Wes Craven, DEAD (1939-08-02, 2015-08-30)

Wes Craven dies with 76. Actor.

He was an amazing film director, writer, producer and actor.

Some of my favorite movies from him:
- "The Last House on the Left 1972,
- "A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984,
- "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 1987,
- "Shocker 1989,
- "The People Under the Stairs 1991,
- "Wes Craven's New Nightmare 1994,
- "Vampire in Brooklyn 1995,
- "Scream 1996,
- "Scream 2 1997,
- "Wishmaster 1997,
- "Scream 3 2000,
- "The Last House on the Left 2009,
- "Scream 4 2011,

Here it goes the story of Wes Craven from Wikipedia

Thanks to Wes Craven on Wikipedia

Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, writer, producer, and actor known for his work on horror films, particularly slasher films. He was best known for creating the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise featuring the Freddy Krueger character, directing the first installment and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, and co-writing A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors with Bruce Wagner.

Craven also directed all four films in the Scream series featuring Ghostface. Some of his other films include The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn, Cursed, Red Eye and My Soul to Take.

Early life

Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Caroline (née Miller) and Paul Eugene Craven. He was raised in a strict Baptist family. Craven earned an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master's degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Craven briefly taught English at Westminster College and was a humanities professor at Clarkson College of Technology (now Clarkson University) in Potsdam, New York. His first job in the film industry was as a sound editor for a post-production company in New York City.

Directing and writing career

Craven left the academic world for the more lucrative role of pornographic film director. In the documentary Inside Deep Throat, Craven says on camera he made "many hard core X-rated films" under pseudonyms. While his role in Deep Throat is undisclosed, most of his early known work involved writing, film editing or both. In 1972 Wes Craven directed his first feature film The Last House on the Left.

Craven frequently collaborated with Sean S. Cunningham. In Craven's debut feature, The Last House on the Left, Cunningham served as producer. Later, in Craven's most famous film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Cunningham directed one of the chase scenes, although uncredited. Their infamous characters, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, appeared together in the 2003 slasher film Freddy vs. Jason with Cunningham acting as producer, while screenwriter Victor Miller is credited as "Character Creator". Later, in The Last House on the Left remake, both Cunningham and Craven share production credits.
Craven had a major hand in launching superstar Johnny Depp's career by casting him in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street, Depp's first major film role.

Although known for directing horror/thriller films, he had worked on two that were outside this genre: the 1999 film Music of the Heart, and as one of the 22 directors in the 2006 collaboration Paris, je t'aime.

Craven created Coming of Rage, a five-issue comic book series, with 30 Days of Night comic book writer Steve Niles. The series was released in digital form in 2014 by Liquid Comics with a print edition scheduled for an October 2015 debut.

Film style

Craven's works tend to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. A Nightmare on Elm Street, for example, dealt with the consequences of dreams in real life. New Nightmare "brushes against" (but does not quite break) the fourth wall by having actress Heather Langenkamp play herself as she is haunted by the villain of the film in which she once starred. At one point in the film, the audience sees on Wes Craven's word processor a script he has written, which includes the exact conversation he just had with Heather — as if the script was being written as the action unfolded. The Serpent and the Rainbow portrays a man who cannot distinguish between nightmarish visions and reality.

In Scream, the characters frequently reference horror films similar to their situations, and at one point Billy Loomis tells his girlfriend that life is just a big movie. This concept was emphasized in the sequels, as copycat stalkers reenact the events of a new film about the Woodsboro killings occurring in Scream. Scream included a scene mentioning the well-known Richard Gere urban legend. Craven stated in interviews that he received calls from agents telling him that if he left that scene in, he would never work again. He directed Scream 4.

Awards and nominations

During his career, Wes Craven was nominated for and won several awards, including the Saturn Award.

In 1977, he won the critic's award at the Sitges Film Festival for his film The Hills Have Eyes. The Gérardmer Film Festival granted him the Grand Prize in 1997 for Scream. In 2012, the New York City Horror Film Festival awarded Craven the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other work

Craven designed the Halloween 2008 logo for Google, and was the second celebrity personality to take over the YouTube homepage on Halloween.

Craven had a letter published in the July 19, 1968 edition of Life magazine, praising that periodical's coverage of contemporary rock music, in particular Frank Zappa.

Personal life and death

Craven's first marriage to Bonnie Broecker produced two children, Jonathan Craven (born 1965) and Jessica Craven (born 1968). Jonathan is a writer and director with a few credits to his name. Jessica was a singer/songwriter in the group the Chapin Sisters. The marriage ended in 1970. In 1982, Craven married Millicent Eleanor Meyer. However, the two divorced. Craven stated in interviews that the marriage dissolved after he discovered it "was no longer anything but a sham." In 2004, Craven married Iya Labunka. She frequently worked as a producer on Craven's films.

Craven was a birder. In 2010 he became a member of Audubon California's Board of Directors. His favorite films included Night of the Living Dead, The Virgin Spring and Red River.

On August 30, 2015, Craven died of brain cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was 76 years old.

Highest-grossing films

This is a list of the top 10 highest-grossing films by Wes Craven; each has made at least $30 million.

Rank	Title	Lifetime gross (US$)
1	Scream	173,046,663
2	Scream 2	172,363,301
3	Scream 3	161,834,276
4	Scream 4	101,214,723
5	Red Eye	95,577,774
6	The Hills Have Eyes (2006)	69,623,713
7	The Hills Have Eyes 2	67,915,885
8	The Last House on the Left (2009)	45,286,228
9	A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors	44,793,222
10	The People Under the Stairs	31,347,154

Wes Craven
Craven in 2010.
Born	Wesley Earl Craven August 2, 1939 Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Died	August 30, 2015 (aged 76) Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation	Director, writer, producer, actor
Years active	1971–2015
Spouse(s)	Bonnie Broecker (m. 1964; div. 1969) Mimi Craven (m. 1984; div. 1987) Iya Labunka (m. 2004; his death 2015)
Children	2, including Jonathan
Website	www.wescraven.com

U2 - Song For Someone (Directed by Matt Mahurin)

This is the awesome new video by U2. It's the second video of this song. And this two colour video is really amazing.

U2 - Song For Someone (Directed by Matt Mahurin)

Hope you will love this awesome lyric.

U2 - Song For Someone

You got a face not spoiled by beauty
I have some scars from where I’ve been
You’ve got eyes that can see right through me
You’re not afraid of anything they’ve seen
I was told that I would feel nothing the first time
I don’t know how these cuts heal
But in you I found a rhyme

If there is a light you can’t always see
And there is a world we can’t always be
If there is a dark that we shouldn’t doubt
And there is a light, don’t let it go out

And this is a song, song for someone
This is a song, song for someone

You let me in to a conversation
A conversation only we could make
You break and enter my imagination
Whatever’s in there it’s yours to take
I was told I’d feel nothing the first time
You were slow to heal but this could be the night

If there is a light you can’t always see
And there is a world we can’t always be
If there is a dark within and without
And there is a light, don’t let it go out

And this is a song, song for someone
This is a song, a song for someone

And I’m a long long way from your Hill of Calvary
And I’m a long way from where I was and where I need to be
If there is a light you can’t always see
And there is a world we can’t always be
If there is a kiss I stole from your mouth
And there is a light, don’t let it go out

Fear The Walking Dead, 2015-08-24 - Variety, ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Sets All-Time Cable Ratings Premiere Record

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/fear-the-walking-dead-premiere-sets-all-time-cable-ratings-record-1201575876/

‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Sets All-Time Cable Ratings Premiere Record

Courtesy of AMC

August 24, 2015 | 01:49PM PT

Rick Kissell

Senior Editor@ratesrick

AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead,” the much-anticipated companion series to megahit zombie drama “The Walking Dead,” opened to monster — and record-setting — ratings of its own own Sunday night.

Nielsen estimates that the 90-minute debut of “Fear the Walking Dead” became the No. 1-rated cable series launch on record with 10.1 million viewers, including 6.3 million adults 18-49. In total viewers, “Fear” surpasses TNT’s “Raising the Bar” (7.7 million in 2008) as top dog among cable premieres.

The previous record in the 18-49 demo was AMC’s “Better Call Saul” (4.4 million) earlier this year. In fact, AMC now has three of the top five cable launches of all time, with “Walking Dead” ranking fifth.

In both 18-49 and total viewers, Sunday’s premiere out-rated all 22 episodes from the first two seasons of “The Walking Dead.” The original’s third-season premiere did a 5.8 demo rating and 10.87 million total viewers.

Leading into the “Fear” premiere Sunday, a special “Talking Dead” season-6 preview episode did a 1.9 rating in 18-49 and 4.2 million viewers overall.

AMC is expected to release Live+3 ratings for “Fear the Walking Dead” and “Talking Dead” on Friday.

“Fear the Walking Dead,” created by Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson, differentiates itself from the original by being set both in a different place (Los Angeles) and time (at the very beginning of the apocalyptic outbreak). Its cast includes Kim Dickens, Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane and Ruben Blades.

Helping serve as a seat-warmer for the mothership’s return on Oct. 11, “Fear” will air six episodes in its first season. It was handed a straight-to-series, two-season order by AMC in March. Season two is slated for 2016.

Jon Stewart, 2015-08-05 - The New York Times, Jon Stewart, Sarcastic Critic of Politics and Media, Is Signing Off

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/06/business/media/jon-stewart-a-sarcastic-critic-of-politics-and-media-signs-off.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Jon Stewart, Sarcastic Critic of Politics and Media, Is Signing Off

By JOHN KOBLINAUG. 5, 2015

Photo

Using a fake news format, Jon Stewart was equally trusted and distrusted, polls showed, and viewer numbers fell in recent years.CreditVictoria Will/Invision, via Associated Press

On Thursday night 10 presidential candidates will spill onto a stage in Cleveland, and the already crowded Republican primary race will begin in earnest with the first day of debates, live on Fox News.

The perfect Jon Stewart moment.

But Mr. Stewart won’t be around to skewer the participants. A couple of hours earlier, on the Far West Side of Manhattan, he will have already taped his final show.

The timing is coincidental, but meaningful: Mr. Stewart has spent his career as host of the “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central having a field day with politicians (many of them Republican), outlandish billionaires (including Donald Trump) and cable news stations (Fox News in particular).

Since Mr. Stewart started hosting “The Daily Show” 16 years ago, the country’s trust in both the news media and the government has plummeted. Mr. Stewart’s brand of fake news thrived in that vacuum, and turned him into one of the nation’s most bracing cultural, political and media critics.

With his over-the-top presentation of the news — his arms swinging wildly, his eyes bulging with outrage, followed by a shake of the head and a knowing smile — Mr. Stewart attracted a generation of viewers ready to embrace an outlier whose exaggerations, in their view, carried more truth than conventional newscasts.

Jon Stewart will host his final “Daily Show” on Thursday, after 16 years.CreditTodd Heisler/The New York Times

“He made the position what it was and he was smart and talented enough to imagine what this could be,” Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, a Democrat and himself a former performer on “Saturday Night Live,” said in an interview. “It evolved very quickly under his leadership and used the format of fake news to talk about everything and anything, and do it brilliantly.”

When Mr. Stewart took over Comedy Central’s late-night slot, replacing Craig Kilborn, the show was on a little-watched cable network, with around 350,000 viewers a night. That number grew year after year, and at its height, in the 2008-2009 season, it drew 1.6 million viewers a night, many of them young and left-leaning.

But Mr. Stewart was far from a universally loved figure. His viewership, though a boon for Comedy Central, was much smaller than that of the network late-night shows. A Pew Research poll said there were nearly as many viewers who distrusted it as those who trusted it, and there was a significant divide among the liberals who craved it and conservatives who loathed it. Critics, even on the left, said he could come off as pompous and self-righteous.

Still, the show’s relentless focus on political news, and the amount of time Mr. Stewart, who is not granting interviews ahead of his departure, would devote to a certain topic each night, made him an object of fascination, especially among the press.

“I think Stewart has it both ways,” said Jeff Greenfield, the longtime TV news reporter. “He says he’s just a comedian but he’s more than a comedian and I think he knows that. I spent three decades-plus doing network news but if you ask me today, what do I pay more attention to, John Oliver and Jon Stewart or the evening newscast, it’s not close. I get much more out of Oliver and Stewart when he’s cooking than I do out of those formulaic 22-minute newscasts.”

“There are a lot of journalists who watch Stewart and envy the freedom he has,” Mr. Greenfield added. “You can’t go on television when you’re a journalist and say, ‘Senator X is a bald-faced liar.’ ”

The show’s producers and writers knew they had that in their favor. The show’s popularity started to gain steam during the 2000 election, said Madeleine Smithberg, a creator of “The Daily Show,” especially in the monthlong drama after the election that led to the Bush v. Gore decision. “We moved into the forefront in everybody’s mind and everyone was watching us because we were the only ones who could call it for what it actually was,” Ms. Smithberg said.

By that point, Mr. Stewart had been host for two years and was zeroing in on the show’s identity, a significant departure from his predecessor Mr. Kilborn, who was a former sports anchor.

“The show certainly had not found itself by the time Craig had left,” said Lewis Black, the comedian and longtime “Daily Show” contributor who worked with both hosts. “The pieces were in place but it needed somebody to guide the ship in. Jon really became that person.”

As that was happening, “South Park” was becoming a hit in its own right, and Comedy Central began to take off.

“What Jon did was put us into the national conversation and put us into the zeitgeist and the front page,” said Doug Herzog, the president of the Viacom Music and Entertainment group.

It’s a platform that has turned Mr. Stewart’s little-known replacement, the 31-year-old Trevor Noah, into an overnight celebrity. And the show has likewise minted many stars, including Stephen Colbert, who is replacing David Letterman next month; John Oliver, who now has his own show on HBO; Steve Carell; Ed Helms; Larry Wilmore; and Samantha Bee.

There have been many milestones: Mr. Stewart’s coverage of the Bush White House; the show’s best-selling book, “America: A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction”; his confrontations with CNBC’s Jim Cramer; and his feuds with Fox News. (Mr. Stewart revisited that topic on the show Monday night, after Fox News accused him of being too cozy with the Obama administration because he had visited the president at the White House.)

In 2010, Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert organized a gathering that attracted thousands in Washington, called the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear,” in response to the conservative commentator Glenn Beck and the growing Tea Party movement. That same year, his determined advocacy of a bill to provide aid to 9/11 responders was widely cited as the reason it passed through Congress.

There are signs, however, that the show’s best days are behind it. It has had a declining audience for three straight years, and its average for total viewers this season is about 1.35 million, its lowest since 2005. The viewership in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, at 725,000 viewers a night, is at its lowest in 11 years, according to data from Nielsen.

Mr. Herzog, of Viacom, took issue with the figures, arguing that including viewers who were watching parts of his show online, “Jon’s probably more impactful than ever.”

Mr. Black said that Mr. Stewart might have benefited most from the news events that marked his tenure — from the Bush administration to the wars in the Middle East to the rise of 24-hour news channels and the emergence of Barack Obama and the Tea Party.

“The show gained its power not just from Jon and not just from the writers of the show, but also the time frame in which it occurred,” Mr. Black said.

“He would turn out every day and do something that would provide people a certain amount of insulation from the madness we’re bombarded with from the moment we wake up,” he continued. “Whether someone is bombing this place or someone is shooting someone, or some senator said something so profoundly beyond human comprehension that one would consider it fictional if one didn’t know this was a real person. But laughter? Laughter allows you to say, ‘Ah! I am not a part of this,’ and you disengage for a moment.”

A version of this article appears in print on August 6, 2015, on page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Sarcastic Critic of Politics and Media, Signing Off . Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe