Movies

Will Smith is an adept face-slapper, even teaching youngsters the ropes on how to wind up and deliver.

TMZ has obtained footage shot back in November showing Will and his "King Richard" costar, Aunjanue Ellis, on a junket. There was a Q&A and a little guy named Chris -- yes, that wasn't lost on us -- asked how to fake fight in flicks.

Will decided to show Chris some movie moves, calling the kid up on stage and showing off his slapping skills. Of course, Will didn't strike this Chris ... rather, he repeatedly showed him how to make it appear that someone is slapped, narrowly missing each time.

We've seen Will before when he wasn't acting, and slapping seems to be his go-to when he's angry.

Back in 2012, Will was at the premiere of "Men in Black 3" in Moscow, when a prankster named Vitalii Sediuk tried to kiss Will on the lips. Will unloaded on him with a backhand slap ... not that he wasn't justified, but it shows slapping is in WS's wheelhouse.

Of course, everyone knows by now, Will unloaded on Chris Rock Sunday night. What's interesting ... you see Will walk up to the stage with clear intent, and it seems it was an intent to slap, because there were no hesitations in his moves.

As we reported, the LAPD beelined it for Chris Rock after the incident and asked if he wanted to file a police report, because it was an undeniable assault and battery. Chris declined, so that should be the end of it.

Some lucky bidder is walking home with a cool artifact from "The Wizard of Oz" ... 'cause the Tin Man's oil can just sold for $250K!

The highly sought-after can went up for auction via Kruse GWS Auctions and was expected to fetch around $200k -- but ended up snagging another $50K when it was all said and done.

Still no heart, though. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Tin Man's can -- it's a real one, btw -- was used while filming the 1939 classic, and it's one of the only original items left from the character's costume ... the rest of it's gone missing. Jack Haley, who played Tin Man, got the oil can as a parting gift after filming wrapped.

The cool memorabilia was put up for auction for the first time ever, earlier this year ... so it makes sense why it was in such high demand.

The tin can was previously on display at the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum.

As movie memorabilia collectors know, 'Oz' artifacts always garner huge interest. One of the 4 existing pairs of Dorothy's ruby red slippers once sold for $2mil!!!

Doug Ellin is ripping Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock over a Jada Pinkett Smith joke ... saying it's a classic case of supreme narcissism that screwed winners who were overlooked.

The "Entourage" creator even suggested Will has some sort of mental health struggle, going rogue on the biggest night of the year for the movie biz.

Doug says Will made the entire award show about himself because he couldn't take a joke, and he blasts the people in the audience for not only cheering for Will when he won Best Actor, but giving him a standing ovation.

Check out the video ... Doug doesn't mince words. He says if this were a cinematographer or makeup artist who slapped a presenter, they'd be arrested immediately or at the very least booted from the venue.

What's more, Doug -- who we caught leaving his new show "Ramble On" with Charlie Sheen -- calls B.S. on Will going after a much smaller and older man. FYI Chris is 57 and Will is 53.

Francis Ford Coppola's making his 'Godfather' family whole again with his Oscars speech -- but never-before-seen, and pretty damn epic, telegrams reveal just how heated his war was with the late Robert Evans.

TMZ obtained these messages sent between Coppola and then-Paramount Studios honcho Evans way back in 1983 ... and the vitriol explains why it wasn't until last night that FFC buried the hatchet.

The famed filmmaker celebrated the 50th anniversary of "The Godfather" last night with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro by his side -- and, for the first time in public, thanked Evans for shepherding the film 'Godfather' at Paramount.

Their feud began after the original's 1972 release, but 11 years later they were still raging at each other -- and Francis fired off this telegram, saying things like, "Your stupid blabbing about cutting The Godfather comes back to me and angers me for its ridiculous pomposity."

He added, "You did nothing on The Godfather other than annoy me and slow it down ... You have double crossed me for the last time. If you want a PR war or any kind of war, no one is better at it than me."

The battle was, at least partly, about creative credit and Evans didn't hesitate to respond in kind, saying ... "I cannot imagine what prompted this venomous diatribe. I am both annoyed and exacerbated by your fallacious accusations, when all I do is praise your extraordinary talents as a filmmaker."

And, Evans really got personal with this ... "I can not conceive what motivated your malicious thoughts, but if they are a reflection of your hostility, I bear great sympathy and concern for your apparent paranoid-schizophrenic behavior. However, dear Francis, do not mistake my kindness for weakness."

As for how these telegrams are coming to light ... hyper-successful celeb real estate titan Kurt Rapaport was close with Evans, and before his 2019 death, he gave a bunch of memorabilia to Kurt.

Talk about hidden treasures -- the telegrams were inside one of the boxes of Evans' stuff.

While it's unclear if Evans and Coppola ever patched things up, privately -- the fact is, FFC never publicly gave him his flowers, so it was a huge moment of peacemaking.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences isn't dropping Sunday night's Oscars incident with Will Smith and Chris Rock ... opening a formal review of what went down and further condemning Will's actions.

The Academy made a statement Monday, saying "The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night’s show. We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law."

The Academy usually holds a post-Oscars meeting that goes over what happened during the show ... odds are, this review will be a big topic of discussion. It's unclear what's on the table ... it could be anything from taking Will's Oscar back, to banning him from future awards shows. Or, it could just be a reprimand.

As you'll recall, Chris Rock was announcing the award for Best Documentary when he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head, comparing her to "G.I. Jane."

Big Willie Style was in full effect after Will Smith won an Oscar and slapped Chris Rock on live TV ... Will was dancing to his famous hit and holding his award at an after-party.

Ya gotta see this video of Will on Oscar Sunday ... no, not the one where he slaps Chris for joking about Jada Pinkett Smith ... this one, where he's dancing to his song, "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It," at the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party in Hollywood.

There's a huge circle around Will, and a ton of cameras in his face ... and it certainly doesn't look like he's bothered by what went down on stage with Chris ... cutting loose on the dance floor, singing his own lyrics and showing off his Oscar for his work in "King Richard."

Will Smith's got people in his corner following his on-camera altercation with Chris Rock ... getting a big hug from Trevor Noah at the Vanity Fair after-party, having a long, and private, conversation.

Will was still emotional when he got to the party Sunday night in Bev Hills, taking pictures with tears in his eyes ... which is when Trevor came up to the Best Actor winner.

They embraced for quite a while -- more than 1 minute -- clearly trying to have a conversation over the loud music blaring in the room. When it was all said and done, they smiled at each other and posed for some photos.

There's no doubt what they were discussing for so long ... Will slapped Chris Rock after his "G.I. Jane 2" jab at Jada Pinkett Smith.

The crowd, and even Chris, was stunned ... things got more real after Will continued to shout "Keep my wife's name out your f****** mouth" from his seat.

Trevor tweeted after the slap heard, and seen, 'round the world ... saying, "Wtaf????? That wasn’t scripted?????"

Safe to say he had some questions, and maybe got them answered when he and Will hugged.

Will went to the after-party with the whole family surrounding him -- Jada, daughter Willow, and sons Trey and Jaden.

Ohio born comedian and actress Molly Shannon was 34 years old when she took on the role of Mary Katherine Gallagher -- an awkward catholic high school girl hoping to achieve her dreams of dating the school's popular boy and winning the school talent show -- in the 1999 'SNL' spin-off film "Superstar."

Shannon shared the big screen with quite an impressive cast including Elaine Hendrix as the popular cheerleader, Evian, Glynis Johns as Mary's loving devout, Grandma, Harland Williams as Mary's BF, Slater ... and of course Will Ferrell as the popular boy and dreamy Jesus, Sky Corrigan.

The 94th Academy Awards are coming to a close, and while Will Smith definitely stole the show -- for all the wrong reasons -- the show was actually going swimmingly beforehand.

The Dolby Theater was chock-full of stars who were dressed to the nines Sunday night -- and as Oscar statuettes started to get dolled out ... the hugs and selfies started to roll in as well.

One example of such love was between Best Supporting Actress winner Ariana DeBose and her fellow nominee, Jessie Buckley ... the latter of whom seemed to be giving the 'West Side Story' star her props for walking away with the W, which everyone thinks is well-deserved.

Ditto for when Troy Kotsur won for Best Supporting Actor for his work on 'CODA' ... his table was elated for him -- as was the rest of the audience as he delivered a rousing speech in ASL.

Some other highlights that were happening behind the scenes ... Venus and Serena Williams were posing with each other, and just about everyone else who wanted a pic. It was a big night for them -- especially seeing how Will Smith was up for the top prize, which he ended up winning.

Of course, things took a dark turn when Will smacked Chris Rock across the face after he made a crack about Jada Pinkett's shaved head ... which led to an awkward moment therafter.

Still, it was a pretty feel-good vibe before all that ... as evidenced in all the hobnobbing that was going on down in the seats and backstage.

The Ukrainian war is certainly top of mind for just about everybody these days -- but, for some reason, the Academy Awards apparently decided to kinda gloss over the issue.

We're almost two hours into the broadcast, and so far ... there's been minimal mention of the conflict in Europe, save for a brief moment when Mila Kunis came on to introduce Reba McEntire, who performed 'Somehow You Do,' which is up for Best Original Song.

Before tossing it to Reba, Mila said ... "Recent global events have left many of us feeling gutted. Yet, when you witness the strength and dignity of those facing such devastation, it's impossible to not be moved by their resilience."

She added, "One cannot help but be in awe of those who find strength to keep fighting through unimaginable darkness." MK then said Reba's song was a testament to that, but strangely enough ... she nor anyone else on stage ever said the words "Ukraine" or "Russia."

That's a bit bizarre ... especially considering that Mila herself is Ukrainian, and has been raising a lot of money lately for the cause.

After the performance, the Oscars held a moment of silence with some title cards that spoke directly to Ukraine. Their message read, in part, "While film is in an important avenue to express our humanity in times of conflict, the reality is millions of families in Ukraine need food, medical care, clean water, and emergency services," calling on the world to do more.

A crypto ad then played right afterward giving folks a website to chip in -- but they refrained from showing any images of the war or the devastation.

This is an interesting choice ... you'll recall, Amy Schumer actually floated the idea of having Volodymyr Zelensky beam in to say a few words -- but it doesn't sound like they went for her idea.

Rather than fully lean in like she suggested ... it seems, so far, that they're doing the exact opposite ... steering relatively clear of Ukraine talk. Of course, there's still a long way to go -- so perhaps they'll have a more robust show of support later in the telecast.

The Man of Steel might actually be the Man of Snooze -- at least that's what one comic nerd thinks ... but they're getting drowned out by a swarm of fanboys who beg to differ.

A Twitter user that goes by "brandon" threw out a bit of a fireball of an opinion this weekend about good old Kal-El and his ability to titillate, writing ... "lmk if this is bad take but superman is an extremely boring superhero."

Well, the internet let him know ... and with fervor to spare. Superman lovers far and wide swooped in to defend their guy in tights, vehemently rejecting the idea he's a killjoy or a bore ... and they seem to have the evidence to back it up.

First off, some pointed out that Clark Kent is actually super relatable ... and in many instances, just like us when it comes to earthly matters -- especially in the embarrassing/overbearing parents department.

Others pointed to the source material in debunking Supes's alleged boring streak -- citing the very many comics and subsequent stories that have been written/drawn detailing his wild adventures. A handful of the ones a few felt would make Superman's case ... "Secret Identity," "Superman: Up in the Sky," "All-Star Superman," "Superman: Earth One" and more.

Reading these alone, some argue, will prove the Last Son of Krypton is a complex character ... who has to deal with a lot, and most definitely NOT dull or dry as far as caped heroes go.

Of course, there are others who simply offer up the many animations that have been made about Superman ... including the fabled 'Superman: The Animated Series' from the '90s, which many consider some of the best Superman depictions to date.

Somebody even threw together a quick compilation of the multi-Emmy nominated program ... reinforcing Superman battles not just people he has to beat physically, but politically and psychologically. Case in point ... Lex Luthor is considered one the best big baddies ever, and he doesn't even have powers or anything. He gets under Superman's skin in other ways.

And, finally, there are the live action movies and TV shows themselves ... with actors like Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh, Tyler Hoechlin, Tom Welling, Dean Cain, Kirk Alyn and Henry Cavill ... who've all donned the red undies at one point or another, to much acclaim.

So yeah, boring might be a bit harsh ... as Twitter has clearly unanimously decided.

This year's Oscar nominees have nearly $140,000 in gifts at their fingertips -- but before they claim their loot ... they might wanna consider Uncle Sam, who'll want his cut.

Every year, actors who get a nod from the Academy are also afforded a sweet goodie bag that's worth a bundle -- and this year is no different, with marketing company Distinctive Assets offering up a ton of prizes that, if claimed in full, are valued at $137k and change.

The gifts up for grabs include everything from an all-expenses-paid trip to Scotland with a 3-night stay at a fancy castle ($50k), free construction for a home renovation ($25k), a comped 4-night visit to a luxury spa resort ($15k), a plot of land in the U.K. and a noble title, free lipo ($12k) ... among lots of other perks in the form of services/experiences, or pricey objects.

Might sound cringe -- indeed, it has sparked outrage for a variety of reasons -- but here's the kicker ... the more gifts they claim from the lot, the more they pay down the road.

Yep, we're talking about taxes here ... and all signs point to a hefty bill if a majority of these gifts are accepted and/or used. Everything the nominees claim will be viewed as taxable income -- and some experts speculate that they can be taxed at a rate of 50% or higher!

Of course, that probably isn't lost on the stars themselves ... who may not take up any of the offerings being presented. In fact, Distinctive Assets founder Lash Fary explains that just about $5,000 of the swag bag is made up of actual stuff they can take home ... the rest are services/trips. So, if a majority of the gifts go unclaimed, the bag isn't worth as much.

Still, the fact they're trotting out these gratuitously expensive carrots for the nominees at all -- something that's been going on for years, BTW -- has made some wonder... what's really important right now?

We're not saying they're dropping like flies, but COVID is getting in the way of the Oscars ... at least as far as Lin-Manuel Miranda is concerned.

The "Hamilton" mastermind is staying home Sunday night, after his wife tested positive for the virus.

He said ... "Made it to Hollywood … This weekend, my wife tested [positive] for COVID. She's doing fine. Kids & I have tested [negative], but out of caution, I won't be going to the Oscars tomorrow night."

Nonetheless, he was cheering on "Cheering for my Tick, Tick... Boom!" ... which could end up with some hardware ... Andrew Garfield is up for Best Actor.

There are a lot of nervous actors ... to gain entry into the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, they have to produce proof of vaccination and not one but 2 negative PCR tests. There are exceptions -- performers and presenters don't have to show proof of vaccination, which is weird, right?

You might run into someone you know at the supermarket and stop for a chat -- but when you're as rich and famous as this group here ... you do it on a fancy-schmancy runway.

Check out these photos of Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis casually bumping into Leonardo DiCaprio at the Van Nuys Airport Friday as they each seemed to be coming from and going on respective trips. This is where A-listers escape L.A., BTW -- forget LAX.

Word is, MK and AK were coming back from a getaway, and Leo was heading out. But, along the way, they ran into one another and exchanged pleasantries -- specifically, Mila and Leo.

As you can see, LDC was sitting down and smoking a cigarette, when Mila suddenly comes up to him ready to fist bump -- which Leo was happy to reciprocate. Looks like Ashton might've been busy getting their stuff ... no sign here of him and L-dog together.

Later, Mila was seen with her husband loading up bags into a car ... and Leo was left with his ciggie alone. Now, as for what they might've talked about -- there's lots of possibilities.

Of course, one of the topics that very well could've been brought up is Ukraine -- and each party's involvement with contributing financial aid to the country as they fight Russia. Ashton and Mila recently got a shout-out from Zelensky after they raised north of $35M.

Leo, for his part, is also said to have donated some dough to orgs that support Ukraine -- but he was falsely reported as having donated $10 mil of his own money ... a piece of fake news that got circulated online, which was debunked by the Associated Press.

The days of free-for-all movie theater seating is over ... something one man simply couldn't come to terms with in what turned out to be a hilarious meltdown that got him kicked out.

Check out this wild scene showing an older gent getting into a shouting match with cineplex staff ... all because he wouldn't go to his assigned seat, which he claimed was just a spot or two over from where he was in what appears to be a relatively empty screening room.

No word on where this exactly took place, or when ... but based on the video alone, you can tell the dude was not happy about the idea of pre-selected reservations -- and made a huge fuss over it.

The employees amazingly keep their cool in this tense situation -- eventually talking the guy down and convincing him to scram calmly ... even accommodating his request for a refund and a little extra. Indeed, the guy asked for a free drink ... and they said they could do it.

While it felt he was gonna have to get hauled out of there in cuffs, he ended up leaving on his own accord -- with a little help from the audience, which told him he was in the wrong.

Funny enough, he made sure to let everyone know he still felt he was correct in his stance ... saying he was the bigger person here. Finally, he turns to the room and sarcastically says he hopes they enjoy the show.

While it seems pretty cut-and-dried -- theoretically, you SHOULD sit in the seat for the ticket you bought -- some have wondered ... if there were plenty of chairs to spare, what's the big deal if he's in a seat or two over from where he should be??? In other words, who tattled???

LeBron James was a big winner Saturday night ... singled out for his work in a big-budget movie -- cause he won some Razzies!!!

LeBron was bestowed with the honor of "Worst Actor" Saturday during the 42nd annual Golden Raspberry Awards celebrating the worst in movies.

LeBron's trophy was an acknowledgment of his work in "Space Jam: The Legacy," in which he played himself ... well, sorta.

But wait, there's more. LeBron also won for "Worst Screen Couple" and "Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel."

Fear not, LeBron, because worse movies were made ... like "Diana the Musical" on Netflix, which snagged Worst Picture, Worst Actress, Worst Supporting Actress and Worst Director.

While it was a common theme in the show, the "Space Jam" remake wasn't quite as popular as "Diana the Musical" scooping up five trophies.

Jared Leto also scored with Worst Supporting Actor in "House of Gucci."

And, get this ... there was a special category for Bruce Willis ... Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie! It's for "Cosmic Sin" ... in case you're interested.