2007 "The Daily Telegraph" critics' poll ranked him Britain's greatest director. David Gritten, the newspaper's film critic, wrote: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." In 1992, the "Sight & Sound" Critics' Poll ranked Hitchcock at No. 4 in its list of "Top 10 Directors" of all time. In 2002, Hitchcock was ranked 2nd in the critics' top ten poll and 5th in the directors' top ten poll in the list of "The Greatest Directors of All Time" compiled by the "Sight & Sound" magazine. Hitchcock was voted the "Greatest Director of 20th Century" in a poll conducted by Japanese film magazine "kinema Junpo". In 1996, "Entertainment Weekly" ranked Hitchcock at No. 1 in its "50 Greatest Directors" list. Hitchcock was ranked at No. 2 on "Empire" magazine's "Top 40 Greatest Directors of All-Time" list in 2005. In 2007, "Total Film" magazine ranked Hitchcock at No. 1 on its "100 Greatest Film Directors Ever" list.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: He won two Golden Globes, eight Laurel Awards, and five lifetime achievement awards, including the first BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award and, in 1979, an AFI Life Achievement Award. He was nominated five times for an Academy Award for Best Director. "Rebecca", nominated for 11 Oscars, won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1940; another Hitchcock film, "Foreign Correspondent", was also nominated that year. By 2021, nine of his films had been selected for preservation by the US National Film Registry: "Rebecca" (1940; inducted 2018), "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943; inducted 1991), "Notorious" (1946; inducted 2006), "Strangers on a Train" (1951; inducted 2021), "Rear Window" (1954; inducted 1997), "Vertigo" (1958; inducted 1989), "North by Northwest" (1959; inducted 1995), "Psycho" (1960; inducted 1992), and "The Birds" (1963; inducted 2016).


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: In 2012, Hitchcock was selected by artist Sir Peter Blake, author of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover, to appear in a new version of the cover, along with other British cultural figures, and he was featured that year in a BBC Radio 4 series, "The New Elizabethans", as someone "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character". In June 2013 nine restored versions of Hitchcock's early silent films, including "The Pleasure Garden" (1925), were shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey Theatre; known as "The Hitchcock 9", the travelling tribute was organised by the British Film Institute.


title: Alfred Hitchcock

text: The Alfred Hitchcock Collection is housed at the Academy Film Archive in Hollywood, California. It includes home movies, 16mm film shot on the set of "Blackmail" (1929) and "Frenzy" (1972), and the earliest known colour footage of Hitchcock. The Academy Film Archive has preserved many of his home movies. The Alfred Hitchcock Papers are housed at the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library. The David O. Selznick and the Ernest Lehman collections housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center in Austin, Texas, contain material related to Hitchcock's work on the production of "The Paradine Case", "Rebecca", "Spellbound", "North by Northwest" and "Family Plot."


title: World War II casualties

text: World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. An estimated total of 70–85 million people perished, or about 3% of the 2.3 billion (est.) people on Earth in 1940. Deaths directly caused by the war (including military and civilian fatalities) are estimated at 50–56 million, with an additional estimated 19–28 million deaths from war-related disease and famine. Civilian deaths totaled 50–55 million. Military deaths from all causes totaled 21–25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war. More than half of the total number of casualties are accounted for by the dead of the Republic of China and of the Soviet Union. The tables below give a detailed country-by-country count of human losses. Statistics on the number of military wounded are included whenever available.


title: World War II casualties

text: Recent historical scholarship has shed new light on the topic of Second World War casualties. Research in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union has caused a revision of estimates of Soviet World War II fatalities. According to Russian government figures, USSR losses within postwar borders now stand at 26.6 million, including 8 to 9 million due to famine and disease. In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) researchers estimated Poland's dead at between 5.6 and 5.8 million. Historian Rüdiger Overmans of the Military History Research Office (Germany) published a study in 2000 that estimated the German military dead and missing at 5.3 million, including 900,000 men conscripted from outside of Germany's 1937 borders, in Austria, and in east-central Europe. The Red Army claimed responsibility for the majority of Wehrmacht casualties during World War II. The People's Republic of China puts its war dead at 20 million, while the Japanese government puts its casualties due to the war at 3.1 million.


title: World War II casualties

text: Compiling or estimating the numbers of deaths and wounded caused during wars and other violent conflicts is a controversial subject. Historians often put forward many different estimates of the numbers killed and wounded during World War II. The authors of the "Oxford Companion to World War II" maintain that "casualty statistics are notoriously unreliable". The table below gives data on the number of dead and military wounded for each country, along with population information to show the relative impact of losses. When scholarly sources differ on the number of deaths in a country, a range of war losses is given, in order to inform readers that the death toll is disputed. Since casualty statistics are sometimes disputed the footnotes to this article present the different estimates by official governmental sources as well as historians. Military figures include battle deaths (KIA) and personnel missing in action (MIA), as well as fatalities due to accidents, disease and deaths of prisoners of war in captivity. Civilian casualties include deaths caused by strategic bombing, Holocaust victims, German war crimes, Japanese war crimes, population transfers in the Soviet Union, Allied war crimes, and deaths due to war-related famine and disease.


title: World War II casualties

text: The sources for the casualties of the individual nations do not use the same methods, and civilian deaths due to starvation and disease make up a large proportion of the civilian deaths in China and the Soviet Union. The losses listed here are actual deaths; hypothetical losses due to a decline in births are not included with the total dead. The distinction between military and civilian casualties caused directly by warfare and collateral damage is not always clear-cut. For nations that suffered huge losses such as the Soviet Union, China, Poland, Germany, and Yugoslavia, sources can give only the total estimated population loss caused by the war and a rough estimate of the breakdown of deaths caused by military activity, crimes against humanity and war-related famine. The casualties listed here include 19 to 25 million war-related famine deaths in the USSR, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India that are often omitted from other compilations of World War II casualties.


title: World War II casualties

text: The footnotes give a detailed breakdown of the casualties and their sources, including data on the number of wounded where reliable sources are available.


title: World War II casualties

text: The source of the figures is . Erlikman, a Russian historian, notes that these figures are his estimates.


title: World War II casualties

text: The Holocaust is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II. Martin Gilbert estimates 5.7 million (78%) of the 7.3 million Jews in German-occupied Europe were Holocaust victims. Estimates of Holocaust deaths range between 4.9 and 5.9 million Jews.


title: World War II casualties

text: The figures for the pre-war Jewish population and deaths in the table below are from "The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust". The low, high and average percentage figures for deaths of the pre-war population have been added.


title: World War II casualties

text: Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the other victims persecuted and killed by the Nazis.


title: World War II casualties

text: The following figures are from "The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust", the authors maintain that "statistics on Gypsy losses are especially unreliable and controversial. These figures (cited below) are based on necessarily rough estimates".


title: World War II casualties

text: Nazi Germany ordered, organized and condoned a substantial number of war crimes in World War II. The most notable of these is the Holocaust in which millions of Jews, Poles, and Romani were systematically murdered or died from abuse and mistreatment. Millions also died as a result of other German actions.


title: World War II casualties

text: While the Nazi Party's own SS forces (in particular the "SS-Totenkopfverbände", "Einsatzgruppen" and Waffen-SS) of Nazi Germany was the organization most responsible for the genocidal killing of the Holocaust, the regular armed forces represented by the "Wehrmacht" committed war crimes of their own, particularly on the Eastern Front in the war against the Soviet Union.


title: World War II casualties

text: Out of 60,000 Indian Army POWs taken at the Fall of Singapore, 11,000 died in captivity. There were 14,657 deaths among the total 130,895 western civilians interned by the Japanese due to famine and disease.


title: World War II casualties

text: The total war dead in the USSR includes about 1 million victims of Stalin's regime. The number of deaths in the Gulag labor camps increased as a result of wartime overcrowding and food shortages. The Stalin regime deported the entire populations of ethnic minorities considered to be potentially disloyal. Since 1990 Russian scholars have been given access to the Soviet-era archives and have published data on the numbers of people executed and those who died in Gulag labor camps and prisons. The Russian scholar Viktor Zemskov puts the death toll from 1941 to 1945 at about 1 million based on data from the Soviet archives. The Soviet-era archive figures on the Gulag labor camps has been the subject of a vigorous academic debate outside Russia since their publication in 1991. J. Arch Getty and Stephen G. Wheatcroft maintain that Soviet-era figures more accurately detail the victims of the Gulag labor camp system in the Stalin era. Robert Conquest and Steven Rosefielde have disputed the accuracy of the data from the Soviet archives, maintaining that the demographic data and testimonials by survivors of the Gulag labor camps indicate a higher death toll. Rosefielde posits that the release of the Soviet Archive figures is disinformation generated by the modern KGB. Rosefielde maintains that the data from the Soviet archives is incomplete; for example, he pointed out that the figures do not include the 22,000 victims of the Katyn massacre. Rosefielde's demographic analysis puts the number of excess deaths due to Soviet repression at 2,183,000 in 1939–40 and 5,458,000 from 1941 to 1945. Michael Haynes and Rumy Husun accept the figures from the Soviet archives as being an accurate tally of Stalin's victims, they maintain that the demographic data depicts an underdeveloped Soviet economy and the losses in World War Two rather than indicating a higher death toll in the Gulag labor camps.


title: World War II casualties

text: In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) researchers estimated 150,000 Polish citizens were killed due to Soviet repression. Since the collapse of the USSR, Polish scholars have been able to do research in the Soviet archives on Polish losses during the Soviet occupation. Andrzej Paczkowski puts the number of Polish deaths at 90,000–100,000 of the 1.0 million persons deported and 30,000 executed by the Soviets. In 2005 Tadeusz Piotrowski estimated the death toll in Soviet hands at 350,000.


title: World War II casualties

text: The Estonian State Commission for the Examination of Repressive Policies Carried out During the Occupations put civilian deaths due to the Soviet occupation in 1940–1941 at 33,900 including (7,800 deaths) of arrested people, (6,000) deportee deaths, (5,000) evacuee deaths, (1,100) people gone missing and (14,000) conscripted for forced labor. After the reoccupation by the USSR, 5,000 Estonians died in Soviet prisons during 1944–45.


title: World War II casualties

text: Reported deaths for the years 1939–1945 1,187,783, including: judicial executions 46,350; deaths in Gulag labor camps 718,804; deaths in labor colonies and prisons 422,629.


title: World War II casualties

text: Deported to special settlements: (figures are for deportations to Special Settlements only, not including those executed, sent to Gulag labor camps or conscripted into the Soviet Army. Nor do the figures include additional deportations after the war).


title: World War II casualties

text: Deported from annexed territories 1940–41 380,000 to 390,000 persons, including: Poland 309–312,000; Lithuania 17,500; Latvia 17,000; Estonia 6,000; Moldova 22,842. In August 1941, 243,106 Poles living in the Special Settlements were amnestied and released by the Soviets.


title: World War II casualties

text: Deported during the War 1941–1945 about 2.3 million persons of Soviet ethnic minorities including: Soviet Germans 1,209,000; Finns 9,000; Karachays 69,000; Kalmyks 92,000; Chechens and Ingush 479,000; Balkars 37,000; Crimean Tatars 191,014; Meskhetian Turks 91,000; Greeks, Bulgarians and Armenians from Crimea 42,000; Ukrainian OUN members 100,000; Poles 30,000.


title: World War II casualties

text: A total of 2,230,500 persons were living in the settlements in October 1945 and 309,100 deaths were reported in special settlements for the years 1941–1948.


title: World War II casualties

text: Russian sources list Axis prisoner of war deaths of 580,589 in Soviet captivity based on data in the Soviet archives (Germany 381,067; Hungary 54,755; Romania 54,612; Italy 27,683; Finland 403, and Japan 62,069). However some western scholars estimate the total at between 1.7 and 2.3 million.


title: World War II casualties

text: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Annual Report 2014–2015 is the source of the military dead for the British Empire. The war dead totals listed in the report are based on the research by the CWGC to identify and commemorate Commonwealth war dead. The statistics tabulated by the CWGC are representative of the number of names commemorated for all servicemen/women of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth and former UK Dependencies, whose death was attributable to their war service. Some auxiliary and civilian organizations are also accorded war grave status if death occurred under certain specified conditions. For the purposes of CWGC the dates of inclusion for Commonwealth War Dead are 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947.


title: World War II casualties

text: The following notes summarize German casualties, the details are presented in German casualties in World War II.


title: World War II casualties

text: <poem>*(1945–47) The United States Strategic Bombing Survey gave three different figures for German air raid deaths.


title: World War II casualties

text: The following notes summarize German expulsion casualties, the details are presented in the flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union' and the Demographic estimates of the flight and expulsion of Germans. The figures for these losses are currently disputed, estimates of the total deaths range from 500,000 to 2,000,000. The death toll attributable to the flight and expulsions was estimated at 2.2 million by the West German government in 1958. German government reports which were released to the public in 1987 and 1989 have caused some historians in Germany to put the actual total at 500,000 to 600,000. English language sources put the death toll at 2 to 3 million based on the West German government statistical analysis of the 1950s.


title: World War II casualties

text: German government figures of 2.0 to 2.5 million civilian deaths due to expulsions have been disputed by scholars since the publication of the results of the German church search service survey and the report by the German Federal Archive.


title: World War II casualties

text: Overall, perhaps two thirds of all Japanese military dead came not from combat, but from starvation and disease. In some cases this figure was potentially even higher, up to 80% in the Philippines and a staggering 97% in New Guinea.


title: World War II casualties

text: 1-Summary Report (July 1946) Total civilian casualties in Japan, as a result of 9 months of air attack, including those from the atomic bombs, were approximately 806,000. Of these, approximately 330,000 were fatalities.


title: World War II casualties

text: 2-United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Medical Division (1947) The bombing of Japan killed 333,000 civilians and injured 473,000. Of this total 120,000 died and 160,000 were injured in the atomic bombings, leaving 213,000 dead and 313,000 injured by conventional bombing.


title: World War II casualties

text: 3-The effects of air attack on Japanese urban economy. Summary report (1947) Estimated that 252,769 Japanese were killed and 298,650 injured in the air war.


title: World War II casualties

text: 4-The Effects of strategic bombing on Japanese morale Based on a survey of Japanese households the death toll was put at 900,000 dead and 1.3 million injured, the SBS noted that this figure was subject to a maximum sampling error of 30%.


title: World War II casualties

text: 5-Strategic Bombing Survey The Effects of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki The most striking result of the atomic bombs was the great number of casualties. The exact number of dead and injured will never be known because of the confusion after the explosions. Persons unaccounted for might have been burned beyond recognition in the falling buildings, disposed of in one of the mass cremations of the first week of recovery, or driven out of the city to die or recover without any record remaining. No sure count of even the prepaid populations existed. Because of the decline in activity in the two port cities, the constant threat of incendiary raids, and the formal evacuation programs of the Government, an unknown number of the inhabitants had either drifter away from the cities or been removed according to plan. In this uncertain situation, estimates of casualties have generally ranged between 100,000 and 180,000 for Hiroshima, and between 50,000 and 100,000 for Nagasaki. The Survey believes the dead at Hiroshima to have been between 70,000 and 80,000, with an equal number injured; at Nagasaki over 35,000 dead and somewhat more than that injured seems the most plausible estimate.


title: World War II casualties

text: Malta 1,493 civilians were killed and 3,734 wounded during the Siege of Malta (World War II) Maltese civilians killed during the siege are also included with U.K. civilian deaths by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.


title: World War II casualties

text: The following notes summarize Soviet casualties, the details are presented in World War II casualties of the Soviet Union.


title: World War II casualties

text: Total war dead of 357,116; Navy (50,758); Army (144,079); Air Force (69,606); Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service (624);


title: World War II casualties

text: A. Military operations between the occupying German military forces and their "Quislings and collaborators" against the Yugoslav resistance.


title: World War II casualties

text: B. German forces, under express orders from Hitler, fought with a special vengeance against the Serbs, who were considered Untermensch. One of the worst one-day massacres during the German military occupation of Serbia was the Kragujevac massacre.


title: World War II casualties

text: C. Deliberate acts of reprisal against target populations were perpetrated by all combatants. All sides practiced the shooting of hostages on a large scale. At the end of the war, many Ustaše and Slovene collaborators were killed in or as a result of the Yugoslav death march of Nazi collaborators.


title: World War II casualties

text: D. The systematic extermination of large numbers of people for political, religious or racial reasons. The most numerous victims were Serbs. According to Yad Vashem, "During their four years in power, the Ustasa carried out a Serb genocide, exterminating over 500,000, expelling 250,000 and forcing another 200,000 to convert to Catholicism. The Ustasa also killed most of Croatia's Jews, 20,000 Gypsies, and many thousands of their political enemies." According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum "The Croat authorities murdered between 320,000 and 340,000 ethnic Serb residents of Croatia and Bosnia during the period of Ustaša rule; more than 30,000 Croatian Jews were killed either in Croatia or at Auschwitz-Birkenau".


title: World War II casualties

text: F. Allied bombing of German supply lines caused civilian casualties. The hardest hit localities were Podgorica, Leskovac, Zadar and Belgrade.


title: World War II casualties

text: G. The demographic losses due to the reduction of 335,000 births and emigration of about 660,000 are not included with war casualties.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is an upcoming American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's "Transformers" toy line and primarily influenced by the "" storyline. The film is the seventh installment in the "Transformers" film series and a stand-alone sequel to "Bumblebee" (2018). The film is directed by Steven Caple Jr. from a screenplay by Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber, and Jon Hoeber. It will star Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback as well the voice talents of Peter Cullen, Ron Perlman, and Peter Dinklage. The film will center around three factions of Transformers tied to Earth's past. With the setting being in 1994 Brooklyn, New York City, parts of Peru such as Machu Picchu, Cusco, and Tarapoto, San Martín.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on June 9, 2023, by Paramount Pictures.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: In the year 1994, a pair of human archaeologists from Brooklyn come into an ancient conflict through a globe-trotting adventure with the Autobots that ties in with three factions of the Transformers race: the Maximals, the Predacons and the Terrorcons.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: In December 2018, when asked about the future of the "Transformers" franchise, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura stated that another big "Transformers" movie "would be produced and that it would be "different than the ones that we've done before". He described the process as more of an "evolution", saying that there is more freedom to create and what they can do with it. After the success of "Bumblebee", he acknowledged that the series will make some changes in tone and style, inspired by the film.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: Director Travis Knight said his goal was to return to his animation studio Laika, though he acknowledged that he has a few ideas for a "Bumblebee" sequel. John Cena expressed interest in reprising his role in a sequel. Writer Christina Hodson said that "[she] knows where [she wants] to go with the next one". In late January 2019, a sequel was announced, due to the film's international box office performance. In March, di Bonaventura confirmed they were developing a script for a "Bumblebee" sequel.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: In January 2020, Paramount Pictures was reportedly working on two different "Transformers" films, one written by James Vanderbilt and another written by Joby Harold. In November, Steven Caple Jr. was hired to direct Harold's script. On February, it was revealed that the film was going under the working title "Transformers: Beast Alliance", hinting the introduction of characters from the "" franchise.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: During a virtual event held by Paramount in June, di Bonaventura and Caple revealed the official title as "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" (revealing to be both a "Bumblebee" sequel and "Beast Wars" film in one), and confirming that it would feature the Terrorcons, the Maximals, and the Predacons. The visual effects for the "Transformers" and "Beast Wars" characters were provided by the Moving Picture Company, rather than Industrial Light and Magic from the previous installments. The film's tone and action were heavily influenced by "" (1991).


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: In April 2021, Anthony Ramos was cast for the lead role in the film. Later that month, Dominique Fishback was cast opposite Ramos. It was also revealed that Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters had been hired to rewrite Harold's screenplay. Ultimately, Harold, Metayer, Peters, along with Erich and Jon Hoeber received screenplay credit, with Harold solely receiving story credit, while Ken Nolan, Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor, and Vanderbilt received "additional literary material" credit off-screen.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: In June, actress Lauren Vélez revealed that she has a role in the sequel. In the same month, Peter Cullen was confirmed to return as Optimus Prime for the film, and Ron Perlman was announced to be reprising his role as Optimus Primal from the "" web series a week later. In July, Tobe Nwigwe revealed that he had a role in the film. In October 2022, Caple Jr. revealed that Michelle Yeoh and Pete Davidson will voice Airazor and Mirage, respectively, in the film.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: On December 1, 2022, additional members of the voice cast were announced, consisting of Peter Dinklage as the film's antagonist Scourge, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez as the female Terrorcon Nightbird, Liza Koshy and Cristo Fernández as Arcee and Wheeljack, replacing both Grey DeLisle and Steve Blum from "Bumblebee" and returning voice actors John DiMaggio and David Sobolov from previous installments in newer roles. DiMaggio voices both Stratosphere, an Autobot that originated from the toyline of "" and the "" video game from 2009-2011, and Transit, a Transformer that turns into a School Bus. While Sobolov, being the sole cast member from the "" animated series, voices both the Maximal Rhinox and the Terrorcon Battletrap.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: Caple revealed that more members of the voice cast will be revealed in the coming months and expressed interest to bring Mahershala Ali to provide voice work.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: Principal photography began on June 7, 2021, in Los Angeles. Filming also took place at Machu Picchu, Montreal and Brooklyn. On October 20, it was announced that filming had officially wrapped.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: Jongnic Bontemps will provide the film's score, after previously working with Caple on his directorial debut, "The Land". Bontemps is the first person of color to compose for a live-action "Transformers" film, and the third composer in the series after Steve Jablonsky and Dario Marianelli.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on June 9, 2023, by Paramount Pictures. The film was delayed from its initial release date of June 24, 2022.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: Paramount showed some footage from the film at their Cinemacon presentation in April 2022. A teaser trailer was released on December 1, 2022. During an interview with "BET", Caple discusses on him handpicking the trailer's song, a remix of Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G. due to the album, Ready to Die released during the period of the film's setting, that captures the feeling of New York as suggested by both Ramos and Fishback. The teaser trailer on YouTube broke records in its first 24 hours with 238 million views in Paramount's history, topping a record that was previously held by "Top Gun Maverick", and 494 Million views and impressions on social media sites like Twitter and TikTok, surpassing the view count of different trailers for other films released in the same week such as "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny", "The Super Mario Bros Movie", and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3".


title: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

text: In February 2022, the film was announced to be the first entry of three new installments in the "Transformers" series.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is partially based on the 1969 novel "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. "Part II" serves as both a sequel and a prequel to the 1972 film "The Godfather", presenting parallel dramas: one picks up the 1958 story of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the new Don of the Corleone family, protecting the family business in the aftermath of an attempt on his life; the prequel covers the journey of his father, Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro), from his Sicilian childhood to the founding of his family enterprise in New York City. The ensemble cast also features Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Morgana King, John Cazale, Mariana Hill, and Lee Strasberg.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Following the success of the first film, Paramount Pictures began developing a follow-up, with many of the cast and crew returning. Coppola, who was given more creative control, had wanted to make both a sequel and a prequel to "The Godfather" that would tell the story of the rise of Vito and the fall of Michael. Principal photography began in October 1973 and wrapped up in June 1974. "The Godfather Part II" premiered in New York City on December 12, 1974, and was released in the United States on December 20, 1974, receiving divided reviews from critics; its reputation, however, improved rapidly, and it soon became the subject of critical re-appraisal. It grossed $48 million in the United States and Canada and up to $93 million worldwide on a $13 million budget. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and became the first sequel to win Best Picture. Its six Oscar wins also included Best Director for Coppola, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo. Pacino won Best Actor at the BAFTA's and was nominated at the Oscars.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Like its predecessor, "Part II" remains a highly influential film, especially in the gangster genre. It is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, as well as the rare example of a sequel that may be superior to its predecessor. In 1997, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 32nd-greatest film in American film history and it retained this position 10 years later. It was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1993, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". "The Godfather Part III", the final installment in the trilogy, was released in 1990.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: The film intercuts between events some time after "The Godfather" and the early life of Vito Corleone.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: In 1901, the family of nine-year-old Vito Andolini is killed in Corleone, Sicily after his father insults local Mafia chieftain Don Ciccio. Vito escapes to New York City and is registered on arrival as "Vito Corleone". In 1917, Vito lives in New York with his wife, Carmela, and their infant son, Sonny. He loses his job due to the interference of Don Fanucci, a local Black Hand extortionist. His neighbor Peter Clemenza asks Vito to hide a bag of guns; as thanks, Clemenza enlists Vito's help in stealing a rug, which he gifts to Carmela.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: The Corleones have three more children: sons Fredo and Michael, and daughter Connie. Meanwhile, Vito, Clemenza, and new partner Salvatore Tessio make income by stealing goods and reselling them door-to-door. This enterprise attracts the attention of Fanucci, who extorts them. Vito convinces his skeptical partners that he will talk Fanucci into accepting a smaller payment. During a neighborhood festa, Vito pays an incredulous Fanucci a much smaller amount and is offered a job as an enforcer. Vito later kills Fanucci in his apartment. Vito becomes a formidable and well-respected community member by helping locals in exchange for "favors".


title: The Godfather Part II

text: In 1923, Vito and family visit Sicily. Vito and his business partner visit Don Ciccio, ostensibly to ask for Ciccio's blessing on their olive oil business. Ciccio asks for the name of Vito's father; Vito reveals his identity and stabs Ciccio to death, avenging his family.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: In 1958, during his son's First Communion party at Lake Tahoe, Michael has a series of meetings in his role as the don of the Corleone crime family. Frank Pentangeli, a Corleone capo, is dismayed that Michael refuses to help defend his Bronx territory against the Rosato brothers, who work for Hyman Roth, a Jewish Mob boss and long-standing Corleone business partner. That night, a failed assassination attempt at his home prompts Michael to suddenly depart after confiding in "consigliere" Tom Hagen that he suspects a traitor within the family.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Michael suspects Roth planned the assassination, but falsely tells Roth he suspects Pentangeli. In New York City, under Michael's instructions, Pentangeli attempts to make peace with the Rosatos, but they try to kill him.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Back in Nevada, Tom Hagen is called to a brothel in Carson City run by Michael's older brother Fredo, where Senator Geary is implicated in the death of a prostitute, and Tom offers to take care of the problem in return for "friendship" between the Senator and the Corleone family.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: A sickly Roth, Michael, and several of their partners travel to Havana to discuss their future Cuban business prospects under the cooperative government of Fulgencio Batista. Michael becomes reluctant to continue operating in Cuba given the ongoing Cuban Revolution. On New Year's Eve, Fredo pretends not to know Johnny Ola, Roth's right-hand man, but later inadvertently reveals they know each other, leading Michael to realize that Fredo is the traitor. Michael orders hits on Ola and Roth; his enforcer strangles Ola with a coat hanger but is killed by Cuban soldiers as he tries to smother Roth. Batista abdicates due to rebel advances. During the ensuing chaos, Michael, Fredo, and Roth separately escape Cuba. Back home, Michael is told that his wife Kay has miscarried.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: In Washington, D.C., a Senate committee on organized crime is investigating the Corleone family. Pentangeli agrees to testify against Michael, who he believes had betrayed him to the Rosatos, and is placed under witness protection. On returning to Nevada, Fredo tells Michael that he did not know that Roth had intended to kill him, but that he resents being disregarded as stupid by the family and feels that he should have taken over the family after their father's death. Michael disowns Fredo, but gives orders that he is not to be harmed while their mother is alive. Michael sends for Pentangeli's brother from Sicily, and Pentangeli, after seeing his brother in the hearing room, retracts his previous statement indicting Michael in organized crime; the hearing dissolves in an uproar. Kay claims to Michael that she actually had an abortion, not a miscarriage, and that she intends to leave him and take their children. Outraged, Michael strikes Kay, banishes her from the family, and takes sole custody of the children.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Carmela dies sometime later, and Michael hurries to wrap up loose ends. At the funeral, Michael appears to forgive Fredo at Connie's behest, but exchanges a glance with Corleone enforcer Al Neri suggesting that Fredo is to be killed. Soon afterward, Neri shoots Fredo dead while the two are fishing, as Michael watches from his den. Roth is forced to return to the United States after being refused asylum and entry to Israel. On Michael's orders, Roth is assassinated by Corleone caporegime Rocco Lampone during an interview at the Miami International Airport; Lampone is killed in turn by a federal agent while attempting to flee the scene. At Pentangeli's compound, Hagen visits and the two discuss how failed plotters against the Roman emperor often committed suicide in return for clemency for their families; Pentangeli is later found dead in his bathtub, having slit his wrists. Kay visits her children; as she is saying goodbye, Michael arrives and closes the door on her.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: The film ends with a flashback to Vito's 50th birthday party, occurring on the same day that the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. While the family waits to surprise Vito, Michael announces that he has dropped out of college and joined the Marines, angering Sonny and Hagen; Fredo is the only member of the family to support his decision. Back in the present, Michael sits alone at the family compound, looking out over the lake.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Puzo started writing a script for a sequel in December 1971, before "The Godfather" was even released; its initial title was "The Death of Michael Corleone". Coppola's idea for the sequel would be to "juxtapose the ascension of the family under Vito Corleone with the decline of the family under his son Michael... I had always wanted to write a screenplay that told the story of a father and a son at the same age. They were both in their thirties and I would integrate the two stories... In order not to merely make "Godfather I" over again, I gave "Godfather II" this double structure by extending the story in both the past and in the present." Coppola originally wanted Martin Scorsese to direct the film but Paramount refused. Coppola also, in his director's commentary on "The Godfather Part II", mentioned that the scenes depicting the Senate committee interrogation of Michael Corleone and Frank Pentangeli are based on the Joseph Valachi federal hearings and that Pentangeli is a Valachi-like figure.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Production, however, nearly ended before it began when Pacino's lawyers told Coppola that he had grave misgivings with the script and was not coming. Coppola spent an entire night rewriting it before giving it to Pacino for his review. Pacino approved it and the production went forward.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: The film's original budget was $6 million but costs increased to over $11 million, with "Variety"s review claiming it was over $15 million.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Several actors from the first film did not return for the sequel. Marlon Brando initially agreed to return for the birthday flashback sequence, but the actor, feeling mistreated by the board at Paramount, failed to show up for the single day's shooting. Coppola then rewrote the scene that same day. Richard S. Castellano, who portrayed Peter Clemenza in the first film, also declined to return, as he and the producers could not reach an agreement on his demands that he be allowed to write the character's dialogue in the film, though this claim was disputed by Castellanos widow in a 1991 letter to "People" magazine. The part in the plot originally intended for the latter-day Clemenza was then filled by the character of Frank Pentangeli, played by Michael V. Gazzo.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Coppola offered James Cagney a part in the film, but he refused. James Caan agreed to reprise the role of Sonny in the birthday flashback sequence, demanding he be paid the same amount he received for the entire previous film for the single scene in "Part II", which he received. Among the actors depicting Senators in the hearing committee are film producer/director Roger Corman, writer/producer William Bowers, producer Phil Feldman, and actor Peter Donat.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: "The Godfather Part II" was shot between October 1, 1973 and June 19, 1974. The scenes that took place in Cuba were shot in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Charles Bluhdorn, whose Gulf+Western conglomerate owned Paramount, felt strongly about developing the Dominican Republic as a movie-making site. Forza d'Agrò was the Sicilian town featured in the film.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Unlike with the first film, Coppola was given near-complete control over production. In his commentary, he said this resulted in a shoot that ran very smoothly despite multiple locations and two narratives running parallel within one film. Coppola discusses his decision to make this the first major U.S. motion picture to use "Part II" in its title in the director's commentary on the DVD edition of the film released in 2002. Paramount was initially opposed because they believed the audience would not be interested in an addition to a story they had already seen. But the director prevailed, and the film's success began the common practice of numbered sequels.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Only three weeks prior to the release, film critics and journalists pronounced "Part II" a disaster. The cross-cutting between Vito and Michael's parallel stories were judged too frequent, not allowing enough time to leave a lasting impression on the audience. Coppola and the editors returned to the cutting room to change the film's narrative structure, but could not complete the work in time, leaving the final scenes poorly timed at the opening.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: It was the last major American motion picture to have release prints made with Technicolor's dye imbibition process until the late 1990s.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: "The Godfather Part II" premiered in New York City on December 12, 1974, and was released in the United States on December 20, 1974.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Coppola created "The Godfather Saga" expressly for American television in a 1975 release that combined "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II" with unused footage from those two films in a chronological telling that toned down the violent, sexual, and profane material for its NBC debut on November 18, 1977. In 1981, Paramount released the "Godfather Epic" boxed set, which also told the story of the first two films in chronological order, again with additional scenes, but not redacted for broadcast sensibilities. Coppola returned to the film again in 1992 when he updated that release with footage from "The Godfather Part III" and more unreleased material. This home viewing release, under the title "The Godfather Trilogy 1901–1980", had a total run time of 583 minutes (9 hours, 43 minutes), not including the set's bonus documentary by Jeff Werner on the making of the films, "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside".


title: The Godfather Part II

text: "The Godfather DVD Collection" was released on October 9, 2001 in a package that contained all three films—each with a commentary track by Coppola—and a bonus disc that featured a 73-minute documentary from 1991 entitled "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside" and other miscellany about the film: the additional scenes originally contained in "The Godfather Saga"; "Francis Coppola's Notebook" (a look inside a notebook the director kept with him at all times during the production of the film); rehearsal footage; a promotional featurette from 1971; and video segments on Gordon Willis's cinematography, Nino Rota's and Carmine Coppola's music, the director, the locations and Mario Puzo's screenplays. The DVD also held a Corleone family tree, a "Godfather" timeline, and footage of the Academy Award acceptance speeches.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: The restoration was confirmed by Francis Ford Coppola during a question-and-answer session for "The Godfather Part III", when he said that he had just seen the new transfer and it was "terrific".


title: The Godfather Part II

text: After a careful restoration by Robert A. Harris of Film Preserve, the first two "Godfather" films were released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 23, 2008, under the title "The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration". The Blu-ray Disc box set (four discs) includes high-definition extra features on the restoration and film. They are included on Disc 5 of the DVD box set (five discs).


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Other extras are ported over from Paramount's 2001 DVD release. There are slight differences between the repurposed extras on the DVD and Blu-ray Disc sets, with the HD box having more content.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: A video game based on the film was released for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in April 2009 by Electronic Arts. It received negative reviews and sold poorly, leading Electronic Arts to cancel plans for a game based on "The Godfather Part III."


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Although "The Godfather Part II" did not surpass the original film commercially, it grossed $47.5 million in the United States and Canada. and was Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film of 1974, and the seventh-highest-grossing picture in the United States. According to its international distributor, the film had grossed $45.3 million internationally by 1994, for a worldwide total of $93 million.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Initial critical reception of "The Godfather Part II" was divided, with some dismissing the work and others declaring it superior to the first film. While its cinematography and acting were immediately acclaimed, many criticized it as overly slow-paced and convoluted. Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" viewed the film as "stitched together from leftover parts. It talks. It moves in fits and starts but it has no mind of its own... The plot defies any rational synopsis." Stanley Kauffmann of "The New Republic" accused the story of featuring "gaps and distentions".


title: The Godfather Part II

text: A mildly positive Roger Ebert awarded three out of four and wrote that the flashbacks "give Coppola the greatest difficulty in maintaining his pace and narrative force. The story of Michael, told chronologically and without the other material, would have had really substantial impact, but Coppola prevents our complete involvement by breaking the tension." Though praising Pacino's performance and lauding Coppola as "a master of mood, atmosphere, and period", Ebert considered the chronological shifts of its narrative "a structural weakness from which the film never recovers". Gene Siskel gave the film three-and-a-half out of four, writing that it was at times "as beautiful, as harrowing, and as exciting as the original. In fact, 'The Godfather, Part II' may be the "second" best gangster movie ever made. But it's not the same. Sequels can never be the same. It's like being forced to go to a funeral the second time—the tears just don't flow as easily."


title: The Godfather Part II

text: The film quickly became the subject of a critical re-evaluation. Whether considered separately or with its predecessor as one work, "The Godfather Part II" is now widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema. Many critics compare it favorably with the originalalthough it is rarely ranked higher on lists of "greatest" films. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 96% approval rating based on 123 reviews, with an average rating of 9.70/10. The consensus reads, "Drawing on strong performances by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola's continuation of Mario Puzo's Mafia saga set new standards for sequels that have yet to be matched or broken." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 90 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Ebert retrospectively awarded it a full four stars in a second review and inducted the film into his Great Movies section, noting he "would not change a word" of his original review but praising the work as "grippingly written, directed with confidence and artistry, photographed by Gordon Willis... in rich, warm tones." Michael Sragow's conclusion in his 2002 essay, selected for the National Film Registry web site, is that "[a]lthough "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II" depict an American family's moral defeat, as a mammoth, pioneering work of art it remains a national creative triumph." In his 2014 review of the film, Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" wrote "Francis Coppola's breathtakingly ambitious prequel-sequel to his first Godfather movie is as gripping as ever. It is even better than the first film, and has the greatest single final scene in Hollywood history, a real coup de cinéma."


title: The Godfather Part II

text: "The Godfather Part II" was featured on "Sight & Sound"s Director's list of the ten greatest films of all time in 1992 (ranked at No. 9) and 2002 (where it was ranked at No. 2. The critics ranked it at No. 4) On the 2012 list by the same magazine the film was ranked at No. 31 by critics and at No. 30 by directors. In 2006, Writers Guild of America ranked the film's screenplay (Written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppla) the 10th greatest ever. It ranked No. 7 on "Entertainment Weekly"s list of the "100 Greatest Movies of All Time", and #1 on "TV Guide"s 1999 list of the "50 Greatest Movies of All Time on TV and Video". "The Village Voice" ranked "The Godfather Part II" at No. 31 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics. In January 2002, the film (along with The Godfather) made the list of the "Top 100 Essential Films of All Time" by the National Society of Film Critics.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: In 2017, it ranked No. 12 on Empire magazine's reader's poll of "The 100 Greatest Movies". In a earlier poll held by the same magazine in 2008, it was voted 19th on the list of 'The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time'. In 2015, it was tenth in the BBC's list of the 100 greatest American films.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: Many believe Pacino's performance in "The Godfather Part II" is his finest acting work, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was criticized for awarding the Academy Award for Best Actor that year to Art Carney for his role in "Harry and Tonto". It is now regarded as one of the greatest performances in film history. In 2006, "Premiere" issued its list of "The 100 Greatest Performances of all Time", putting Pacino's performance at #20. Later in 2009, "Total Film" issued "The 150 Greatest Performances of All Time", ranking Pacino's performance fourth place.


title: The Godfather Part II

text: This film is the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II" remain the only original/sequel combination both to win Best Picture. Along with "The Lord of the Rings", "The Godfather Trilogy" shares the distinction that all of its installments were nominated for Best Picture; additionally, "The Godfather Part II" and "" are the only sequels to win Best Picture.


title: Rogue One

text: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (or simply Rogue One) is a 2016 American epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards. The screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy is from a story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta. It was produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the first installment of the "Star Wars" anthology series and an immediate prequel to "Star Wars (1977)". The main cast consists of Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker. Set a week before "Star Wars", the plot follows a group of rebels who band together to steal plans of the Death Star, the ultimate weapon of the Galactic Empire. It details the Rebel Alliance's first effective victory against the Empire, first referenced in "Star Wars" opening crawl.


title: Rogue One

text: Based on an idea first pitched by Knoll ten years before it entered development, the film was made to be different in tone and style from the traditional "Star Wars" films, omitting the customary opening crawl and transitional screen wipes. Principal photography on the film began at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, in early August 2015 and wrapped in February 2016. The film then went through extensive reshoots in . With an estimated production budget of at least $220 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.


title: Rogue One

text: "Rogue One" premiered in Los Angeles on December 10, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 16. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its acting, story, visuals, musical score, and dark tone, but criticism for its pacing, characters, and digital recreations of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher. It grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the 20th-highest-grossing film of all time and the second-highest-grossing film of 2016 during its theatrical run. It received two Academy Award nominations for Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. "Andor", a spin-off prequel television series, debuted on Disney+ on September 21, 2022, with Luna, Whitaker, Genevieve O'Reilly, and Duncan Pow returning.


title: Rogue One

text: Research scientist Galen Erso and his family are hiding on the planet Lah'mu when Imperial weapons developer Orson Krennic arrives to press him into completing the Death Star, a space station-based superweapon capable of destroying planets. Galen's wife Lyra is killed in the confrontation while their daughter Jyn escapes and is rescued by rebel extremist Saw Gerrera.


title: Rogue One

text: Thirteen years later, cargo pilot Bodhi Rook defects from the Empire, taking a holographic message recorded by Galen to Gerrera on the desert moon Jedha. Rebel Alliance intelligence officer Cassian Andor learns of Rook's defection and the Death Star from an informant. Jyn is freed from an Imperial labor camp at Wobani and is brought to the Rebel leaders Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, who convince her to find and rescue Galen so the Alliance can learn more about the Death Star. Cassian is covertly ordered to aid Jyn, but kill Galen rather than extract him.


title: Rogue One

text: Jyn, Cassian, and reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO travel to Jedha, the Empire is removing kyber crystals from the holy city to power the Death Star; Gerrera and his partisans are engaged in an armed insurgency against them. With the aid of blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Îmwe and his mercenary friend Baze Malbus, Jyn makes contact with Gerrera, who is holding Rook captive. Gerrera shows her the message in which Galen reveals he has secretly built a vulnerability into the Death Star. The schematics detailing this are in an Imperial data bank on the planet Scarif.


title: Rogue One

text: On the Death Star, Krennic orders a low-powered test shot which destroys Jedha's capital. Jyn and her group take Rook and flee the moon, but Gerrera remains to die with the city. Grand Moff Tarkin congratulates Krennic before using Rook's defection and security leak as a pretext to take control of the project. Rook leads the group to Galen's Imperial research facility on the planet Eadu, where Cassian chooses not to kill Galen. Moments later, Rebel bombers attack the facility. Galen is wounded and dies in Jyn's arms, before she escapes with her group on a stolen Imperial cargo shuttle. Krennic is summoned by Darth Vader to answer for the Death Star's attack on Jedha. Krennic seeks his support for an audience with the Emperor, but Vader instead Force-chokes him and orders him to ensure no further breaches occur.


title: Rogue One

text: Jyn proposes a plan to steal the Death Star schematics using the Rebel fleet but fails to gain approval from the Alliance Council, who feel victory against the Empire is now impossible. Frustrated at their inaction, Jyn's group lead a small squad of Rebel volunteers to raid the databank. Arriving on Scarif on the stolen Imperial ship, which Rook dubs "Rogue One," a disguised Jyn and Cassian enter the base with K-2SO while the other Rebels attack the Imperial garrison as a diversion.


title: Rogue One

text: The Alliance learns of the raid from intercepted Imperial communications and deploys their fleet in support. K-2SO sacrifices himself so Jyn and Cassian can retrieve the data. Îmwe is killed after activating the master switch to allow communication with the Rebel fleet, and Malbus is killed shortly afterward. Rook is killed by a grenade after informing the Rebel fleet that it must deactivate the planetary shield to allow the transmission of the schematics. Rebel Admiral Raddus uses a Hammerhead corvette to destroy two Star Destroyers, and the wreckage crashes atop a generator, deactivating the shield. Jyn and Cassian obtain the schematics, but are ambushed by Krennic, who is shot and wounded by Cassian. Jyn transmits the schematics to the Rebel command ship via the base's antenna moments before the Death Star enters orbit above Scarif. Tarkin uses another shot from the Death Star to destroy the antenna, killing Krennic. The impact creates a blast that engulfs the base, killing Cassian, Jyn, and the remaining ground forces.


title: Rogue One

text: The Rebel fleet prepares to jump to hyperspace. However, Admiral Raddus and many of the fleet's ships are intercepted by Vader's Star Destroyer. Vader boards the Rebel command ship and kills many troops in an attempt to regain the schematics, but a starship escapes with them on board. Aboard the fleeing ship, Princess Leia Organa declares that the schematics will provide hope.


title: Rogue One

text: Jimmy Smits, Genevieve O'Reilly, Anthony Daniels, and Jimmy Vee reprise their roles from previous films as Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, C-3PO, and R2-D2, respectively; Vee is uncredited for his role. James Earl Jones also reprises his role from previous films as the voice of Darth Vader, who is physically portrayed by Spencer Wilding during the meeting with Krennic and aboard the Star Destroyer, and by Daniel Naprous for the end scene. Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia Organa are played by Guy Henry and Ingvild Deila, respectively, with the digital likenesses of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher superimposed. Henry also provides the voice for Tarkin, while archival audio of Fisher is used for Leia. Angus MacInnes and Drewe Henley are featured as Gold Leader Dutch Vander and Red Leader Garven Dreis, respectively, via unused footage from "A New Hope"; MacInnes returned to record new dialogue for Vander, while new dialogue for the deceased Henley was assembled from archival material. David Ankrum, who voiced Wedge Antilles in "A New Hope", reprises his role in a vocal cameo. Ian McElhinney, Michael Smiley, Andy de la Tour, and Tim Beckmann play General Jan Dodonna, Dr. Evazan, General Hurst Romodi, and Captain Raymus Antilles, respectively. Warwick Davis plays Weeteef Cyubee, a member of Saw Gerrera's Partisans. Dave Filoni reprises his role as C1-10P from "Star Wars Rebels". Stephen Stanton voices Admiral Raddus, while Paul Kasey appears in costume as the alien character on-screen.


title: Rogue One

text: Duncan Pow plays Ruescott Melshi, a sergeant in the Rebel Alliance. Additionally, Alistair Petrie plays General Davits Draven, Ben Daniels plays General Antoc Merrick, and Valene Kane plays Lyra Erso, Jyn's mother. Jonathan Aris, Fares Fares, and Sharon Duncan-Brewster appear as Senators Nower Jebel, Vasp Vaspar, and Tynnra Pamlo, respectively. Simon Farnaby plays a member of Blue Squadron. Jordan Stephens appears as Rebel Alliance member Corporal Tonc. Nick Kellington plays Bistan, the door gunner on a U-wing during the battle on Scarif. Ian Whyte plays Moroff, a member of Saw Gerrera's Partisans. Daniel Mays appears as Tivik. Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman, director and producer of "", respectively, cameo as two Death Star technicians.


title: Rogue One

text: "Rogue One" is the first film in the "Star Wars" anthology series, a series of standalone spin-off films in the "Star Wars" franchise. John Knoll, visual effects supervisor for the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy, pitched the idea as an episode of the unproduced series "" 10 years before the film's development in 2003, during the production of "Episode III" in Sydney, developing a draft titled "Destroyer of Worlds;" after the Disney acquisition he felt as if he had to pitch it again or forever wonder "what might've happened if I had." In May 2014, Disney announced Gareth Edwards would direct the film and Gary Whitta would write the script. That October, cinematographer Greig Fraser revealed that he would work on the film. In January 2015, it was revealed Whitta had completed his work on the script, and would no longer be with the project. Simon Kinberg was considered as a replacement. Later that month, it was announced Chris Weitz had signed to write the script for the film. In March 2015, the title was announced.


title: Rogue One

text: Edwards stated the style of the film would be similar to that of a war film, stating, "It's the reality of war. Good guys are bad. Bad guys are good. It's complicated, layered; a very rich scenario in which to set a movie." Assuming Disney would not allow a dark ending, Edwards had the main characters surviving in the original version of the script, but the producers opted for a more tragic ending and never filmed the original version.


title: Rogue One

text: In May 2016, reports emerged the film would undergo five weeks of reshoots with Tony Gilroy writing additional scenes, as well as acting as a second-unit director under Edwards. With input from Edwards, Gilroy oversaw the edit and additional photography of the film which tackled several issues, including the ending. In August, Gilroy was given screenplay credit alongside Weitz and was paid $5 million for his work on the film. Additionally, Christopher McQuarrie, Scott Z. Burns, and Michael Arndt all contributed to the script at various stages in development.


title: Rogue One

text: In July 2016, discussing whether the film would feature an opening crawl, Kathleen Kennedy said, "we're in the midst of talking about it, but I don't think these [anthology] films will have an opening crawl." Edwards explained "The idea is this film is supposed to be different than the saga films," and that "This film is born out of a crawl. ... There's this feeling that if we did a crawl, then it'll create another movie." In November 2016, Kennedy confirmed the film would not feature an opening crawl, instead beginning in "a way that is traditional, with just the title."


title: Rogue One

text: At the 2016 "Star Wars" Celebration, Edwards said the title had three meanings: "a military sign," referring to the Red Squadron from "A New Hope"; "the 'rogue' one" of the franchise, given it is the first film to not be part of the main saga; and a description of Jyn Erso's personality.


title: Rogue One

text: In January 2015, "The Hollywood Reporter" stated numerous actresses, including Tatiana Maslany, Rooney Mara, and Felicity Jones were being tested for the film's lead. In February 2015, it was announced Jones was in final talks to star in the film, while Aaron Paul and Édgar Ramírez were being eyed for the male lead role. In March 2015, Jones was officially cast. In March 2015, "Deadline Hollywood" reported a rumor that Ben Mendelsohn was being considered for a lead role. The next month, TheWrap reported that Sam Claflin was being eyed for a role, while Riz Ahmed was in negotiations to join the film. In May, Mendelsohn, Ahmed, and Diego Luna were added to the cast of the film, in the lead roles. Forest Whitaker was added to the cast in June 2015. In July 2015, Jonathan Aris was cast to play Senator Jebel. Genevieve O'Reilly was cast as Mon Mothma, reprising her role from "". James Earl Jones was confirmed to return as the voice of Darth Vader in June 2016.