Celebrity
Paul Auster, Prolific And Experimental Man Of Letters And Filmmaker, Dies At 77
NEW YORK —Paul Auster, a prolific, award-winning writer and director known for creative tales and meta-narratives such as “The New York Trilogy” and “4 3 2 1,” died at the age of 77.
The Carol Mann Agency, Auster’s literary representatives, announced his death on Wednesday but did not immediately disclose any other information. Auster was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.
Auster wrote over 30 books, which have been translated into dozens of languages, beginning in the 1970s. He was a longtime fixture in the Brooklyn literary scene but has yet to achieve major commercial success in the United States. However, he was widely admired overseas for his cosmopolitan worldview and erudite and reflective style, and the French government named him a chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1991. He was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
AP – VOR News Image
Paul Auster, Prolific And Experimental Man Of Letters And Filmmaker, Dies At 77
Auster, dubbed the “dean of American post-modernists” and “the most meta of American meta-fictional writers,” combined history, politics, genre experiments, existential quests, and self-conscious references to writers and writing. “The New York Trilogy,” which featured “City of Glass,” “Ghosts,” and “The Locked Room,” was a postmodern detective story in which names and identities blurred, and one protagonist was a private investigator named Paul Auster. The brief “Travels in the Scriptorium” tells a story within a story as a political prisoner is forced to read a sequence of narratives by other victims, which will eventually include his own.
The author’s longest and most ambitious work of fiction, “4 3 2 1,” was published in 2017 and was a Booker Prize nominee. The 800-page novel is a story of quadraphonic realism in the post-World War II era, following Archibald Isaac Ferguson’s simultaneous adventures from summer camp and high school baseball to student life in New York and Paris during the major uprisings of the late 1960s.
“Identical but different, meaning four boys with the same name parents, the same bodies, and the same genetic material, but each one living in a different house in a different town with his own set of circumstances,” the author writes. “Each one on his own separate path, and yet all of them still the same person, three imaginary versions of himself, and then himself thrown in as Number Four for good measure; the author of the book.”
His other works included the nonfiction compilations “Groundwork” and “Talking to Strangers”; a family memoir, “The Invention of Solitude”; a biography of novelist Stephen Crane; the novels “Leviathan” and “Talking to Strangers”; and the poetry collection “White Space.” In his most recent novel, “Baumgardner,” the titular character is a widowed professor troubled by mortality and wondering “where his mind will be taking him next.”
Auster was such an old-fashioned novelist that he used a typewriter and disliked email and other Internet communication. However, he had an extraordinarily active film career compared to his writing peers.
In the mid-1990s, Auster worked with filmmaker Wayne Wang on the celebrated art-house film “Smoke,” which was an adaptation of Auster’s funny narrative about a Brooklyn tobacco shop and a customer named Paul. The film stars Harvey Keitel, Stockard Channing, and William Hurt, among others, and earned Auster an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.
AP – VOR News Image
Paul Auster, Prolific And Experimental Man Of Letters And Filmmaker, Dies At 77
Wang and Auster immediately followed up on “Smoke” with “Blue in the Face,” an improvised story set in a Brooklyn cigar shop that starred Keitel and featured appearances by everyone from Lou Reed to Lily Tomlin.
Auster eventually created the films himself. Keitel appeared in Auster’s 1998 love story “Lulu on the Bridge,” which he directed and co-wrote with Vanessa Redgrave. Nine years later, Auster wrote and directed the drama “The Inner Life of Martin Frost,” which starred David Thewlis as an author and Irène Jacob as a lady who has an unusual connection to the story he is writing.
“The four times I’ve worked on movies, I’ve never had a problem talking to actors,” Auster told filmmaker Wim Wenders in a 2017 interview published in Interview magazine. “I was always in excellent harmony with them. After those events, I recognized a connection between creating fiction and acting. The writer does it with words on a page, whereas the actor does so with his body. The effort remains the same.
Auster married fellow author Siri Hustvedt in 1982, and they had a daughter, Sophie, who appears in “The Inner Life of Martin Frost.” He also had a son, Daniel, from his first marriage to the author-translator Lydia Davis. Daniel Auster would suffer from drug addiction and die of an overdose in 2022, shortly after being charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of his young daughter, Ruby.
Paul Auster never publicly discussed his son’s death, but he had written extensively on parenthood. In “The Invention of Solitude,” published in 1982, he reflected on the “thousands of hours” he’d spent with Daniel in the first three years of his life and wondered if they were worthwhile. “It will be lost forever,” Auster wrote. “All these things will vanish for the boy’s memory forever.”
AP – VOR News Image
Paul Auster, Prolific And Experimental Man Of Letters And Filmmaker, Dies At 77
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Paul Benjamin Auster grew up in a middle-class Jewish family caught between his father’s thriftiness and miserliness and his mother’s desire to spend to the point of irresponsibility. He would soon feel like an outcast in his family, turned off by their materialism and inspired by James Joyce’s “Ulysses” or Edgar Allan Poe’s stories rather than the stability of a typical employment.
His ideals would be thoroughly tested. After graduating from Columbia University, Auster toiled for years before finding a publisher and making money from his works. He wrote poetry, translated French literature, worked on an oil tanker, tried to sell a baseball board game, and even considered making money by raising worms in his cellar.
“All along, my only ambition had been to write,” Auster wrote in her brief memoir “Hand to Mouth,” released in 1995. “I knew it as early as 16 or 17 years old, and I never misled myself into believing I could make a life from it. Becoming a writer is not a ‘career decision’ like becoming a doctor or a police officer. You don’t select it; you’re picked, and once you realize that you’re not cut out for anything else, you must be prepared to walk a long, hard road for the rest of your life.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Los Angeles — One of two doctors indicted in the investigation into Matthew Perry’s death is set to plead guilty Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal court to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, accepted a plea agreement with prosecutors in August, becoming the third individual to plead guilty following the “Friends” star’s tragic overdose last year.
Prosecutors proposed lower charges to Chavez and two others in exchange for their assistance as they pursued two people they believe are more culpable for the overdose death: another doctor and an alleged dealer known as the “ketamine queen” of Los Angeles.
Doctor Charged In Connection With Matthew Perry’s Death Is Expected To Plead Guilty
His lawyer, Matthew Binninger, stated following Chavez’s initial court appearance on Aug. 30 that he is “incredibly remorseful” and “trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong that happened here.”
Perry’s assistant, who admitted to assisting him in obtaining and injecting ketamine, and a Perry acquaintance, who admitted to serving as a drug courier and intermediary, are also cooperating with federal authorities.
The three are assisting prosecutors in their case of Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who is accused of unlawfully selling ketamine to Perry in the month preceding his death, and Jasveen Sangha, a woman who officials claim provided the actor the lethal quantity of ketamine. Both pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
In his guilty deal, Chavez admitted to obtaining ketamine from his prior clinic as well as a wholesale distributor to whom he submitted a bogus prescription.
After pleading guilty, he might face up to ten years in jail when sentenced.
Perry was discovered deceased by his assistant on October 28. The medical examiner concluded that ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been taking the medicine as prescribed by his regular doctor, which is a legitimate but off-label treatment for depression that is becoming more widespread.
Doctor Charged In Connection With Matthew Perry’s Death Is Expected To Plead Guilty
Perry started requesting more ketamine than his doctor would give him. About a month before his death, the actor saw Plasencia, who then begged Chavez to procure the medication for him.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez. They met on the same day in Costa Mesa, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, and swapped at least four ketamine vials.
After selling the pills to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia asked Chavez if he could continue to supply them so they could become Perry’s “go-to.”
Perry suffered from addiction for many years, beginning with his time on “Friends,” when he rose to prominence as Chandler Bing. From 1994 until 2004, he starred with Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer in NBC’s megahit sitcom.
SOURCE | AP
NEW YORK — Daniel Day-Lewis is returning from retirement, seven years after his last film, for a film directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis.
The collaboration was unveiled Tuesday by Focus Features and Plan B, who are working together on “Anemone.” The film, Ronan Day-Lewis’ directorial debut, will feature his father, Sean Bean, and Samantha Morton. The two Day-Lewises co-wrote the picture.
Earlier Tuesday, Daniel Day-Lewis and Bean were seen riding a motorbike around Manchester, England, fuelling speculation about his anticipated return to acting. After completing Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2017 film “Phantom Thread,” the 67-year-old announced his retirement from performing.
Daniel Day-Lewis Ends Acting Retirement For A Movie Directed By His Son
“All my life, I’ve mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don’t know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion,” the actor told W Magazine in 2017. “It was something I had to do.”
He has made few public appearances since then. In January, he made an unexpected appearance at the National Board of Review Awards, when he presented an award to Martin Scorsese, who directed him in “Gangs of New York” (2002) and “The Age of Innocence” (1993).
“Anemone,” which is now under production, is characterized as looking at “the intricate relationships between fathers, sons, and brothers, as well as the dynamics of familial bonds.”
Daniel Day-Lewis Ends Acting Retirement For A Movie Directed By His Son
“We could not be more excited to partner with a brilliant visual artist in Ronan Day-Lewis on his first feature film, alongside Daniel Day-Lewis as his creative collaborator,” said Peter Kujawski, chair of Focus Features. “They have written a truly exceptional script, and we look forward to bringing their shared vision to audiences alongside the team at Plan B.”
SOURCE | AP
NEW YORK — John Ashton, the veteran character actor who famously played the gruff but endearing police investigator John Taggart in the ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ movie, died. He was 76.
John passed away on Thursday in Fort Collins, Colorado, according to a statement released on Sunday by Ashton’s manager, Alan Somers. No cause of death was immediately determined.
John Ashton, ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Actor, Dies At 76
In a career spanning more than 50 years, John was a familiar face across TV shows and films, including “Midnight Run,” “Little Big League,” and “Go Baby Gone.”
But in the “Beverly Hills Cop” movie, John was an integral part of an unforgettable triumvirate. Though Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley, a Detroit detective investigating a crime in Los Angeles, was the main character, the two local detectives — Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Ashton’s Taggart — were Axel’s sometimes reluctant, sometimes eager accomplices.
Of the three, Taggart — “Sarge” to Billy — was the more fearful, by-the-book detective. But he was constantly lured into Axel’s ideas. Ashton co-starred in all four films, beginning with the 1984 original and continuing through the Netflix reboot, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” which debuted earlier this year.
Ashton played a more unscrupulous character in Martin Brest’s 1988 buddy comedy “Midnight Run.” In “The Duke,” he played a rival bounty hunter who is simultaneously hunting Charles Grodin’s wanted accountant while he is in the hands of Robert De Niro’s Jack Walsh.
John Ashton, ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Actor, Dies At 76
In a July interview with Collider, John discussed auditioning with De Niro.
“Bobby started handing me these matches, and I tried to grab the matches, and he dropped them on the floor and stared at me,” Ashton recalled.” “I looked at the matches, then looked up and said, ‘F—- you,’ to which he replied, ‘F—- you, too.’ I said, ‘Go —- yourself.’ I know every other actor picked those up and delivered them to him, and as soon as I left, he said, ‘I want him,’ because he needed someone to stand up to him.”
John is survived by his wife of 24 years, Robin Hoye, his two daughters, three stepchildren, a grandson, two sisters, and a brother.
SOURCE | AP
Following the Defects in Boeing Parts, Italian Prosecutors have charged Two Companies and Seven Individuals.
Following a Diagnosis of Breast Cancer, What Else Should You Know?
Tropical Storms in the Gulf do not Threaten Texas. Another Hurricane is Coming to Florida.
Reviews of Silent Hill 2 Provide a Higher-Than-Expected Metacritical Score.
The Mpox Vaccine’s Protection Decreases Within a Year; Booster Requirements
The Supreme Court Weighs in on Nuclear Waste Storage Proposals in Rural Texas and New Mexico.
Analyzing the US Election: Kamala Harris Versus Donald Trump
Over The Planned “Link Tax” Bill, Google Threatens to Remove NZ News Links.
Austrian Activist Schrems Wins Privacy Case Against Meta Over Personal Data On Sexual Orientation
Howard Schultz Violated Labor Law By Telling Employee ‘If You’re Not Happy At Starbucks, You Can Go Work For Another Company’
Uber Hires Yandex Spinoff Ride-Hail and Autonomous Delivery With Avride
Tesla Recalls 27,000 Cybertrucks Due To A Rearview Camera Issue
The Biden Administration can go Ahead With Student Loan Forgiveness, Says a Federal Judge.
Accenture and NVIDIA Collaborate to Enhance AI Implementation.
Meta has started the Facebook Content Monetization Program.
McDonald’s Chicken Big Mac is Heading to the U.S. Next Week—for a Limited Time.
A Hospital Fire in Taiwan Killed At Least 9 People as a Storm Swept the Island’s South.
43 Million Watched Walz-Vance VP Debate, In Significant Drop From 2020 Matchup
Chief Operating Officer Of Truth Social’s Parent Company Resigns
Logan Paul And MrBeast Have A Lunchables Competitor That They Say Is Healthy
Galaxy Gas the News Craze on TiKTok May Have Negative Consequences
Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ a Box Office Success Gets 4.5 Stars
Megalopolis Trailer Pulled By Lionsgate Over Fabricated Critics Quotes
Netflix Releases Squid Game Season 2 Teaser
Police Pepper Spray Antisemitic Protesters at McGill University, 15 Arrested
Thousands Descend on New York’s South Bronx for Trump Rally
Singapore Airlines Passenger Killed During Severe Turbulence
Former NDP Leader Mulclair Says Trudeau Should Retire
David Lee Roth Unloads Over Wolfgang Van Halen “This F—in’ Kid”
Friends Star Matthew Perry, 54 Found Dead at His LA Home
-
World2 days agoUber Hires Yandex Spinoff Ride-Hail and Autonomous Delivery With Avride
-
News2 days agoTesla Recalls 27,000 Cybertrucks Due To A Rearview Camera Issue
-
News2 days agoThe Biden Administration can go Ahead With Student Loan Forgiveness, Says a Federal Judge.
-
Tech2 days agoAccenture and NVIDIA Collaborate to Enhance AI Implementation.
-
Tech2 days agoMeta has started the Facebook Content Monetization Program.
-
Business2 days agoMcDonald’s Chicken Big Mac is Heading to the U.S. Next Week—for a Limited Time.