Ramona and Leah from The Real Housewives of New York’s will never be friends. The two women are complete opposites who have no desire to form a friendship on any level.
For the most part, the new episode of The Real Housewives of New York went well. Ramona Singer and Leah McSweeney still are not talking to each other and the rest of the women are almost at the point where they need to pick sides. The skincare CEO refuses to speak to Leah and has instead decided to give her the cold shoulder. The two alpha women have been fighting consistently since day one with no end in sight. The two Bravo stars can not figure out how to function while the other is around.
Fans watched the instant Leah learned that her private mental illness issue had been spoken about in the middle of a Century 21 and she was not pleased. Ramona thought she had miraculously been given a medical license and the right to repeat gossip. Due to this lack of respect, the two women will never be friends.
Ramona and Leah have not been on the best of terms, nor have they been able to see eye to eye during any conversation. Fans have watched each week while emotions boiled over on every topic from the ongoing pandemic to Ramona talking openly about Leah’s private parts.
The last issue between the woman was the final straw in the ongoing battle. Ramona had planned a huge 63rd birthday party but ignored Leah when she tried to say hello. The OG made the newbie feel unwelcomed and left out in the cold. According to Ramona, the 37-year-old should not be drinking or partying as hard since she always seems to lose control of herself. Fans were quick to point out that her bestie, Sonja Morgan, had lost complete control thanks to vodka, but Ramona was not bothered by her antics. Leah can not win against the Singer Stinger and frankly should just stop trying. The Singer Stinger was still very upset with Leah for how she had acted at her birthday party. Many Bravo fans believe this was the reality stars way of getting back at the Married to the Mod founder. Multiple viewers pointed out that Ramona had no qualifications to even suggest the new girl on the block had a mental illness. She was just going on hearsay. Ramona revealed in her confessional that she had stumbled upon the information thanks to a friend who pointed out Leah had written an online blog about her struggle. Leah has been no angel herself. She was last seen on Elyse Slaine’s video telling viewers Ramona couldn’t find a man because she "sh*ts" during sex.
Sadly, it is doubtful that the women would ever become bosom buddies. Viewers would just like to see the two at least get along for one episode. But since that is highly unlikely to happen, Bravo fans will have to make do with their high-powered drama that does make the show so juicy to watch.
Braxton Family Valuesstar Tamar Braxton has spoken up about her recent hospitalization. The reality star was found unresponsive in her hotel room and taken to the hospital on July 16 in what was laterrevealed to be a suicide attempt.
Tamar rose to fame as an R&B singer in the late 1990s after appearing in the singing group The Braxtons, which was composed of her and her sisters. She has also released five albums as a solo artist. Her most recent single, Crazy Kind of Love, was released in March. Along with her singing career, Tamar has starred in several reality shows. She starred onBraxton Family Valueswith her siblings for six seasons and co-hosted the talk show The Real from 2013 to 2016. In 2019 she became the first Black contestant to win a season ofCelebrity Big Brother.
The singer and talk show host addressed her fans and supporters in an Instagram post. She started by thanking her followers for the love and support they’ve shown. She explained how she had shared her brightest days and wanted to share her darkest days too:“I know that sharing with you what has been my darkest will be the light for any man or woman who is feeling the same defeat I felt just only a week ago.”Tamar described a desire, one she believes is reflected in many others, to achieve a certain stature in life where you have the freedom to shape it as you wish. Tamar wasn’t afforded this opportunity: “I was betrayed, taken advantage of, overworked, and underpaid,”Tamar explained.“I wrote a letter over 2 months ago asking to be freed from what I believed was excessive and unfair.”
The repeated requests Tamar put forth went ignored. She was continually pushed to portray an inauthentic persona—she felt that who she truly was failed to matter anymore.“It was witnessing the slow death of the woman I became, that discouraged my will to fight,”Tamar explained.“I felt like I was no longer living, I was existing for the purpose of a corporations gain and ratings, and that killed me.”This disconnect led Tamar deeper into the mental illness she was struggling with. She continued on to address how Black and brown people are exploited in the reality TV industry and show business at large.“My rise will not be in vain,”Tamar concluded.“I will make it my mission to establish the initiative that fights for ethical business practices in reality TV, fights for the ownership of our businesses, promote growth and evolution of our stories, and gives us 100% equity in our freedom.”
Tamar has made a brave move speaking out about her experience. As she mentioned, many are often shamed into silence when they struggle with mental health issues. Her public experience, while frightening for many fans, may encourage others to seek treatment for their mental health. Tamar’s brief explanation of the racial bias she encountered may encourage others to push for a serious change in the entertainment industry. Campaigns for other TV shows have pushed for more diverse casting and the honest portrayal of more diverse stories and Tamar’s harrowing experience may add fuel to this fire for racial justice.
Keeping Up With the Kardashians stars Kylie and Kendall Jenner are under fire for promoting what appear to be fake AirPods. While they aren't the first of social media influencers to do so, they certainly have the most combined followers out of the literally dozens of knock-off AirPod promoters. This could be a potential problem for the celebrities, as these earbuds could be infringing on intellectual property rights.
An investigation was conducted by BBC Click that confirmed many social media influencers had been entangled in this promotional scam. It turns out that not only were bootleg AirPods being promoted by these big-name Instagram celebs, but knock-off Apple Watches as well. Kendall and Kylie weren't directly selling these products, but rather offering promotional codes for companies known as "drop-shippers," which don't sell the products themselves but are the middlemen for online Chinese markets. There currently is no case against them at this moment, despite the products potentially being considered intellectual property theft.
According toBBC, that Kylie and Kendall may be caught up in the scheme, but this isn't the first time they've been called out for being involved in shady business. Tom Warren, an editor at The Verge, commented about how they were up to these same antics last November, saying, "you’d think Kylie Jenner, a billionaire, would be above advertising fake AirPods to her 152 million followers, but apparently not." Tom Tweeted, yet again in May earlier this year, against Kylie and Kendall for the promoting even more knock-off AirPod brands. The criticism lies mostly with the fact that the sisters have more than 300-million followers combined who, unable to fork over enough money to pay for real AirPods, which have a reputation for being a status-symbol of the upper middle class, will settle for falsely advertised knock-offs.
Dropshipping is technically legal, but this practice opens consumers up for an array of potential problems. Many consumers have reported their products not being delivered, and refunds not given due to no further contact and sudden disappearances of the seller's website. The popularity and price of AirPods means that "counterfeit" versions of their products could mean potential money loss for Apple. While Apple hasn't released a statement on the matter, Instagram said that influencers are bound by laws regarding what they can and cannot promote on their platform.
Even after three offenses of promoting un-legitimate products, it seems the sisters are walking away from this legally unscathed and may just do it again. There is no known reason why a billionaire like Kylie would post promo codes in her name for off-brand Chinese sellers. Perhaps the excessive wealth disparity between the Jenner's and the average citizen has made them unaware of or uninterested in how their irresponsible business deals negatively affect their working class fans; perhaps it is only ignorance of the brand's illegitimacy that prompted the sisters to sell scams to their supporters. Given that the Keeping Up With the Kardashians stars have also not released a statement on any of the accusations, we will likely never know.
Keira Knightley is a British actress well-known for her starring roles in period dramas about complex female characters. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and two British Academy Film Awards.
Knightley began acting in 1995 at the age of ten and made her breakthrough in the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham. Since then, she has appeared in some highly critically acclaimed films. Here are Keira Knightley's ten best-rated films, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
10 A Dangerous Method (78%)
Though viewers weren't fans of this film as much as critics were, it's one of Keira Knightley's most praised performances. She stars alongside Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen in this historical fiction that explores the early days of psychoanalysis.
Knightley portrays a Russian woman named Sabina Spielrein, who sees Dr. Carl Jung (Fassbender) to seek treatment for hysteria. Jung tests Sigmund Freud's methods, which prove to be successful, but it seems that Jung is caught under Sabina's spell.
9 Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (79%)
The first film in the Pirates Of The Caribbeanseries was released in 2003. Knightley stars as Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann.
In the franchise's first film, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is joined by a blacksmith who wants to free the love of his life from the pirate's associates. Jack's crew has kidnapped her after suspecting she possesses something valuable.
8 Official Secrets (83%)
Official Secrets is a 2019 war thriller directed by Gavin Hood. Knightley stars as a British intelligence officer who, in 2003, receives a shocking message from the NSA. She learns that the USA is enlisting Britain's help to blackmail the UN into voting for an invasion of Iraq.
Knightley's character must grapple with the decision of what to do with this information, whether she can stand by and watch the world descend into war. Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, and Matt Smith also star.
7 Begin Again (83%)
Gretta (Knightley) is a budding musician who finds herself alone after her boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine) leaves her. But soon, a record label executive named Dan (Mark Ruffalo) notices her talent.
The musical drama takes a romantic turn as the two form a strong bond. James Corden also stars in the film, which has been compared to director John Carney's earlier and more praised musical Once (2007).
6 Atonement (83%)
Based on Ian McEwan's novel of the same name, Atonementis an Academy Award-winning adaptation directed by Joe Wright. The film stars a young Saoirse Ronan alongside Knightley, James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch, and others.
Knightley portrays Cecelia Tallis, who becomes romantically involved with Robbie (McAvoy), a man who has worked for the family for years. Her younger sister Briony (Ronan) falsely accuses Robbie of being a "sex maniac" and possible rapist, ruining his relationship with Cecelia and ultimately leading him to serve for the British army in the Second World War.
5 Bend It Like Beckham (85%)
Keira Knightley's breakout role is this 2002 sports drama, in which she portrays Juliette Paxton, a rebellious girl who is determined to be a professional soccer player.
Her parents are more or less conservative and want her to stop bending the rules, and instead follow what they deem to be a more traditional path in life for a girl: find a husband and busy herself at home, attending to his needs.
4 Pride And Prejudice (86%)
Jane Austen's classic novel Pride And Prejudicehas been adapted for the screen several times, and Keira Knightley stars in the 2005 film opposite Matthew MacFadyen. Her role as the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, earned her an Oscar nomination.
Elizabeth's mother (Brenda Blethyn) is obsessed with finding wealthy husbands for her daughters, but Elizabeth would rather focus on establishing herself as a respected woman in society. Her father (Donald Sutherland) supports Elizabeth and would prefer her to marry for love than money. But when she meets Mr. Darcy (MacFadyen), she is quick to judge his proud behavior.
3 Colette (87%)
Keira Knightley plays the titular character, an author named Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, who agrees to be the ghostwriter of her husband's novel. However, she soon decides to fight for creative ownership of the work.
The biopic is set in early 20th-century Paris, where Colette writes the semi-autobiographical novel for her husband after moving from the French countryside. The couple becomes the talk of Paris as the book becomes a bestseller. But Colette is inspired to fight against the constraints of gender roles imposed by society and revolutionize the world of literature, and the way people express their gender and sexuality.
2 Misbehaviour (88%)
Misbehaviour is a 2020 film that unfortunately premiered amid the COVID-19 pandemic, so it hasn't had the chance to be seen by many viewers. Critics have praised the film, which follows a team of women who plan to disrupt the 1970 Miss World beauty pageant in London.
In reality, the Miss World competition was the most-watched television program in the world, but the Women's Liberation Movement claimed that it demeaned women. The organization became famous by invading the stage and disrupting the broadcast. When the broadcast resumed, the first black woman was crowned Miss World, which turned the Western ideal of beauty upside-down.
1 The Imitation Game (90%)
According to Rotten Tomatoes, Keira Knightley's best film is The Imitation Game(2014), in which she stars alongside Benedict Cumberbatch. The film is directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore, whose efforts earned him an Academy Award for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay.
Cumberbatch's Alan Turing is a British mathematician who joins a cryptography team to decipher a German code. A team of other mathematicians helps him build a machine to crack it.
The absurdist masterpiece that is Rick and Morty is not merely a story of an old scientist and teenage boy going on adventures together — besides, that was already covered in Back to the Future. This animated show has no rules, no sense of decorum, and certainly finds nothing sacred.
Rick and Morty is treasured for its incessant volley of cultural references and burning satire, having mocked nearly everything, from The Terminator to Mad Max, and everything in between. Season 4 carries on this tradition as brilliantly as ever: here are a few of the funniest parodies that appear in the latest set of episodes.
10 Moe's Bar From The Simpsons
The series often makes allusions to its animated predecessors, including The Simpsons, Futurama and South Park. The dropped hints are not always obvious, however - in some cases, they are only vaguely implied in the background.
For example, in the "Vat of Acid Episode," Morty runs around town doing terrible things and then resetting his life to the point right before. He shoves an elderly person in a wheelchair into the middle of the road, just for kicks — but the wall behind the two of them is a duplicate of the exterior of Moe's bar in Springfield.
9 The Secret Star Wars Candles
Rick has a rabid distaste for the sci-fi genre, constantly claiming that their total lack of accuracy grates his nerves. He mocks Nolan's Inception and Star Trek, but the saga he hates the most has to be Star Wars. However, it looks like his grandson doesn't share his opinion - quite the opposite, in fact.
In "Rattlestar Ricklactica," one can see a pair of candles shaped like R2-D2, everybody's favorite droid (sorry, C3P0.) Morty might genuinely like Star Wars, or this is his way of rebelling against Rick's influence.
8 Movies About Aliens
The entirety of the episode, "Promortyus," including its name (a pun on Prometheus), is a callback to the Alien franchise. Rick and Morty find themselves unwilling hosts of an alien parasite known as the "Glorzo," whose face-hugging capabilities are reminiscent of Xenomorph larvae, literally called face-huggers.
Later, they escape by using Morty's awful attempts on the harmonica to destroy their captors. This is exactly how Mars Attacks (1996) ends — the protagonists play a 1920s Broadway musical number, resulting in the aliens' heads exploding.
7 Morty And Cyberpunk Anime
The metamorphosis of Morty in "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat," from a nerdy loser to a demonic entity, parallels the narrative of Tetsuo Shima from Akira (1988), a timid boy who overcompensates with his newfound powers. If it wasn't obvious enough already, the military calls it an "Akira-type situation," while news organizations call him "Akira boy."
Of course, only Jerry is capable of messing up a basic reference, when he scolds Rick for turning his son "into an Akira." First off, the name he's looking for is Tetsuo, and second, he pronounces "Akira" like he actually knows Japanese.
6 Ghosts Of Different Genres
In "Rattlestar Ricklactica," Rick and Morty enjoy a few snippets of supernatural humor. When Morty's face begins to contort itself in nasty ways after being bitten by alien snakes, Rick rushes to create an antivenom, because apparently "Morty's starting to look like a 90s Japanese ghost."
To be fair, the kid did look like something about to emerge from a television screen. Later, the duo's future versions appear, introducing themselves as the "ghosts of Christmas future," a phrase that originated in Charles Dickens' 1843 masterwork, A Christmas Carol.
5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The nod to the TMNT universe can be found carelessly tossed behind Rick's workbench, in the scene where Rick prepares his "lesson" for Morty in the "Vat of Acid Episode." Haphazardly placed on the ground beside a large circuit board is a cylindrical metal vessel, possessing specific markings along both ends.
This canister is an identical reproduction of the mutagen-containing tube located deep within the sewers of NYC that helps transform a bunch of innocent turtles into superheroes.
4 Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer
Parasite (2019) may have deserved all the praise it got, but Snowpiercer (2013) is just as much of a shining example of cinema. The train running across metaphysical dimensions in "Never Ricking Morty" is likely a parody of the world train Bong Joon-ho's phenomenal film.
They are both inescapable, and the protagonists in each case battle their way to the engine room to face off against the adversary. Also, Rick kills the "Tickets Please Guy" by getting his arm pulled out into the void (in Snowpiercer, rebels are forcibly amputated in this manner).
3 White Men Can't Jump
After Rick modifies Jerry's body and shoes to provide "buoyancy," he walks around town wanting to show off his new ability. He then comes across a bunch of people playing basketball and asks if he can join in, claiming that "this white boy can jump."
The guys around him take offense to the clearly racist remark, although Jerry only says it because he's stupid — and because he's trying to show off his movie knowledge by comparing his situation with the 1992 basketball comedy-drama, White Men Can't Jump.
2 Ghostbusters Promotion
The episode "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty" is easily one of the most hilarious in this season, dealing with dragons, magic and the problematic concept of slut-shaming. Rick really wants Balthromaw gone and almost succeeds, until he finds an original Hi-C Ecto Cooler Juice Box in the dragon's hoard.
This drink actually did exist, and it was produced as part of a promotional strategy for Ghostbusters 2 (1989). Given his enduring fascination for discontinued merchandise, Rick instantly becomes best friends with Balthromaw.
1 American Beauty And Jerry
Jerry finds comfort in the gentle art of beekeeping and seems to be really good at it, too. At the end of "Promortyus," however, Summer and her friend, Tricia, are watching him do his thing through the former's window.
This seems innocent at first glance, but then Tricia begins hinting at wanting something more, saying how Jerry's hobby is "kind of cute" and asking "How old is your dad?" before all-out admitting to Summer that she wants to have sex with her dad. A similar scene occurs in American Beauty (1999), in which Angela Hayes expresses a sexual interest in her friend's father, Lester Burnham.
NBC's hit sitcom The Officeis about many things, but if it is about one thing more than anything else, it's Regional Manager Michael's Scott's journey to becoming a better boss and a better person. Michael starts out in season one as a pretty unbearable boss. He's constantly harassing his employees, making inappropriate jokes, basically doing anything he can to get attention. But the truth is that, behind his need for attention is actually a desperate need for friendship and love.
Slowly, throughout the course of the show, he begins to learn (with a little help from his employees) what he can do to earn it. It was slow going, and he slipped up a few times over seven seasons, but overall it's always a joy to reach his last episode and see how much he's grown.
10 Regressed: "Gay Witch Hunt"
Michael has a lot of little victories in season 2, and his meetings even start to be a little less offensive, until he finds out Oscar is gay. In this case, as in many others later in the show, Michael tries so hard to prove that he is accepting, but he ends up being more offensive than he would have been if he had just left things alone.
Not only does he out Oscar to the entire office, he also forces a "symbolic" kiss on him, leading Dunder Mifflin to settle with Oscar for a lot of money and a three month paid vacation so that he didn't sue. This was a pretty big backpedal in progress on Michael's part.
9 Better Boss: "Sexual Harassment"
Michael begins this episode by forwarding inappropriate emails and making all of his employees look at them, and joking around with his obnoxious and foul friend Packer, making light of a sexual harassment case at corporate. He assumes that when the company's lawyers are coming, they're coming to yell at him, but when Jan reminds him that he is upper management and the lawyer is to protect him, he changes his tune.
After that, he goes outside and tells Packer to behave himself, and defends Phyllis instead of making a joke about her. He goes a little overboard, but it's still a huge moment of growth for him.
8 Regressed: "Dunder Mifflin Infinity"
Michael is more than excited to have his old buddy Ryan in Jan's old position, until he arrives at Dunder Mifflin and starts talking about big technology changes. Michael freaks out in the name of "ageism," goes on a tirade and tries to get old customers back by giving them gift baskets.
When that doesn't work, he drives his car into a lake, and then goes back and yells at one of the ex-customers to give the gift basket back. Not exactly stellar management. It also doesn't help that he hit Meredith with his car the episode before this one.
7 Better Boss: "Did I Stutter?"
Michael spends a lot of this episode trying to avoid Stanley after he disrespects him and is insubordinate in front of the whole office in a meeting. When he is forced to confront the fact that he has to say something, at first he fake fires Stanley. Finally, when that doesn't work, he talks to Stanley "mano y mano" and asks him why he's acting this way.
He finishes the episode by putting his foot down and telling Stanley, point blank, that he doesn't have to agree with him, but he does need to respect his authority in front of the other employees. Stanley agrees, making this one of the first times Michael has successfully settled a conflict in the office, instead of trying to delegate to Dwight or Jim.
6 Regressed: "Frame Toby"
Michael does a lot of backpedaling in the middle seasons. When Toby comes back to replace Holly, Michael kind of snaps, and in an attempt to get him out of Dunder Mifflin for good, he tries to frame him for drug possession. He does this by buying what he thinks is marijuana from the Vance Refrigeration guys, sticking it in Toby's desk and then calling the cops.
Now, as Michael says in the episode, "Since when is it illegal to put Caprese salad anywhere?" And it's not! Still, the sentiment behind it is definitely not "World's Best Boss" behavior.
5 Better Boss: "Michael Scott Paper Company"
Needless to day, Michael does a lot of growing as a boss when he leaves Dunder Mifflin to start his own company with Pam and Ryan. From realizing David Wallace was treating him disrespectfully and quitting, to getting his team and business model together, to being smart and cool under pressure and demanding their jobs in the buyback, he grows as a boss far more in these episodes than in almost any others in the series.
He may have spent a lot of his time throwing cheese puffs at his coworkers, but he still made a big enough dent in Dunder Mifflin's business that they had to buy them back, so make of that what you will.
4 Regressed: "The Meeting"
Jim made great strides as manager of his own company, but as soon as it seems his position as boss is being threatened, he quickly backtracks. When Jim has a private meeting with David Wallace, it seems like Michael thinks he might be out for his job. So when Wallace asks what Michael thinks about Jim's leadership skills, Michael turns negative and nearly ruins Jim's plan to get them both a promotion.
In the end, it ends up working out for both of them, as they become co-managers, but not trusting Jim is a huge step backward for Michael.
3 Better Boss: "Murder"
In this episode, the whole office is panicking that Dunder Mifflin might go under. Even Jim begins hyper-focusing on work and treating everything like it's going normally. So when Michael decides to play a game with the office, at first Jim yells at him, but Michael yells back, "They need this game, Jim! Just let us have this stupid little game!" Jim then realizes that Michael isn't being crazy: he's doing it to keep everyone calm.
Michael grows in this episode, not only in managing the office and standing up for his practices, but in being able to work in tandem with Jim in the end.
2 Regressed: "Costume Contest"
In this episode, Michael backtracks pretty far, not only in belittling Darryl's good ideas and not forwarding them to corporate, but also by freaking out when Darryl goes over his head anyway and having a meltdown in front of everyone - while dressed as Darryl. He lets it get into his head so much that he yells at Kevin just for telling Gabe about Lady Gaga dance moves before him (which Kevin solemnly vows not to do again).
To Michael's credit, before he knows Darryl went over his head, he does apologize and try to make it right, so this still isn't as hard a backslide as it could have been.
1 Better Boss: "Michael's Final Episodes"
Michael's final episodes on The Office are what really solidify his character development, both as a person and a boss. From "Threat Level Midnight" where he finally learns to laugh at himself and "Todd Packer" where he finally lets his crass, rude "friend" Packer go to "Goodbye, Michael," where he gives a genuine heartfelt goodbye to everyone in the office and skips his own goodbye party to avoid making everyone sad about him - these are the starkest contrasts to the character he began the show as: one who would never give up a chance to be the center of attention.
Over seven seasons on The Office, Michael grew from a person everybody loved to hate, to one that everybody couldn't help but love. It wasn't easy growth for him, but anyone on the show, or fan, would agree that that kind of work is 100 percent worth it.
The Howling was one of the first and many werewolf movies released during the 80s. Along with An American Werewolf in London, it is recognized as one of the greatest and innovative horror films of the decade. Its special effects by Rob Bottin and his crew (while overseen by Rick Baker) revolutionized practical effects and set a new standard that other films are still attempting to achieve in CGI. The movie is also noted for its compelling and chilling performances from the likes of Dee Wallace as Karen, Robert Picardo as Eddie and Belinda Balaski as Terry.
The film had its 39th anniversary this past March. It still stands the test of time and is deservedly a horror classic that any fan of the genre should watch.
10 No Shirt. No Scene.
One of the biggest pushes from the studio was to feature more nudity. Wallace had it in her contract that there would be no additional nudity (with there already being a sex scene). Needless to say, Wallace was not thrilled when she came to film the barn scene and saw a clad of naked women on the rafters. Wallace refused to shoot the scene, as apart from the breach of contract, she felt it look ridiculous.
Producer Mike Fennell was called to ease the situation. He arrived on the set fuming and stormed in. Yet after one look at the women, he said, "She's right. It's stupid. Put some clothes on."
9 Joe Dante Vs Gary Brander
Based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Gary Brander, the film made some significant changes to the source material, including its characters and plot. Director Joe Dante was blunt about his unfavorable opinions of the book and felt the movie was better.
While appearing on a panel, a guest asked Dante if he did not like the book, which Dante confirmed. The guest revealed himself to be Brander, to Dante's sheepishness.
8 Steven Spielberg
Director Steven Spielberg was enthralled by the film and particularly impressed by Dee Wallace and Joe Dante. Wallace's performance influenced Spielberg to cast her as the mother in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which went on to be one of her most prestigious roles.
Meanwhile, Spielberg was searching for a director for Gremlins when he saw The Howling and was won over by Dante's directing. He was hired and would also direct the sequel, Gremlins II: The New Batch.
7 Robert Picardo's Casting And Performance
Picardo was called in to audition after Dante saw him perform in a play with Jack Lemon (The Odd Couple). He recalled creeping out casting director Susan Arnold, which he felt nabbed him the part.
His co-star Dee Wallace was also unsettled by his portrayal. While she advocated his genuine sincerity and kindness, in their scenes together, Picardo enveloped his character to which she remarked, "I don't remember Robert. I remember Eddie."
6 Ends In An Office
Due to budget constraints, some parts of the final scene where Karen transforms into a werewolf were shot in Joe Dante's office. It was the last day of filming and having little to no resources, Dante offered his office for the scene.
It was all worth it when The Howling went on to be a hit and ranked number one critically in its first week. Its U.S. and Canada box office gross rounded near $17.9 million against its $1.5 million budget.
5 Iconic Scream
Before turning into a werewolf, Karen belted an unearthly and shrilling scream. It was one of the most memorable scenes and screams in the movie and horror cinema history.
However, it almost was not to be. Wallace found out they intended to dub her scream with a sound effect. She was determined to give it a go and managed to knock their socks off. The scream heard onscreen is Wallace's, of which she is proud of.
4 References
The Howling is littered with references pertaining to wolves, including one of the characters eating Wolf Brand chili, reading a book by Thomas Wolfe, and some of the characters being named after directors and actors from past werewolf features.
Director Joe Dante was responsible for incorporating the copious amount of references, partially as a gag and also to pay tribute to those in the industry.
3 Dick Miller's Favorite Role
Before his part in The Howling, Miller started his acting career in the 50s (having previously been a writer) and first collaborated with Joe Dante in Piranha. Dante enjoyed working with Miller and likewise and the latter would arguably be Dante's most principal actor throughout his career.
Miller was initially dismayed to be cast as Walter Paisley, as it was only one day's work. However, Paisley would grow on him as the character knew everything there was to know about werewolves and had a unique role.
2 Real-Life Couple
After Wallace was cast as Karen, they were still auditioning actors to portray her spouse. Wallace knew they would not read her then-fiance (later husband) if they knew they were together, so she mentioned knowing an actor named Christopher Stone (Cujo) and left out their exact relationship.
They auditioned him and later cast him for the part. One of the producers called to informed Stone when Wallace picked up. The producer apologized claiming he must have misdialed but she confirmed it was correct. A long pause occurred and everything started clicking, to which the producer was in disbelief.
1 Elizabeth Brooks Misled
Elizabeth Brooks (Days of Our Lives) who portrayed the evil werewolf Marsha Quist was mortified to see herself completely bare onscreen. Brooks was promised her body would be smoked-screen by the bonfire and thus she would not be exposed.
The actress had objected to past nude work in magazines due to her beliefs and was flabbergasted by how much they ended up showing. To make matters worse, Playboy included the footage in its annual "Sex in Cinema" series.
