title: Kamov Ka-50

text: The Ka-50 took part in the Russian Army's operations against separatists in the Chechen Republic during the Second Chechen War. In December 2000, a pair of production Ka-50s arrived to the area. With the Ka-50s was a Ka-29 to provide reconnaissance and target designation. On 6 January 2001, the Ka-50 used live weapons against a real enemy for the first time. On 9 January, at the entry into a mountain gorge in the area of a settlement named Komsomolskoye, a single Ka-50 accompanied by an Mi-24 used S-8 unguided rockets to destroy a warehouse full of ammunition belonging to Chechen insurgents. On 6 February, in the forest-covered mountain area to the south of the village of Tsentoroj, the strike group composed of two Ka-50s and the sole Ka-29 discovered and, from a range of 3 km, destroyed a fortified camp of insurgents using two "9K121 Vikhr" guided missiles. 14 February, saw a similar strike group carrying out a "hunting" mission in the area of Oak-Yurt and Hatun. In difficult conditions, pilots found and destroyed eight targets. These missions tested the type's airframe, as well as its on-board systems and armament. Its successful performance in difficult, mountainous terrain once again confirmed the usefulness of the many advanced features of the Ka-50's design, including its power and maneuverability.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: Ka-52 helicopters were spotted being deployed in support of the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War in 2015, various sources stating they were involved in defense of the Russian base in Latakia, providing escort for search and rescue helicopters, and supporting Russian special forces. For the first time, Ka-52s were seen near the town of Al-Qaryatayn, recaptured in early April 2016 from ISIS. They took part in the 2017 Palmyra offensive.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: The Ka-52 has seen extensive service during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Due to the high participation, British defense intelligence based on claims of the Oryx blog claimed at least 28 Ka-52 helicopters of the Russian Air Force’s have been lost during the first 10 months of the war, nearly half of Russia’s total helicopter losses in Ukraine.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: On 24 February 2022, during the initial stages of the invasion, at least one Russian Ka-52 helicopter was damaged and crash landed. On 2 March, a Russian Ka-52 was hit by a surface-to-air missile and crash landed. On 12 March, Ukrainian forces reported that Ka-52 tail number "RF-13409" had been shot down in Novomykolaivka near Kherson. Ukraine officials claimed on 16 March 2022 that Ka-52 number "RF-13411" was shot down at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, providing footage of the airframe wreckage. Footage appeared on social media on 5 April 2022 that appeared to show a hovering Ka-52 shot down by a Ukrainian Stugna-P anti-tank guided missile. On 15 April, Ukrainian forces claimed to have shot down another Ka-52 and published footage of the wreckage, the crew also died. On 1 May footage appeared of another Ka-52 shot down using a Stugna-P anti-tank guided missile. On 4 June, Ukrainian forces of the 128th Mountain Brigade reported the downing of a Russian Ka-52 in the north. According to Ukrainian officials, the helicopter was shot down by MANPADS. On 27 June, another helicopter was hit by a British made Martlet MANPADS forcing it to land. On 15 August, Ukrainian forces damaged a Russian Ka-52 helicopter flying in Donetsk Oblast.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: On 13 October The Ukrainian Air Force's press service said "From 08:40 to 08:58 on October 12, anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force destroyed at least four enemy attack helicopters (probably Ka-52s), which were providing fire support to the ground occupation forces on the southern axis, in the south of Ukraine."


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: Reportedly, a few Ka-52s suffered from wing trembling under heavy-load attack missions. This was observed months after invasion, including fatigue, inadequate design, lack of maintenance, and poor management; several guesses have been proposed.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: A Ukrainian military intelligence report has found that the Ka-52 can be "disabled with a 7.62mm machine gun" despite a cited ability to it withstanding 12.7mm rounds.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: Ka-52 is able to fire laser-guided missiles, but before firing it often must hover a few hundred feet off the ground to direct a laser at a target, leaving itself briefly exposed.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: It has participated in a number of exercises, including "Boundary 2004" at the Edelweiss training center in Kyrgyzstan during August 2004. The "Shark" demonstrated its advantages by operating at a high altitude and an air temperature of more than 30 °C. A Ka-50 provided cover for the landing of troops and then worked on the ground targets using its cannons and rockets.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: India issued a request for proposal for 22 attack helicopters for the Indian Air Force in May 2008. The Ka-50, the Mil Mi-28, and the Eurocopter Tiger were the front-runners for this order as of October 2008. The tender though was eventually cancelled and later India announced a new tender, with revised conditions. Russia again offered the Mi-28N and Ka-52.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: The Russian Air Force has accepted 12 Ka-52 helicopters for operational service in 2011, and the total number of completed Ka-52s was already 65 units. 20 Ka-52 aircraft were located at the 575th Airbase Chernigovsky District, Eastern Military District. 16 were at 393rd "Sevastopol" Airbase Korenovsk, Southern Military District, 12 were transferred to newly formed 15th Army Aviation Brigade of the Western Military District at the airport of Ostrov, 8 – Torzhok 344th Centre for Combat Training and Flight Personnel Training. Five test aircraft are owned by JSC "Kamov"; two machines were lost in accidents. The Ka-52 was displayed to the international community at the 2013 Paris Air Show.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: In 2013, the AAC "Progress" has completed the contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, signed in 2009, and would begin the next long-term contract for supplying 143 Ka-52, worth about 120 billion rubles (≈US$3.5 bln).


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: In June 2015, Sergei Kornev, the head of Rosoboronexport's delegation, said that Russia has signed its first contracts on the export of Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters. "We have the Ka-52 in its export model and we have contracts for it, and it's already being spun because it has a good, firm future" he said at the airshow outside Paris. Kornev did not specify the volume of contracts or with whom they were signed.


title: Kamov Ka-50

text: The Algerian Air Force is negotiating a sale for 12 Ka-52Es as of 2022. In September 2015, the Ka-52 was presented at Aïn Oussera Air Base.


title: Point Break

text: Point Break is a 1991 American action crime film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by W. Peter Iliff. It stars Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. The film's title refers to the surfing term "point break", where a wave breaks as it hits a point of land jutting out from the coastline.


title: Point Break

text: The film features Reeves as an undercover FBI agent who is tasked with investigating the identities of a group of bank robbers while he develops a complex relationship with the group's leader (Swayze).


title: Point Break

text: Development of "Point Break" began in 1986, when Iliff wrote an initial treatment for the film. Bigelow soon developed the script with husband James Cameron, and filming took place four years later. It was shot across the western coast of the continental United States and was officially budgeted at $24 million, before being released for traditional viewing on July 12, 1991.


title: Point Break

text: "Point Break" opened to a generally positive critical reception and critics praised the relationship between Reeves and Swayze. During its theatrical run, the film grossed over $83.5 million, and has since gained a cult following. Following the film's success, it spawned a remake that was released in 2015.


title: Point Break

text: Former Ohio State quarterback and rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah assists experienced agent Angelo Pappas in investigating a string of bank robberies by the "Ex-Presidents": a gang of robbers who wear rubber masks of Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson. Rather than robbing the vault, they only demand the cash the tellers have in their drawers, and are gone within ninety seconds.


title: Point Break

text: Pursuing Pappas's theory that the criminals are surfers, Utah goes undercover to infiltrate the surfing community. He fabricates a personal family tragedy to persuade orphaned surfer and restaurant waitress Tyler Ann Endicott to teach him to surf, after she saves him from drowning during his first attempt at surfing. Through her, he meets Bodhi, the charismatic leader of a gang of surfers consisting of Roach, Grommet, and Nathaniel. The group are initially wary of Utah, but accept him when Bodhi recognizes him as a former college football star who quit the sport due to a knee injury. As he masters surfing, Utah finds himself increasingly drawn to the surfers' adrenaline-charged lifestyle, Bodhi's philosophies, and Tyler. Following a clue retrieved by analyzing toxins found in the hair of one of the bank robbers, Utah and Pappas lead an FBI raid on another gang of surfers, resulting in the deaths of two of them. The raid inadvertently ruins a DEA undercover operation, as those surfers were wanted for separate charges regarding drug dealing, but they are determined not to be the Ex-Presidents.


title: Point Break

text: Watching Bodhi's group surfing, Utah begins to suspect that they are the Ex-Presidents, noting how close a group they are and the way one of them moons other surfers in the same manner one of the robbers does when leaving a bank. Utah and Pappas stake out a bank and the Ex-Presidents appear. While wearing a Reagan mask, Bodhi leads Utah on a foot chase through the neighborhood, which ends when Utah's old knee injury flares up after jumping into a flood control channel. Despite still having a clear shot, the injured Utah is unwilling to kill Bodhi and allows him to escape, repeatedly shooting into the air instead.


title: Point Break

text: At a campfire that night, it is confirmed that Bodhi and his gang are the Ex-Presidents. Tyler discovers Utah's FBI badge and angrily terminates their relationship after briefly holding him at gunpoint. Shortly afterwards, Bodhi coerces Utah into skydiving with the group. After the jump, Bodhi reveals that he knows Utah is an FBI agent and has arranged for his friend Rosie, a non-surfing thug, to hold Tyler hostage. Utah is blackmailed into participating in the Ex-Presidents' last bank robbery of the summer. As a result, Grommet is killed, along with an off-duty cop and a bank guard who attempt to foil the robbery. Outraged by Grommet's death, Bodhi knocks out Utah and leaves the scene.


title: Point Break

text: Defying their superior, who arrests Utah for the armed robbery, Pappas and Utah head to the airport where Bodhi, Roach, and Nathaniel are about to leave for Mexico. During a shootout, Pappas and Nathaniel are killed and Roach is seriously wounded. With Roach aboard, Bodhi forces Utah onto the plane at gunpoint. Once airborne and over their intended drop zone, Bodhi and Roach put on their parachutes and jump from the plane, leaving Utah to take the blame. With no other parachutes available, Utah jumps from the plane with Bodhi's gun and intercepts him. After landing safely, Utah's knee gives out again, allowing Bodhi to escape Utah's grasp. Bodhi meets with Rosie and releases Tyler. Roach dies of his wounds, and Bodhi and Rosie leave with the money, with Tyler and Johnny watching on.


title: Point Break

text: Nine months later, Utah tracks Bodhi to Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia where a record storm is producing lethal waves. This is an event Bodhi had talked about experiencing, calling it the "50-Year Storm". Utah attempts to bring Bodhi into custody, but Bodhi refuses. During a brawl in the surf, Utah manages to handcuff himself to Bodhi, who begs Utah to release him so he can ride the once-in-a-lifetime wave. Knowing Bodhi will not come back alive, Utah releases him, bids him farewell, and sees him step towards the wave. While the authorities watch Bodhi surf to his death, Utah walks away, throwing his FBI badge into the ocean.


title: Point Break

text: The film came close to production in 1986, with Matthew Broderick, Johnny Depp, Val Kilmer, and Charlie Sheen all being considered to play the Johnny Utah character, with Ridley Scott directing. However production fell through.


title: Point Break

text: Four years later, after acquiring the screenplay, the producers of "Point Break" began looking for a director. At the time, executive producer James Cameron was married to director Kathryn Bigelow, who had just completed "Blue Steel" and was looking for her next project. Only W. Peter Iliff is credited for the screenplay, but Cameron has said that he did a considerable amount of writing with Bigelow for the final film, helping to establish a better plot flow.


title: Point Break

text: "Point Break" was originally called "Johnny Utah" when Keanu Reeves was cast in the title role. The studio felt that this title said very little about surfing and by the time Patrick Swayze was cast, the film had been renamed "Riders on the Storm" after the famous song by The Doors. However, Jim Morrison's lyrics had nothing to do with the film and so that title was also rejected. It was not until halfway through filming that "Point Break" became the film's title because of its relevance to surfing.


title: Point Break

text: Reeves liked the name of his character, as it reminded him of star athletes like Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana. He described his character as "a total control freak and the ocean beats him up and challenges him. After a while everything becomes a game. He becomes as amoral as any criminal. He loses the difference between right and wrong." Swayze felt that Bodhi was a lot like him and that they both shared "that wild-man edge."


title: Point Break

text: Two months before filming, Lori Petty, Reeves and Swayze trained with former world-class professional surfer Dennis Jarvis on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Jarvis remembers, "Patrick said he'd been on a board a couple of times, Keanu definitely had not surfed before, and Lori had never been in the ocean "in her life"." Shooting the surfing sequences proved to be challenging for all three actors, with Swayze cracking four of his ribs. For many of the surfing scenes, he refused to use a stunt double as he never had one for fight scenes or car chases. He also did the skydiving scenes himself and the film's aerial jump instructor Jim Wallace found that he was a natural and took to it right away. Swayze ended up making 55 jumps for the film. Swayze actually based aspects of his character after one of his stunt doubles, Darrick Doerner, a top big wave surfer. After learning to surf for the film, Reeves took a liking to it and took it up as a hobby.


title: Point Break

text: Parts of the film were shot at Lake Powell in Utah, Wheeler and Ecola State Park in Oregon, and Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Venice, and Fox Hills Mall in California. Although the final scene of the film is set at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia, the scene was filmed at Indian Beach in Ecola State Park, located in Cannon Beach, Oregon.


title: Point Break

text: On February 7, 2008, a score release for "Point Break" was released by La-La Land Records, featuring composer Mark Isham's score. This edition was limited to 2,000 units and features 65 minutes of score with liner notes by Dan Goldwasser that incorporate comments from both Bigelow and Isham. It is now out of print.


title: Point Break

text: "Point Break" was released on July 12, 1991 in 1,615 theaters, grossing $8.5 million on its opening weekend, behind ""s (directed by Bigelow's then husband, James Cameron) second weekend and the openings of the re-issue of "101 Dalmatians" and "Boyz n the Hood". With a budget of $24 million, the film went on to make $43.2 million in North America and $40.3 million internationally for a worldwide total of $83.5 million.


title: Point Break

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Absurd, over-the-top, and often wildly entertaining, "Point Break" is here to show you that the human spirit is still alive." Metacritic reports a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Point Break

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote "Bigelow is an interesting director for this material. She is interested in the ways her characters live dangerously for philosophical reasons. They aren't men of action, but men of thought who choose action as a way of expressing their beliefs." In her review for "The New York Times", Janet Maslin praised Reeves' performance: "A lot of the snap comes, surprisingly, from Mr. Reeves, who displays considerable discipline and range. He moves easily between the buttoned-down demeanor that suits a police procedural story and the loose-jointed manner of his comic roles." "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film a "C+" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote ""Point Break" makes those of us who don't spend our lives searching for the ultimate physical rush feel like second-class citizens. The film turns reckless athletic valor into a new form of aristocracy."


title: Point Break

text: In his review for "The Washington Post", Hal Hinson wrote "A lot of what Bigelow puts up on the screen bypasses the brain altogether, plugging directly into our viscera, our gut. The surfing scenes in particular are majestically powerful, even awe-inspiring. Bigelow's picture is a feast for the eyes, but we watch movies with more than our eyes. She seduces us, then asks us to be bimbos." "Rolling Stone" magazine's Peter Travers wrote, "Bigelow can't keep the film from drowning in a sea of surf-speak. But without her, "Point Break" would be no more than an excuse to ogle pretty boys in wet suits."


title: Point Break

text: "USA Today" gave the film two out of four stars and Mike Clark wrote "Its purely visceral material (surf sounds, skydiving stunt work, a tough indoor shootout midway through) are first-rate. As for the tangibles that matter even more (script, acting, directorial control, credible relationships between characters), Break defies belief. Dramatically, it rivals the lowest surf yet this year." "Time" magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, "So how do you rate a stunningly made film whose plot buys so blithely into macho mysticism that it threatens to turn into an endless bummer? Looks 10, Brains 3."


title: Point Break

text: Critics have commented on the central 'buddy' relationship of Bodhi and Johnny, and on the unusually equal dynamic in the romantic relationship of Tyler and Johnny (which Bigelow changed Peter Iliff's original script to create); Tyler is a "muscled, brash waitress with an androgynous name (Tyler) and physical features", and Johnny's "feminine edges nudge in nicely to her masculine ones. In nearly every scene they share, they are portrayed by the camera as equals."


title: Point Break

text: In 2006, a special edition was released on DVD (In DVD was released on May 22, 2001). "Entertainment Weekly" gave it a "B" rating and wrote, "The making-of docs (at their best discussing Swayze's extracurricular skydiving—that really is him doing the "Adios, amigo" fall) will leave you hanging."


title: Point Break

text: "The Daily Telegraph" wrote that the film "certainly qualified as a cult favourite." Furthermore, "Rolling Stone" called "Point Break" "the greatest female-gaze action movie ever," citing the bodily condition of Reeves and Swayze, calling it a "wet Western."


title: Point Break

text: "Point Break" was listed in the VH1 series "I Love the 90s" on the episode "1991". Many celebrities, including Dominic Monaghan, Mo Rocca, Michael Ian Black, Hal Sparks, and Chris Pontius, commented about the film and why it deserved to be included in the episode. "Entertainment Weekly" ranked "Point Break" as having one of the "10 Best Surfing Scenes" in cinema.


title: Point Break

text: The film inspired a piece of cult theater, "Point Break Live!", in which the role of Johnny Utah is played by an audience member chosen by popular acclamation after a brief audition. The new "Keanu" reads all of their lines from cue-cards for the duration of the show, "to capture the rawness of a Keanu Reeves performance even from those who generally think themselves incapable of acting."


title: Point Break

text: "Point Break" was referenced in "Hot Fuzz", where the scene of Utah emptying his magazine into the sky in frustration is watched by the lead characters and later re-enacted by Nick Frost's character.


title: Point Break

text: Seattle-based Georgetown Brewing Company brews a "Bodhizafa" IPA, a "Johnny Utah" pale ale, and a "War Child" IPA.


title: Point Break

text: Between 2016 and 2020, indie musician, JAWNY, went by the stage name "Johnny Utah" in reference to the "Point Break" character.


title: Point Break

text: In "The Avengers", Tony Stark dismissively calls Thor "Point Break," presumably a comparison of Thor's hair to Swayze's in that film. In "", after several attempts Thor correctly guesses that "Point Break" is the activation code that Stark had set up for him in the Quinjet.


title: Point Break

text: Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. released a remake of the film in 2015 titled "Point Break", which received mostly negative reviews. James LeGros and BoJesse Christopher, two of the actors who played Ex-Presidents in the 1991 film, were cast as FBI directors.


title: Robert Englund

text: Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" film series. Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Englund began his career as a stage actor in regional theatre, and made his film debut in "Buster and Billie" in 1974. After supporting roles in films in the 1970s such as "Stay Hungry", "A Star Is Born", and "Big Wednesday", Englund had his breakthrough as the resistance fighter Willie in the miniseries "V" in 1983. Following his performance in the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1984, he became closely associated with the horror film genre, and is widely-regarded as one of its iconic actors.


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund was born on June 6, 1947, in Glendale, California, the son of Janis (née MacDonald) and John Kent Englund, an aeronautics engineer who helped develop the Lockheed U-2 airplane. He is of part Swedish ancestry and part Scottish ancestry. Englund began studying acting at the age of twelve, accompanying a friend to a children's theater program at California State University, Northridge.


title: Robert Englund

text: While in high school, he attended "Cranbrook Theatre School" (organized by the Cranbrook Educational Community) in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He then attended UCLA for three years, before dropping out and transferring to Michigan's Oakland University, where he trained at the Meadow Brook Theater, at the time a branch of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund had five successful years performing in regional theater including plays by Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw. He married for the first time in 1968 to a nurse Elizabeth Gardner, whom he divorced in 1972. Shortly afterward, he returned to the West Coast in search of film work, and landed a supporting role in the film "Buster and Billie", directed by Daniel Petrie.


title: Robert Englund

text: In 1976, Englund auditioned for the role of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars." While he didn't get either part, he suggested Mark Hamill for the role of Luke. Englund appeared in the 1977 film "Eaten Alive" directed by Tobe Hooper. He then played Ranger in "Galaxy of Terror," produced by Roger Corman, which was released in 1981. Since then, Englund has made over 100 appearances on film and television. In his early film roles, Englund was usually typecast as a nerd or a redneck, and he first gained attention in the role of Visitor technician and resistance fighter Willie in the 1983 miniseries "V," as well as the 1984 sequel "V: The Final Battle," and "V: The Series," in which he was a regular cast member.


title: Robert Englund

text: But after such typecasting, Englund went against type when he accepted the role of Freddy Krueger, the psychotic burn victim and child murderer in Wes Craven's hugely successful "A Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1984. He reprised his role as Freddy Krueger in "" (1985), "" (1987), "" (1988), "" (1989), "" (1991), "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" (1994) and "Freddy vs. Jason" (2003). His association with the genre led him to top-billed roles in "The Phantom of the Opera" (1989), "The Mangler" (1995) – another film directed by Tobe Hooper, and "2001 Maniacs" (2005).


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund is one of only four actors to portray a horror character eight consecutive times, the other three being Doug Bradley, who portrayed the Pinhead character eight times in the "Hellraiser" film series, Tobin Bell who played Jigsaw, and Brad Dourif who plays Chucky. Englund has said that he enjoys the role of Freddy as it gives him a break from always acting out the nice guy; indeed, many people who have worked with Englund attest to his congeniality. Makeup artists responsible for the Krueger makeup have commented that Englund was so friendly and talkative that it made the lengthy makeup application slightly more challenging.


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund's TV appearances include starring in the short-lived series "Nightmare Cafe" (1992), in which he played Blackie, the mysterious proprietor of the title cafe, and reprising his role of "Freddy Krueger" in the series "". His guest roles include the science fiction series "Babylon 5," one episode of the show "MacGyver" as Tim Wexler, "Masters of Horror," "MadTV," "Sliders," and "Knight Rider," where he appeared as a phantom haunting a film studio, and "Walking Tall: The Series" as well as a guest star spot on the hit TV show "Walker, Texas Ranger."


title: Robert Englund

text: His work in voice-over animation includes magician Felix Faust in "Justice League," The Riddler on "The Batman," The Vulture on "The Spectacular Spider-Man," and as Dormammu on "The Super Hero Squad Show." On the TV witch drama "Charmed" (Episode: "Size Matters"), he appeared as a demon who used the services of a lackey to lure people into a decrepit household (where he lived in the walls) and shrank them down to action figure size. He also appeared on an episode of "Married... with Children" as The Devil. Another appearance was in a 2010 season episode of the television spy send-up "Chuck", as a scientist who created a fear-inducing nerve toxin, a similar character to the Scarecrow, one of Batman's enemies in the DC Comics (A character he later portrayed in the video game "Injustice 2").


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund made his directorial debut with the 1988 horror film "976-EVIL", co-written by future Oscar winner Brian Helgeland and starring Stephen Geoffreys. During production, Englund met set decorator Nancy Booth, whom he married. His second feature, "Killer Pad," was released direct-to-DVD in 2008. During July 2013, he was in pre-production to direct "The Vij", about a young priest who is led by an evil genie to commit murder, and who falls in love with an old witch who is not what she seems.


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund also directed 2 episodes of “Freddy's Nightmares” first was “Cabin Fever” and the second “Monkey Dreams”.


title: Robert Englund

text: His memoir, "Hollywood Monster: A Walk Down Elm Street with the Man of Your Dreams," which Alan Goldsher transcribed from his dictations, was published by Pocket Books on October 13, 2009.


title: Robert Englund

text: He had also starred in the web series "Fear Clinic", where he appeared in five episodes as Dr. Andover.


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund noted he would welcome a guest appearance in the ABC revival of "V" in an interview with Todd Sokolove from "Forces of Geek". But the series was canceled before he could make such a guest appearance.


title: Robert Englund

text: In January 2010, it was announced that Englund would return as Jackson Roth for the sequel to Dee Snider's "Strangeland," titled "Strangeland II: Disciple." However, as of December 2010, no specific dates or plans had been made regarding the project.


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund made a guest appearance in "The Death of the Queen Bee" episode of "Bones," appearing as a quirky janitor at protagonist Dr. Temperance Brennan's old high school. His character, a friend of Brennan's, and situation were introduced as "very creepy... it's like Freddy creepy." Englund was a special guest at the 2010 Streamy Awards, and also appeared as a special guest of the CA Weekend of Horrors on 8 October 2010.


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund appeared on the Creation Entertainment Weekend of Horrors in May 2010. In May 2010, he was signed for the American independent thriller "Inkubus."


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund appeared as himself in the "" Zombies map, "Call of the Dead" as one of the playable characters, and acted out the part of a Halloween-themed serial killer in the 2010s revival of "Hawaii Five-0." He also took part in a Halloween "Come Dine with Me" for Channel 4 in 2012. He also appeared in "" and "".


title: Robert Englund

text: Although the character of Freddy Krueger is regarded as one of the most terrifying in cinema history, Englund is often described by fellow actors and film crews as being extremely friendly and appreciative of his fans, many admitting that his portrayal of Krueger frightened them as children.


title: Robert Englund

text: He starred in "The Last Showing" and "Fear Clinic", the latter was released on October 22, 2014 at the Screamfest Film Festival. Englund was also a special guest at Shock Comic Con on Valentine's Day 2015. In February 2016, Englund hosted a "Nightmare on Elm Street" marathon on El Rey Network.


title: Robert Englund

text: Englund was featured in the 2019 documentary "Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street", which examines the LGBT themes of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" and the life of actor Mark Patton.


title: Robert Englund

text: As of 2020, Englund has been hosting the Travel Channel show "True Terror with Robert Englund", which showcases scary but true stories about the supernatural or strange.


title: Robert Englund

text: In 2022, Englund appeared in the fourth season of the hit show "Stranger Things" as Pennhurst Mental Hospital patient Victor Creel.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Lost in Translation is a 2003 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola. Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris, a fading American movie star who is having a midlife crisis when he travels to Tokyo to promote Suntory whisky. There, he befriends another estranged American named Charlotte, a young woman and recent college graduate played by Scarlett Johansson. Giovanni Ribisi and Anna Faris also feature. The film explores themes of alienation and disconnection against a backdrop of cultural displacement in Japan. Further analysis by critics and scholars has focused on the film's defiance of mainstream narrative conventions and its atypical depiction of romance.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Coppola started writing the film after spending time in Tokyo and becoming fond of the city. She began forming a story about two characters experiencing a "romantic melancholy" in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, where she stayed while promoting her first feature film, the 1999 drama "The Virgin Suicides". Coppola envisioned Murray playing the role of Bob Harris from the beginning and tried to recruit him for up to a year, relentlessly sending him telephone messages and letters. While Murray eventually agreed to play the part, he did not sign a contract; Coppola spent a quarter of the film's $4 million budget without knowing if he would appear in Tokyo for shooting. When Murray finally arrived, Coppola described feelings of significant relief.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Principal photography began on September 29, 2002, and lasted 27 days. Coppola kept a flexible schedule during filming with a small crew and minimal equipment. The screenplay was short and Coppola often allowed a significant amount of improvisation during filming. The film's director of photography, Lance Acord, used available light as often as possible and many Japanese places of business and public areas were used as locations for shooting. After 10 weeks of editing, Coppola sold distribution rights for the United States and Canada to Focus Features, and the company promoted the film by generating positive word of mouth before its theatrical release.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: The film premiered on August 29, 2003, at the Telluride Film Festival and was a major critical and commercial success. Critics praised the performances of Murray and Johansson, as well as the writing and direction of Coppola; limited criticism was given to the film's depiction of Japan. At the 76th Academy Awards, "Lost in Translation" won Coppola Best Original Screenplay, and the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and Best Actor (Murray). Other accolades won include three Golden Globe Awards and three British Academy Film Awards.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Bob is a fading American movie star who arrives in Tokyo to appear in lucrative advertisements for Suntory whisky. He stays at the upscale Park Hyatt Tokyo and is miserable due to problems within his 25-year marriage and having a midlife crisis. Charlotte, another American staying at the hotel, is a young Yale University graduate in philosophy who is accompanying her husband John while he works as a celebrity photographer in Japan. Charlotte is feeling similarly disenchanted as she questions her marriage and is anxious about her future. They both struggle with additional bouts of jet lag and culture shock in Tokyo and pass the time loitering around the hotel.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Charlotte is repelled by a vacuous Hollywood actress named Kelly, who is also at the Park Hyatt, promoting an action film. She bumps into Charlotte and John, gushing over photography sessions she has previously done with him. Bob and Charlotte frequently cross paths in the hotel and eventually introduce themselves in the hotel bar.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: After several encounters, when John is on assignment outside Tokyo, Charlotte invites Bob into the city to meet some local friends. They bond through a fun night in Tokyo, where they experience the city nightlife together. In the days that follow, Bob and Charlotte spend more time together, and their friendship strengthens. One night, while neither can sleep, the two share an intimate conversation about Charlotte's personal uncertainties and their married lives.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Bob spends the night with a jazz singer from the hotel bar on the penultimate night of his stay and Charlotte hears the woman singing in Bob's room the next morning, leading to tension between Bob and Charlotte during lunch together later that day. The pair reencounter each other in the evening and Bob reveals that he will be leaving Tokyo the following day.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Bob and Charlotte reconcile and express how they will miss each other, making a final visit to the hotel bar. The next morning, when Bob is leaving the hotel, he and Charlotte share sincere but unsatisfactory goodbyes. On Bob's taxi ride to the airport, he sees Charlotte on a crowded street, stops the car, and walks to her. He then embraces her and whispers something in her ear. The two share a kiss and say goodbye before Bob departs.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: The film's writer-director, Sofia Coppola, has described "Lost in Translation" as a story about "things being disconnected and looking for moments of connection", a perspective that has been shared by critics and scholars. In a cultural sense, Bob and Charlotte are disoriented by feelings of jet lag and culture shock as a result of foreign travel to Japan. Bob is bewildered by his interactions with a Japanese commercial director whom he cannot understand, realizing that the meaning of his communication is "lost in translation" by an interpreter. Moreover, both are sleepless from a change in time zone, choosing to cope with their wakefulness by making late-night visits to the hotel bar. Such feelings provoke a sense of estrangement from their environment, but they also exacerbate deeper experiences of alienation and disconnection in their lives. Bob and Charlotte are both in troubled marriages and facing similar crises of identity; Charlotte is unsure of what to do with her life and questions what role she should embrace in the world, while Bob is invariably reminded of his fading stature as a movie star and feels disassociated from the identity by which he is already defined.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Such experiences are heightened by the characters' contact with the city environment of Tokyo; Bob feels alienated by seeing his likeness used in an advertisement while he is driven from the airport to his hotel, and the colorful cityscape is rendered as a frenetic environment by which he is overwhelmed. Charlotte feels adrift as she attempts to find meaning while wandering Tokyo, and she feels isolated as she peers over the city from her hotel room window. The Park Hyatt Tokyo offers hermetic qualities that insulate the characters from the city and is the site Bob chooses to seek refuge from his ails. These shared impressions of alienation create common ground for Bob and Charlotte to cultivate a personal connection. When Charlotte invites Bob to experience the Tokyo nightlife, she reduces his sense of distance from the city and the two develop a connection based on small moments together. In the little time they have together, each realize they are not alone in seeking a sense of something deeper in their lives. Coppola, speaking about the brief nature of their encounter, remarked, "For everyone, there are those moments when you have great days with someone you wouldn't expect to. Then you have to go back to your real lives, but it makes an impression on you. It's what makes it so great and enjoyable."


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Geoff King, a scholar who wrote a book about the film, comments that the experiences of the central characters are one factor that lends "Lost in Translation" to varied interpretations by academics. Todd McGowan reads the film from a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective, arguing that the film encourages the embrace of "absence" in one's life and relationships. He describes Coppola's depiction of Tokyo "as a city bubbling over with excess", which offers an empty promise of gratification. In his view, both Bob and Charlotte recognize that they cannot find meaning in Tokyo's attractions, so they bond over their shared sense of emptiness in them. Lucy Bolton offers a feminist reading, arguing that "Lost in Translation" evokes the thought of feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray by highlighting issues of young womanhood. She argues that the film provides a complex portrait of Charlotte's female subjectivity and an optimistic rendering of the character's pursuit for individual expression.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: "Lost in Translation" has been broadly examined in terms of its narrative structure, with commentators noting that it contains few plot events as compared with films in the Hollywood mainstream. Narrative events are mostly focused on the development of Bob and Charlotte's relationship, with few "external" obstacles that impact the central characters. King notes, "More time is taken to evoke the impressions, feelings, and experiences of the central characters", which represents "a shift in the hierarchical arrangement of [film elements]" that prioritizes character experiences over plot. The literary critic Steve Vineberg argues that "the links of the story are indeed there, only they're not typical cause-and-effect connections. They're formed by the emotions that gather at the end of one episode and pour into the next". King maintains that while the plot does progress according to a basic linear causality, "If the episodic quality often seems to the fore, this is partly a matter of the pacing of individual sequences that are very often leisurely and dedicated to the establishment or development of mood and atmospherics". Coppola said she wanted the story to emphasize the qualities of an intimate moment, and she did not want to impose grandiose narrative devices on the characters such as "a war keeping them apart".


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: The film's opening shot has been another point of discussion among critics and scholars. The 36-second shot, which features Charlotte's backside as she lies on a bed wearing transparent pink panties, is based on the photorealist paintings of John Kacere and has often been compared to the initial appearance of Brigitte Bardot in the 1963 film "Contempt". While some have described it as a foreshadowing of a romance between Bob and Charlotte, the film historian Wendy Haslem argues that "Coppola's intention with this opening shot appears to be to defy taboos and to undermine expectations surrounding what might be considered the 'money shot' in more traditionally exploitative cinema." Correspondingly, the academic Maria San Filippo maintains that "[Coppola] doesn't seem to be making a statement at all beyond a sort of endorsement of beauty for beauty's sake." King notes that the image contains both "subtle" and "obvious" appeal in its combination of aesthetic and erotic qualities, which signifies "Lost in Translation"s position between mainstream and independent film. The film scholar Todd Kennedy interprets it in terms of feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey's conception of the male gaze, arguing that the shot "lasts so long as to become awkward—forcing the audience to become aware of (and potentially even question) their participation in the gaze."


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: "Lost in Translation" has also been noted for defying the conventions of mainstream romantic films. Haslem writes that the classic romantic comedy assures the audience that the couple has a future, but Coppola defies expectations by refusing to unite the central characters. She points to elements such as Bob and Charlotte's lack of sexual consummation as one factor that obscures whether their pairing is more romantic or platonic. Writing about the concluding sequence in which the characters make their final goodbyes, Haslem argues, "Conventionally in mainstream cinema, the kiss... signifies resolution by reinforcing the myth of romantic love. But in this new wave of contemporary anti-romance romance, the kiss signifies ambiguity." The academic Nicholas Y.B. Wong contends that the film's lack of "heart-melting connections and melodramatic (re)unions between characters" represents a postmodern portrait of love, writing that "Lost in Translation" is "about non-love, the predominance of affairs and the complexities of intimacy. Characters vacillate between falling in love and out of love. They are neither committed to someone nor emotionally unattached." Coppola said Bob and Charlotte's relationship is "supposed to be romantic but on the edge... [A] little bit more than friends but not an actual romance... To me, it's pretty un-sexual between them—innocent and romantic, and a friendship."


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: After dropping out of college in her early twenties, Coppola often traveled to Tokyo, trying out a variety of jobs in fashion and photography. Unsure of what to do for a career, she described this period as a "kind of crisis" in which she meandered around the city contemplating her future. She came to feel fond of Tokyo, noting an otherworldly quality brought on as a foreigner grappling with feelings of jet lag in an unfamiliar setting. After many years, she settled on a career in filmmaking and returned to the city, staying at the Park Hyatt Tokyo to promote her first feature film, the 1999 drama "The Virgin Suicides".


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Coppola began writing "Lost in Translation" after returning home from this press tour. Having been influenced by her background in Tokyo, she resolved to write a screenplay set there and began forming a story about two characters experiencing a "romantic melancholy" in the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Coppola was long attracted to the neon signs of the city and envisaged Tokyo taking on a "dreamy feeling" in the film. She recruited her friend Brian Reitzell, who ultimately served as the film's music producer, to create dream pop compilation mixes that she listened to while writing to help establish this mood.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Coppola did not initially write the screenplay in traditional script form, citing the difficulty of mapping out a full plot. Instead, she opted to write "little paragraphs" largely based on disparate impressions and experiences of her life in Tokyo, which she then adapted to a script. Among the first images she included was of her friend Fumihiro Hayashi performing a karaoke rendition of the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen", which Coppola saw him perform during the time she worked in Tokyo. After writing the first 20 pages with help from her brother, Roman Coppola, she returned to Tokyo for further inspiration. There, she videotaped anything she could use as a further writing aid.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Coppola envisioned Murray playing the role of Bob from the beginning, wanting to show off "his more sensitive side" and feeling amused by the image of him dressed in a kimono. She described her mental pictures of Murray as a significant source of inspiration for the story. For the character of Charlotte, Coppola drew from her own feelings of early-twenties disorientation, citing the strain in her relationship with her then-husband Spike Jonze as an influence for the relationship between Charlotte and John. She also drew inspiration from J. D. Salinger's character Franny in "Franny and Zooey", finding appeal in "the idea of a preppy girl having a breakdown".


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: As she developed the relationship between Bob and Charlotte, Coppola was compelled by the juxtaposition of the characters having similar internal crises at different stages of their lives. She cited the dynamic between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in "The Big Sleep" as a source of inspiration for their relationship. Coppola reported doing little re-writing of the script, which took six months to complete and culminated in 75 pages, much shorter than the average feature film script. Despite worrying that the screenplay was too short and "indulgent" for including assortments of her personal experiences, she resolved to begin production of the film.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Coppola maintained that she would not have made "Lost in Translation" without Murray. The actor had an 800 number for prospective clients interested in casting him, but he had a reputation as a recluse who was difficult to contact. Coppola relentlessly pursued him and sent telephone messages and letters for months. She also sought people in her professional network that might help her make contact. She recruited screenwriter Mitch Glazer, who was a longtime friend of Murray's, to accept an early version of the script and try to persuade him. Glazer was impressed with the story and said he called the actor frequently, telling him, "You need to read this", but he would not provide an answer. After up to a year of cajoling, Murray finally agreed to meet with Coppola at a restaurant to discuss the film. He then accepted the role, saying "she spent a lot of time getting me to be the guy. In the end, I felt I couldn't let her down."


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Despite Murray's agreement, Coppola had to take him at his word, as he did not sign a formal contract. She described this as "nerve-wracking", wondering if he would show up for filming in Tokyo. She discussed the issue with director Wes Anderson, who had previously worked with the actor and encouraged her, saying, "If he says he's going to do it, he'll show up." For Murray's co-star, Coppola liked Johansson's performance in "Manny & Lo", remembering her "as a cute little girl with that husky voice". She then invited Johansson to a restaurant to discuss the role. Initially worried that the 17-year-old Johansson might be too young to play a character in her twenties, the director concluded that she appeared older and could convincingly play the part. Coppola offered Johansson the role without an audition, which she accepted.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Feeling a sense of personal investment in the project, Coppola wanted to maintain final cut privilege and feared that a distribution deal with a North American studio would threaten her influence. It was also unlikely that a studio would provide such backing, given the short length of the screenplay and Murray's lack of formal involvement. Instead, she and her agent opted to sell foreign distribution rights to an assortment of companies to fund production costs of $4 million. She struck a deal first with Japan's Tohokushinsha Film, then with distributors in France and Italy, and finally with the international arm of Focus Features for the remaining foreign market. By piecing together the funding from multiple distributors, Coppola reduced the influence of any single financier. Still not knowing if Murray would show up in Tokyo, Coppola spent $1 million of the budget, knowing that his absence would doom the production. When he finally arrived, days before filming, she described feelings of significant relief.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Principal photography began on September 29, 2002, and lasted 27 days. With a tight schedule and a limited $4 million budget, filming was done six days per week and was marked by a "run-and-gun" approach: Coppola was keen to stay mobile with a small crew and minimal equipment. She conducted few rehearsals and kept a flexible schedule, sometimes scrapping filming plans to shoot something she noticed on location if she thought it better served the story. Since the screenplay was sparse, missing details were often addressed during shooting, and Coppola allowed a significant amount of improvisation in dialogue, especially from Murray. One example includes the scene in which Bob is being photographed for Suntory whisky; Coppola encouraged Murray to react to the photographer spontaneously as she whispered names for the man to repeat to Murray as unrehearsed dialogue, such as "Roger Moore".


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: While key crew members were Americans that Coppola invited to Tokyo, most of the crew was hired locally. This proved to be challenging for the production, as most of the Japanese crew could not communicate with Coppola in English, so both sides relied on translations from a bilingual assistant director and a gaffer. The production encountered frequent delays while translations took place and suffered from occasional cultural misunderstandings; in one example, Coppola described a shoot in a restaurant that ran 10–15 minutes late, something she said was normal on an American shoot, but it prompted the restaurant owner to feel disrespected; he subsequently disconnected the crew's lights and the film's Japanese location manager resigned. Despite this, Coppola said she worked to adapt to a Japanese style of filmmaking, not wanting to impose an approach that her crew was not used to.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Coppola worked closely to visualize the film with her director of photography, Lance Acord. She showed him and other key crew members a book of photographs she created that represented the visual style she wanted to convey in the film. To evoke a sense of isolation in Bob, Coppola and Acord used stationary shots in the hotel and avoided conspicuous camera movements. They also had numerous discussions about shooting on video, but they ultimately decided that film better suited the romantic undertones of the story. Coppola remarked, "Film gives a little bit of a distance, which feels more like a memory to me. Video is more present tense". Acord believed that new film stocks would reduce the need for excessive lighting, ultimately using Kodak Vision 500T 5263 35 mm stock for night exteriors and Kodak Vision 320T 5277 stock in daylight. Most of the film was shot on an Aaton 35-III while a smaller Moviecam Compact was used in confined locations.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: With high-speed film stocks, Acord chose to utilize available light as often as possible, only supplementing with artificial lights when necessary. He reported "never really" rigging lights for night exteriors, relying on the natural light on Tokyo's city streets. For interior sequences in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, he relied mostly on the hotel's practical lighting sources, shooting at a wide open f-stop and heavily cutting the light to eliminate reflections in the hotel window. Acord said he heard objections about lighting from some of the Japanese electricians, who were unaccustomed to relying so much on available light and were concerned that the exposure would not be sufficient. Acord, assured that the film stocks would hold up against lower lighting, ultimately shot much of the film two stops underexposed.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Many of the shooting locations were Japanese places of business and public areas at the time of filming, including New York Bar in the Park Hyatt Tokyo and Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo. On public streets and subways, the production did not secure filming permits and relied on city bystanders as extras; Coppola described the shooting as "documentary-style" and was worried at times about getting stopped by police, so she kept a minimal crew. In the hotel, the production was not allowed to shoot in public areas until 1 or 2 a.m. to avoid disturbing guests. In the film's concluding sequence in which Bob and Charlotte make their final goodbyes, Coppola reported being unhappy with the dialogue she had scripted, so Murray improvised the whisper in Johansson's ear. Too quiet to be understandable, Coppola considered dubbing audio in the scene, but she ultimately decided it was better that it "stays between the two of them". After production concluded, Coppola supervised 10 weeks of editing by Sarah Flack in New York City.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: The film's soundtrack was released by Emperor Norton Records on September 9, 2003. It contains 15 tracks, largely from the shoegaze and dream pop genres of indie and alternative rock. The soundtrack was supervised by Brian Reitzell and contains songs from artists and groups including Death in Vegas, Phoenix, Squarepusher, Sébastien Tellier, and Happy End. The Jesus and Mary Chain's song "Just Like Honey" and "Sometimes" by My Bloody Valentine featured, and four original tracks were written for "Lost in Translation" by the latter band's frontman, Kevin Shields. Other tracks produced for the film include two co-written by Reitzell and Roger Joseph Manning Jr., and one by Air. Songs featured in the film that are not in the soundtrack include karaoke performances of Elvis Costello's cover of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" and The Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket". A further performance by Murray of Roxy Music's "More Than This" is included as a bonus track.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: During the screenwriting stage, Coppola spoke to Reitzell about the "moody" and "melancholic" qualities she wanted the music to convey in the film, as well as what Reitzell understood to be the "strange, floating, jet-lagged weirdness" that would define the central characters. Coppola said she wanted the soundtrack "to be less like a score" and more like the dream-pop mixes Reitzell made to assist her writing of the film. While Shields had released little music since the release of "Loveless" in 1991, at Reitzell's suggestion, he and Coppola enlisted him to help write original music for the film; Reitzell believed Shields "could capture that droning, swaying, beautiful kind of feeling that we wanted." He then joined Shields in London for some two months of overnight recording sessions, and they used the screenplay and dailies from production as inspiration while they worked on songs for the film. Shields commented on the challenge he felt in songwriting for a film, saying "I was barely aware of the language of music that's not essentially just for your ears. ... In the end, just the physical movement of the film, that was a delicacy. And I suppose that's why I ended up doing stuff that was so delicate."


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: King argues that music often plays the most significant role in setting mood and tone in the film, writing that it is substantial "in evoking the dreamy, narcotised, semi-detached impressions of jet-lag" as well as broader feelings of alienation and disconnection, "making what is probably the largest single contribution to the widespread understanding of the film as a 'mood piece'." He points to the use of "Girls" by Death in Vegas, featured in the early sequence in which Bob is driven from the airport to the hotel, arguing that it "plays a role equal to if not dominating that of the visuals..., creating a drifting, ethereal and somewhat dreamy quality that precisely captures the impressions of temporal and spatial disjunction". He also points to the use of "cool and distant" tracks like "Tommib", used in the extended sequence featuring Charlotte observing Tokyo while seated in her hotel room window, as playing a significant role in establishing feelings of isolation and disorientation in the character. In King's view, some sequences feature combinations of music and visuals so as to function as "audio-visual set pieces", which offer distinct points of appeal in the film for its target audience.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Coppola did not sell distribution rights for the United States and Canada until she and Flack finished editing the film. In February 2003, the director showed the film to top executives at the domestic arm of Focus Features, the company to which it had already sold most of the foreign distribution. The prior contract proved to be significant for Focus, as it received privileged access to the film while competing buyers complained that they were restricted to the viewing of a three-minute trailer in the Focus offices at the American Film Market. Coppola initially offered the domestic distribution rights for $5 million, but she decided to sell them to Focus for $4 million, citing her appreciation for the international deals the company had secured for the film.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Once Focus was involved, it began promoting the film by employing a conventional "indie-style" marketing campaign. The strategy involved generating positive word of mouth for the film well before its September 2003 release. The distributor arranged advance press screenings throughout the summer of 2003 and combined this with a magazine publicity campaign. Posters and trailers emphasized the recognizable star presence of Murray, highlighting his performance in the film's comic sequences, which favored wider audience appeal. Immediately prior to its release, Focus placed "Lost in Translation" in film festivals and hosted "intimate media screenings" that included question-and-answer panels with Coppola and Murray. Many of these marketing tacks were designed to promote the film at minimal cost, a departure from more costly strategies often employed in the Hollywood mainstream, such as major television advertising.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: "Lost in Translation" had its premiere on August 29, 2003, at the Telluride Film Festival in the United States. Two days later, it appeared at the Venice Film Festival in Italy, and on September 5, 2003, it was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada. It opened to the public in limited release on September 12, 2003, at 23 theaters in major cities in the United States, including New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The film had already generated speculation about Oscar contention from advance screenings and was noted for opening several weeks earlier than expected for an indie vying for awards—a risk being that opening too early might cause the film to be forgotten by the time nominations were made for major prizes like the Academy Awards. Focus Features co-presidents James Schamus and David Linde commented that the company chose an early release date on the basis of factors including the film's quality and early marketing campaign, as well as a lack of competition from other films. The strategy was intended to give "Lost in Translation" more time to command the marketplace.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: The film grossed $925,000 in its opening weekend and was expanded the next week from 23 theaters to 183 in the top 25 markets of the country. There, it grossed more than $2.62 million over the weekend and nearly paid off the total budget of the film. It entered wide release on October 3, its fourth weekend, peaking at a rank of seven in the box office chart; a week later, it expanded to an estimated 882 theaters, the film's highest theater count over its run. "Lost in Translation" grossed an estimated to-date total of $18.5 million through October 13 and was noted by "The Hollywood Reporter" to have been performing well even "in smaller and medium-sized markets where audiences don't always respond to this type of upscale material". Following this performance, "Lost in Translation" saw a gradual decline in theater presence progressing into the new year, though it was expanded again after the film received nominations for the 76th Academy Awards. The film was widened from a late December low of 117 theaters to an estimated 632 at the end of January, ultimately ending its run in the United States and Canada on March 25 and earning $44.6 million. Its international release earned $74.1 million, for a worldwide total of $118.7 million.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: The DVD of "Lost in Translation" was released on February 3, 2004, and includes deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a conversation about the film featuring Murray and Coppola, and a music video for "City Girl", one of the original songs composed for the film by Kevin Shields. Wanting to capitalize on the publicity surrounding "Lost in Translation"s presence at the Academy Awards, Focus Features made the unusual move of releasing the film on home media while it was still screening in theaters, immediately after its Oscar nominations were announced. The strategy was seen as risky, as the industry was generally concerned that theatrical revenues could be harmed by early home video release. "Lost in Translation" ultimately earned nearly $5 million from its first five days of video rentals and sold one million retail copies during its first week of release. Early returns showed it was the second-best selling DVD during this period while the film screened in 600 theaters and box office revenues dropped 19% from the previous week, which "Variety" described as "relatively modest". Focus credited the performance to positive word of mouth and cited the marketing for the film on both media as helpful for whichever platform consumers chose. "Lost in Translation" was later released on the now-obsolete HD DVD format on May 29, 2007, and on Blu-ray on December 7, 2010.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: "Lost in Translation" received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for Murray's performance and for Coppola's direction and screenplay. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 232 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Effectively balancing humor and subtle pathos, Sofia Coppola crafts a moving, melancholy story that serves as a showcase for both Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has an average score of 89 out of 100 based on 44 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Critics widely praised Murray's performance as Bob, commending his handling of a more serious role that was combined with the comic persona for which he was already broadly known. Writing for "Slate", David Edelstein argued that it was "the Bill Murray performance we've been waiting for", adding that "his two halves have never come together as they do here, in a way that connects that hilarious detachment with the deep and abiding sense of isolation that must have spawned it". Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" regarded Murray's performance as Oscar-worthy and lauded it as his "most vulnerable and unmannered" to date; she praised his treatment of a more delicate role as well as his improvisations in the film's comic sequences. "The New York Times" critic Elvis Mitchell had similar praise, calling "Lost in Translation" "Mr. Murray's movie" and remarking that the actor "supplies the kind of performance that seems so fully realized and effortless that it can easily be mistaken for not acting at all".


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Coppola received a similar level of acclaim for her screenplay and direction. Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" commented that "Lost in Translation" was "tart and sweet, unmistakably funny and exceptionally well observed—[which] marks... Coppola as a mature talent with a distinctive sensibility and the means to express it". Much of the praise was directed specifically at her attention to qualities of subtlety and atmosphere; David Rooney of "Variety" praised the film as "a mood piece", adding that its "deft balance of humor and poignancy makes it both a pleasurable and melancholy experience". Likewise, "Salon" critic Stephanie Zacharek lauded Coppola as a "stealth dramatist" whose understated narrative style made for an artful depiction of emotion; she praised "Lost in Translation" as an intimate story that marks Coppola as an exceptional filmmaker.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: Praise was also offered for Johansson's performance as Charlotte; Rooney commented that she "gives a smartly restrained performance as an observant, questioning woman with a rich interior life", and Turan added that Johansson "makes what could have been an overly familiar characterization come completely alive". "Lost in Translation" was listed as a best film of the year by more than 235 critics and has appeared on other "best of" lists in the years after its release. "Paste" ranked it number seven on its list of "The 50 Best Movies of the 2000s", "Entertainment Weekly" ranked it number nine on its list of the decade's top ten, and the film was ranked number 22 on a 2016 list of the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century, based on a poll of 177 critics.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: While not a topic of most reviews, "Lost in Translation" received some charges of Orientalist racial stereotyping in its depiction of Japan. The filmmaker E. Koohan Paik argued that the film's comedy "is rooted entirely in the 'otherness' of the Japanese people", and that the story fails to offer balanced characterizations of the Japanese, adding that "it is... the shirking of responsibility to depict them as full human beings, either negative or positive, which constitutes discrimination, or racism". Similarly, the artist Kiku Day charged in "The Guardian" that "[t]here is no scene where the Japanese are afforded a shred of dignity. The viewer is sledgehammered into laughing at these small, yellow people and their funny ways". Prior to the film's release in Japan, local distributors were reported to have concern about how it would be received there, and the film was ultimately met with criticism in some Japanese reviews; among them, critic Yoshiro Tsuchiya of "Yomiuri Shimbun" wrote that Coppola's representation of Japan was "outrageously biased and banal". Perceptions of stereotyping also led to a campaign against the film by an Asian American organization that urged members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to vote against it at the 76th Academy Awards.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: The film scholar Homay King argues that while the film ultimately does little to counter Orientalist stereotypes, it fails to establish the perspective from which Japanese representations are made, writing that "the film [does not] sufficiently clarify that its real subject is not Tokyo itself, but Western perceptions of Tokyo... When Japan appears superficial, inappropriately erotic, or unintelligible, we are never completely sure whether this vision belongs to Coppola, to her characters, or simply to a Hollywood cinematic imaginary". Moreover, Geoff King maintains that while depictions such as Charlotte's alienation from experiences like ikebana are evidence that the film abstains from the Orientalist "mythology of Japanese tradition as source of solace", the film often situates Japan as a source of "difference" for the characters by relying on crude jokes and stereotypes of the Japanese as "crazy" or "extreme". Coppola reported being surprised by such criticism, saying, "I think if everything's based on truth you can make fun, have a little laugh, but also be respectful of a culture. I just love Tokyo and I'm not mean-spirited".


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: "Lost in Translation" received awards and nominations in a variety of categories, particularly for Coppola's direction and screenwriting, as well as the performances of Murray and Johansson. At the 76th Academy Awards, it won Best Original Screenplay (Coppola) and the film received three further nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and Best Actor (Murray). The film garnered three Golden Globe Awards from five nominations: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and Best Screenplay. At the 57th British Academy Film Awards, "Lost in Translation" won three awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Johansson), and Best Editing.


title: Lost in Translation (film)

text: "Lost in Translation" also received awards from various foreign award ceremonies, film festivals, and critics' organizations. These include Best American Film at the Bodil Awards, Best Foreign Film at the César Awards, and Best Foreign Film at the Film Critics Circle of Australia, French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, and Deutscher Filmpreis, as well as the Nastro d'Argento for Best Foreign Director. The film also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film, Best Film – Comedy or Musical at the Satellite Awards, and two prizes at the Venice International Film Festival. From critics' organizations, "Lost in Translation" received awards in the Best Film category from the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the Toronto Film Critics Association, and the Vancouver Film Critics Circle.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Uday Saddam Hussein (; 18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician and the eldest son of Saddam Hussein. He held numerous positions as a sports chairman, military officer and businessman, and was the head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and Iraq Football Association, and head of the Fedayeen Saddam.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Uday Hussein was born in Baghdad. He was the eldest child of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his first wife and cousin, Sajida Talfah. Uday was seen for several years as the likely successor to his father but lost the place as heir apparent to his younger brother, Qusay, due to injuries in an assassination attempt. Following the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, he was killed alongside Qusay and his nephew Mustafa by an American task force after a prolonged gunfight in Mosul.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Uday was reportedly erratically ruthless and intimidating to perceived adversaries as well as to close friends. Family relatives and personal acquaintances were often victims of his violence and rage. Witness allegations have suggested he was guilty of rape, murder, and torture, including the arrest and torture of Iraqi Olympic athletes and members of the national football team whenever they lost a match.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Uday Saddam Hussein Al Tikriti was born in Al-Karkh, Baghdad to Saddam Hussein and Sajida Talfah while his father was in prison. Multiple sources give different birthdays; although official sources give an 18 June 1964 birth, "The Independent" gave a birth date of 9 March 1964, while others give a 1965 birth. One source gave it as early as 1963. He was rumored to have played with disarmed grenades as an infant. As a child, he and his younger brother Qusay would witness executions with their father.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Uday attended al-Mansour school in Baghdad in the 1970s. One of his former teachers was Dinah Bentley, an English teacher from Yorkshire who married an Iraqi and briefly taught at the school. Uday was reportedly driven to school by a chauffeur in a Mercedes-Benz and surrounded by servants. He picked up his English teacher's Yorkshire accent and was described as a cheerful, bright child who was responsive to discipline, but an average student who struggled to concentrate.


title: Uday Hussein

text: He was alleged to have committed his first killing as a 16 year old against his teacher who chastised him in front of his girlfriend. He started his university studies at Baghdad Medical College, where he only stayed for three days. Then he moved to the College of Engineering, and obtained a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Baghdad. He wrote his master's thesis on "Iraqi military strategy during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war". He obtained a doctorate in political science from the University of Baghdad in 1998 and the title of his thesis was "The world after the Cold War", where he predicted the United States would no longer be a world power in 2015. Some have argued that Uday did not have academic abilities and his theses were written by others in exchange for money and gifts, and no one was able to give Uday a low score out of fear. "He was really smart, probably smarter than his father—but he was crazy," said one of his classmates about Uday.


title: Uday Hussein

text: In 1984, after graduating university, Saddam appointed Uday chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and the Iraq Football Association. In the former role, he tortured athletes who failed to win. Latif Yahia, who claims to have been Uday's body double, said, "The word that defines him is sadistic. I think Saddam Hussein was more human than Uday. The Olympic Committee was not a sports center, it was Uday's world".


title: Uday Hussein

text: Raed Ahmed, one of the Iraqi athletes who escaped, stated: "During training, he would watch all the athletes closely, and put pressure on the coaches to push the athletes even more. If he was not happy with the results, he would have coaches and athletes put in his private prison in the Olympic Committee building. The punishment was Uday's private prison where they tortured people. Some athletes, including the best ones, started quitting the sport once Uday took over the Committee. "I always managed not to be punished. I made sure not to promise anything. There is a strong possibility of always being beaten. But when I won, Uday would be very happy." In 2005, an interrogation video of Uday was revealed while questioning Raed's family. Uday met the father of the fugitive Iraqi Rab'a as well as his mother, Laila Hassoun, as Uday urged them to ask about their son's wife, and despite that, Uday did not suffer the usual harm to the father and mother of the fugitive Iraqi Rab'a for a simple reason, which is that Uday himself was the guarantor of the fugitive Rab'a and his relatives did not sponsor him. That day, the Iraqi authorities stipulate that whoever travels in an official delegation must guarantee his relatives' return. Uday focused upon his meeting with the relatives of the defected athlete on their question to which region they belong, when Uday asked the Iraqi athlete's father about his description of what his son did, the father said this was wrong. Uday responded angrily, saying "This is a shame, not a mistake." According to the father and mother's account, Uday ordered the filming to stop and told them that they had to bring the wife of the fugitive athlete, otherwise he would "cut your heads". Then they said that they were transported by car to a prison where they remained for 16 days in extremely poor conditions.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Ammo Baba, who coached teams who won 18 tournaments and participated thrice in the Olympic Games, said the punishment that Uday imposed on the players had destroyed their athletic abilities. Baba noted that half of the Iraqi athletes had left the country, and many of them pretended to be sick before the games against strong competitors. Baba said that Uday had destroyed the national team, adding that they played worse after being arrested. Baba said he told his friends that if he died suddenly, they would know the reason. However, some people claim that these stories are exaggerated. Maad Ibrahim Hamid, assistant coach of the national football team, said that Uday was giving the players financial rewards for victory and threatening them with imprisonment in the event of defeat. Hamid said that the athletes were not subjected to torture, but some were arrested for immoral behavior, including adultery and addiction to alcohol, as well as for playing poorly. Ahmed Radhi, one of the most famous football players in Iraq, said that after he was not willing to join the newly-founded Al-Rasheed club, he was kidnapped at midnight by Uday's men, beaten and accused of harassment. Then, he accepted Uday's offer because of death threats. Another Iraqi international footballer, Saad Qais, said that Uday was angry with him because he was sent off in a match against Turkmenistan in 1997. The "discipline" operation was carried out by jailers known as "teachers" in a closed section of the Radwaniyah detention facility for athletes and journalists. He said, "Uday established the Rashid team and forced the best Iraqi players to play in it, and forced me to leave my beloved team, and he honored us with gifts after every win, but he also punished us after every loss."


title: Uday Hussein

text: Although his status as Saddam's elder son made him Saddam's prospective successor, Uday fell out of favour with his father. In October 1988, at a party in honour of Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Uday murdered his father's personal valet and food taster, Kamel Hana Gegeo, possibly at the request of his mother. Before an assemblage of horrified guests, an intoxicated Uday bludgeoned Gegeo, and repeatedly stabbed him with an electric carving knife. Gegeo had recently introduced Saddam to a younger woman, Samira Shahbandar, who had become Saddam's second wife in 1986. Uday considered his father's relationship with Shahbandar an insult to his mother. Shahbandar's oldest son fled to Jordan because of the harassment by Uday after the marriage. He also may have feared losing succession to Gegeo, whose loyalty to Saddam Hussein was unquestioned.


title: Uday Hussein

text: As punishment for the murder, Saddam briefly imprisoned Uday. Once released, Uday was sent to Switzerland to act as the assistant to the Iraqi ambassador there. He was expelled by the Swiss government in 1990, after he was repeatedly arrested for fighting. According to Jalopnik, Uday's vast car collections were burned by his father after the Kamel Hana Gegeo incident.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Others describe the murder as follows: Next to the palace where Suzanne Mubarak and Uday's mother were staying, Kamel Hana was celebrating the wedding of a relative and firing in the air, so Uday sent his men and asked them not to bother the two women. During the discussion, Uday hit Kamel's head with his walking stick, causing Kamel's death. Uday, afraid of his father's reaction, tried to commit suicide and was taken to the hospital. He escaped from the hospital, set up a barricade around his home, and fired at anyone trying to enter his home. He surrendered with the persuasion of his brother Qusay.


title: Uday Hussein

text: According to the memory of Uday's step-uncle Barzan, after escaping from the hospital he went to his father's palace and told him to "stay with your real wife". Then Saddam said to Barzan, "He was lucky because I had no weapon with me." But Uday later came to the door of the palace again and told Barzan that he intended to shoot his father. He fired at his brother Qusay and at step-uncles who were trying to prevent him from doing so. Later, under the guidance of Barzan, Uday apologized to his father. His father ordered him to surrender. When his brothers-in-law Hussein Kamel and Saddam Kamel learned that he was trying to escape to the United States, he was arrested on his father's orders, but released three weeks later. After the incident, Uday attacked two people whom he thought were informers. At the request of Saddam, Uday was sent out of Iraq under the control of Barzan to Switzerland in order to get rid of the disgrace caused by Uday.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Muhammad Asim Shanshal, head of the private office of Uday, said, "After a call from his mother, Sajida, told him that Kamel Hanna holds a joyful party for Saddam's second wife, Samira Shahbandar. There was shooting, rejoicing, and Uday shouting in the face of 'Kamel Hanna', denounced: "What is the mess?!" And he said: We celebrate on the occasion of lady and the President. Uday threatened him and warned him not to shoot bullets in the air, so it was 'Kamel Hanna' except that he raised his weapon in the air and fired bullets, so Uday's response was a fatal blow to his head with a heavy club that was with him, and he was killed. Saddam imprisoned all his guards and those who were with him, who were 15 individuals, and I was supposed to be with them had it not been for the delay that saved me from prison. They were sentenced to imprisonment, and Uday was exiled from Iraq to Switzerland for a period of six months."


title: Uday Hussein

text: In 1995, during a fight between his maternal uncle Louay and paternal half uncle Watban, Uday shot his half uncle as well as the other guests at the party. The shooting left six bodyguards dead and Watban seriously injured. Uday then took his half uncle Watban to the hospital and disappeared. Because his brothers-in-law, Hussein Kamel and Saddam Kamel, escaped to Jordan the next day, Uday's attack on his uncle remained in the background. Saddam ordered Uday to ask his uncle to shoot him in the same way as Uday had shot him, but Watban refused to do so. One of the injured at the party said that the reason for the attack was that Uday's half-uncle had mocked Uday's speech disorder and his maternal uncle had told Uday about it. Since birth, Uday's upper jaw has extended forward an abnormally large amount, making it difficult for him to speak clearly. At the ceremony, his uncle had imitated him mockingly. Shortly after the incident, Saddam got angry when he saw his half-brother in the hospital having difficulty walking, and he ordered the garage for Uday's luxury cars to be burned down. Uday was angry with his brother Qusay for not preventing Saddam and had a nervous breakdown. Qusay said he prevented him from burning another garage. Uday set up a barricade in front of his luxury cars in another nearby garage, armed himself with weapons, and waited for his father or his men to come. According to his close friend Jaber, Uday would have killed him if his father had come to the second garage. Abbas Al Janabi said: "The reason why Uday shot Watban was a result of a business conflict between Lu'ayy Khayrallah Tulfa [Sajida's brother; Uday's maternal uncle and his childhood friend] and one of Saddam's other half-brothers, with Watban becoming the victim. Following Uday's shooting of [his uncle] Watban, Saddam tried to confiscate and blow up Uday's cars in one garage. But that garage contained only thirteen cars. Saddam did not know that Uday has several other garages; I know of at least six more."


title: Uday Hussein

text: According to the book "The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein" by John Nixon, Uday provoked the escape of Hussein Kamel al-Majid and Saddam Kamel in 1995. A drunk Uday went to Kamel's house where a party was being held and punched Saddam Kamel. When he was defeated by Kamel, he took out his gun and fired, but accidentally wounded Watban, who got in the way. Shortly after the grooms escaped to Jordan, Saddam burned the garage for Uday's luxury cars, saying, "While Iraqis are suffering from the embargo, this situation may send a false message." Uday took over Iraq's oil sales, previously largely pocketed by the entourage of Hussein Kamel when he oversaw the oil business along with his responsibilities in defense and industry, Uday also zeroed in on other areas that had been the province of Kamel, including army equipment supplies, reconstruction and food imports. An Iraqi official said, "Kamel decided to defect because he became frightened that Uday was now getting strong enough to really take care of him."


title: Uday Hussein

text: Along with many other crimes, he along with Qusay in 1996, was said to be involved in the killings of their brothers-in-law, Hussein Kamel and Saddam Kamel, who themselves were powerful members of the elite regime. The two men, who had defected to Jordan along with their wives and children, were murdered after their return to Iraq.


title: Uday Hussein

text: About the murder, Abbas Al Janabi, said: "The decision to eliminate Husayn Kamil was not decided ahead of time but only after his return to Baghdad. On his return, Husayn Kamil was asked to go to the presidential palace. Saddam asked that both he and his brother divorce their wives (Saddam's daughters), but they both refused. In addition to Uday, Saddam had asked a prominent judge to attend the meeting with Husayn Kamil to prepare the divorce papers. I was at the palace at the time but I stayed outside the meeting room. I waited for 'Uday to leave the room, and he told me the details. After his refusal, Husayn Kamil went to his palace in the Ad-Dura area. The decision to eliminate them took place after their refusal to divorce. The decision to execute Husayn Kamil came from Saddam personally. Saddam had also decided that the execution should be carried out by Husayn Kamil's cousins in the al-Majid clan. It was the duty of Uday, Qusay, and Ali Hasan al-Majid to oversee the executions. Uday was not an initial proponent of his execution. However, after Husayn Kamil refused to divorce Uday's sister, Uday became a supporter of the decision to execute Husayn Kamil and his brother." On that day, Janabi said, "With a loudspeaker, Uday said to him 'You and your brother have to divorce the girls, this is your last chance.' Instead of answering them, Kamel shoot them." The shoot-out lasted 13 hours. Then brothers and their father came out to surrender and they were dumped out. "After they kill him, from a very near distance they shoot him, many bullets in his body. He was just swimming with a lake of blood."


title: Uday Hussein

text: Uday sustained permanent injuries during an assassination attempt while in his Porsche on the evening of 12 December 1996. Struck by between 7 and 17 bullets while driving in Al-Mansour, Baghdad, Uday was initially believed to be paralyzed. Evacuated to Ibn Sina Hospital, he eventually recovered but with a noticeable limp. Despite repeated operations, two bullets remained lodged in his spine and could not be removed due to their location. In the wake of Uday's subsequent disabilities, Saddam gave Qusay increasing responsibility and authority, designating him as his heir apparent in 2000. However, Abbas al-Janabi claimed that Uday's exclusion in the family ended after shooting his step-uncle Watban after this assassination. An American hypnotist from Chicago, Larry Garrett, travelled to Baghdad twice in April and September 2001, where he utilized hypnotism to treat Uday's inability to walk with his left leg and spent over 60 hours of personal time with Uday. Garrett said of Uday, "He was an educated man, with a background in engineering. He was versed in the Koran. He had visited the U.S. with his cousin when he was 17. He expressed some political views, but he didn't involve me in them. I must say I was developing a fondness for him. He never spoke to me as a leader or the son of a leader. He never condescended. It was just two men sitting around at night." He published a book of his experiences with Uday in Iraq, initially titled "Healing the enemy: Hypnotic Nights in Baghdad", but later changed to "Hypnotizing the Devil: The True Story of a Hypnotist Who Treated the Psychotic Son of Saddam Hussein". He met with Uday on the day of the September 11 attacks, where Uday had great concern for Garrett's safety and told him Iraq would likely be blamed for the attack.


title: Uday Hussein

text: The Shia Shaaban movement assumed responsibility for the assassination attempt. Salman Sharif, one of the four would-be assassins who attacked Uday, learned that he regularly visited one of the luxurious streets of Mansour every Thursday at around 7 in the evening to pick up a girl. They watched the street for three months and made preparations. They realized that Uday was sometimes unprotected and tried to find out which shop owners and workers on the street were part of the secret police, and who were real shopkeepers. On the day of the assassination attempt, they saw a luxury car that could only belong to Uday without bodyguards. They shot Uday exactly 50 times, with 17 hits. Some Shaaban members who knew about this assassination attempt were arrested for another incident in Jordan and handed over to the Iraqi police. In August 1998, Saddam's men arrested Abu Sajad and learned the details of other members of the team. Sharif's seven brothers and father were imprisoned, and his mother was then told to collect their bodies from the Baghdad morgue. The father and three brothers of would-be assassin Abu Sadeq were executed. Abu Sajad and his father shared the same fate. Security guards destroyed the homes of all families with bulldozers and confiscated all their property. Iraqi intelligence eventually traced Abu Sadeq to a location in Iran where he was assassinated on the elder Hussein's orders in December 2002.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Uday never fully recovered from the injuries he sustained during the attack; purportedly walking with a limp for the rest of his life and—according to popular belief—becoming impotent. Sharif interpreted this as "divine justice", referring to Uday's brutal reputation with women.


title: Uday Hussein

text: According to Ala Bashir, the surgeon who operated on Uday, "He was not impotent because the injury was far from the reproductive system." He said that Uday saw the assassination attempt as God's revenge for having shot his uncle in the same leg. He said, "Saddam entered the operating room. He looked at his son with calmness, and if any other person, whatever his strength, saw his son in such a scene, he would've lost his temper, but Saddam did not shook his time, but turned around his son and said to him despite his knowledge Uday was unconscious, 'My son, such things are possible and can be expected for men, but we are right and they are false.' Then he kissed him on his forehead and left. Then he met his son Qusay and said to him, 'My son. These things happen to the men, except for a bullet or a wound with a knife. These are normal matters, but you must prepare yourself for the worst day.' Then he went out." About Uday's personality, Ala Bashir said, "Uday was scary because he was unbalanced and did not care about anyone. He often attacked the leadership and no one stood up to him, so I avoided him and did not come close to him. Uday used to hate me a lot and tried to offend me and caused me a lot of problems, but his father's interest in me was a deterrent in front of him."


title: Uday Hussein

text: Abbas al-Janabi, who had worked with Uday as his secretary for 15 years, claimed that every Iraqi knew that Uday had come to that street on Thursdays and claimed that Uday had become much more brutal after the assassination attempt. He also claimed that Uday was outraged by the rumors that he was impotent after the assassination attempt and ordered the secret police to make up stories about his virility. Janabi said, "Uday is a sadist, a monster. I saw how he laughed when someone was whipped." He also claimed that he witnessed dozens of rapes. He said that what makes Uday sexually excited was violence: "This is his nature, rape is like a hobby for him, and believe me, I know what I am talking about and I am not exaggerating." Janabi said, "I saw how he tortured people, how he laughed, how he enjoyed it, you can't control him, he is a kind of maniac, he is a psychologically imbalanced person." He said that Uday never kept friends around for long because he enjoyed scaring them. Uday didn't think that it was clean for his dogs to retrieve the birds he shot, so he would force his friends to act as retrievers when he went hunting. He said that Uday neutralized women who refused him with alcohol and drugs, raped them, recorded it, and if the victim's family was important, he terrorized the family by blackmail. He said that Uday even started to look at 12-year-old girls after he was 30 years old. Unlike their fathers, he said that Uday and Qusay are not the type of people to surrender.


title: Uday Hussein

text: Ala Bashir claimed that Uday had sustained brain damage due to low blood pressure after the assassination attempt, but doctors could not report this damage to Saddam. Again, according to Bashir, on the day of the incident, Ali Al Sahar, the brother of singer Kadim El Sahar, was with Uday, and the attempt was made on Uday's life when Ali got out of the car to give Uday's phone number to some girls that Uday liked. Ali immediately took Uday to the hospital. Qusay told his father that the incident happened when Uday went to buy food to break his fasting, but Saddam said to Ali, "I know you were going to pick up girls there." Earlier it was claimed that Uday was jealous of singer Kadim Al Sahar because of his fame in Iraq and Kadim had to leave Iraq because of his threats. Abbas Al Janabi said: "The interesting point here is that the person who saved Uday's life by driving him to the hospital, the singer Ali as-Sahir, received a death threat from Saddam personally in front of others. I was waiting outside the hospital with Qusay when Saddam arrived in a helicopter. He asked for Ali as-Sahir, who was brought to him. In front of us, Saddam told him: 'If anything happens to Uday, I will cut you in pieces.' Saddam thought that Sahir was behind the attempt."


title: Uday Hussein

text: After the assassination attempt, Uday said to the press: "I feel fine. I'm recovering. I feel like any leader of a team would feel if he had been betrayed. I feel that what has happened is not man's work. (meaning this was a cowardly act) God bless the Iraqi people. God save Iraq. God save Saddam." Later, Uday told CNN his wounds are a source of pride and honor. He cited a family history of wounds acquired in battle, ending with his father, wounded in an operation "for the party" in 1959. "And now this has happened to me," he said. "The attack was nothing unusual. It could happen any time, because we are surrounded by countries, some of whom are hostile," none more so than Iran, he said. "Time has proved that Iran is involved in such incidents. Incidents such as this have occurred throughout the region, not just in Iraq." He warned that Iran is growing in power, saying it is "not in the interests of the United States to increase hostility and hatred in the region."


title: Uday Hussein

text: In 1987, Uday allegedly raped the 15-year-old daughter of his father’s mistress Shaqraa, a Greek-Lebanese former paegent holder who was the daughter of an oil businessman. In 2000, two French university students claimed that they were invited by Uday to a party in Baghdad, but as soon as they entered the room, they were forced to have sex with each other at gunpoint while it was recorded by camera. In 1999, an anti-embargo group of French volunteers went to Iraq and a girl was forced to stay with Uday after the party, but they were able to leave the party when one of the girls said "we did not come here to be prostitutes". Miss Germany, Alexandra Vodjanikova, met with Uday and said "he was charming, downright warm, very friendly and always said to her 'you are beautiful, you are sexy'".


title: Uday Hussein

text: One of his former classmates, Aziz Al-Taee, said: Zainab Salbi, daughter of Saddam Hussein's private pilot said, "The days when Uday came to the university, the girls were hiding in the toilet in fear to escape from his hungry eyes, but it is a known fact that nobody can escape from the lust of Uday and Uday is known for his eerie quietness than for wild craziness." One of his long-time employees, Khaled Jassem, said: