Cybill Shepherd as KATYA GONCHAROVA and Robert De Niro as GONCHAROV in GONCHAROV (1973) dir. Matteo JWHJ0715 produced by Martin Scorsese

Sam Bottoms, Eileen Brennan, and Timothy Bottoms in The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971) Cast: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, Clu Gulager, Sam Bottoms, Sharon Ullrick, Randy Quaid, Joe Heathcock, Bill Thurman, Barc Doyle. Screenplay: Larry McMurtry, Peter Bogdanovich, based on a novel by McMurtry. Cinematography: Robert Surtees. Production design: Polly Platt. Film editing: Donn Cambern Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman won Oscars for The Last Picture Show, Jeff Bridges and Ellen Burstyn were nominees, and Cybill Shepherd and even Randy Quaid went on to more prominent careers, but the protagonist of the film is Sonny Crawford, played by Timothy Bottoms. His quiet, shyly withdrawn character is the one that carries the movie from beginning to end. The role could have been played by Bridges, but I think director Peter Bogdanovich made the right decision: Bridges is too up-front an actor for the role of Sonny. Bottoms's ability to fade handsomely into the background makes him a perfect actor for a character who needs to be quietly passive. He shouldn't outshine the rest of the ensemble, but instead bring home the film's message about the damage that can be done in a dying community like Anarene, Texas -- an antithesis to the sentimentalized small towns that for so long dominated American movies. What emerges from the starved lives of the citizens of Anarene is not a sense of community, a willingness to love and help one's neighbor, but a kind of deep meanness, a self-righteous self-centeredness. For me, the scene that best captures this emotional and moral stuntedness is the one in which the town goes out in hysterical pursuit of Joe Bob Blanton (Barc Doyle), the preacher's son whom we see being bullied and mocked throughout the movie. In our times, I suspect, Joe Bob's revenge would have involved shooting up the local high school, but instead he picks up a little girl and drives off into the country with her, setting off a frenzy. But when he's found and carted off to jail, everyone seems to forget about the little girl: We see her tagging along, virtually unnoticed, after the mob that's rejoicing in its victory. We remember how surprised and disgusted people were when Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson) left Joe Bob a thousand dollars in his will -- probably to tell the boy to get the hell out of Anarene before it's too late. Unfortunately, it seems to be too late for everyone else. Duane goes off to Korea, but he promises to return if he doesn't get shot. Jacy, we hear, is in Dallas, but she'll maintain the carapace of vanity and manipulativeness she evolved in Anarene wherever she goes. At the end, we're left with Sonny and Ruth (Leachman), reunited in lonely hopelessness.

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There are many similarities between actors and regular people. One of those similarities is that we all have children who disappoint us at one point or another. For most parents, being disappointed in your children is a right of passage. Something that all parents have the joy of experiencing. But, when kids take it to the next level, when they become so bad that we don’t even want to be associated with them anymore, that’s something unique. That’s list-worthy. Throughout the years of film and television, actors have done their best to keep their children out of the spotlight. For most, this is about protecting their children’s privacy. For some, however, it’s about protecting their own reputations because their kids are d-bags. This list is focused on the latter group. What makes a criminal? We’ll admit that this term can be misrepresentative in some cases. Being arrested for doing something that many of us do on the regular, shouldn’t be enough to make you a criminal, but it often does. In this piece, the term criminal refers to those who have been arrested for something serious. We will consider the context when it’s available to us, but, when all we have is the police report, we can only deal with what information is given to us. That might be unfair in some cases, but who really cares? These are criminals we’re talking about. Just because we like their parents for the work they do, doesn’t mean we should overlook the fact that their kids are jerks. Here are 15 Famous Actors Whose Children are Criminals.

#1 Robert Downey Jr. – Indio Downey In 2016, Robert Downey Jr., a recovering drug addict himself, saw his son, Indio Downey, arrested for possession of drugs. Stories say that Indio was seen using drugs in a vehicle and was pulled over by the police. In the car, they found cocaine and other drug paraphernalia. Even though he was not given any jail time, Indio was ordered to receive treatment for his addiction. If he could stay clean during an 18-month period of time, the judge declared that they scrape Indio’s criminal record clean. He stayed clean and his conviction was expunged. Good boy.

#2 Cybill Shepherd – Cyrus Zachariah Shepherd Back in 2010, Cybill Shepherd’s son, Cyrus Zacharia Shepherd-Oppenheim, was arrested for robbing sleeping passengers on a flight from San Francisco to Philadelphia. Cyrus, who was 22 at the time, was caught stealing cash, cameras, and other items from carry-on luggage. Since he was a first-time offender, the judge ordered Cyrus to enter into a rehab program and the Alcoholics Anonymous program. Though he has stayed free of any arrests since that time, it’s said that Cyrus relapsed a couple of years ago and found himself back in rehab. Still, compared to most of the kids on this list, this Shepherd is an angel.

#3 Tatum O’Neal And John McEnroe – Kevin McEnroe Kevin McEnroe, the son of actress Tatum O’Neal and tennis star John McEnroe, was arrested and humiliated all at once in 2014. The story tells of McEnroe being caught with six bags of cocaine, 20 pills of oxycontin, 10 tablets of morphine, and some anti-anxiety medicine. The craziest and most humiliating bit of all this is that the cocaine wasn’t cocaine at all. The police and McEnroe thought it was, but they were wrong. It was actually baking soda. Not only did McEnroe get arrested and charged, but he was ripped off by his drug dealer as well. The judge must have felt sorry for this noob because he was only charged with a misdemeanor.

#4 Hulk Hogan – Nick Hogan In 2007, Nick Hogan and some friends were racing two of his father’s, Hulk Hogan’s, cars through the streets of Clearwater, Florida. Hogan, the driver of one of the vehicles, fishtailed and crashed into a palm tree. Hogan and the passenger were flown to the hospital, but Hogan was let go the next day with minor injuries. The passenger, John Graziano, who was not wearing a seatbelt in the crash, suffered severe eye and brain injuries. Hogan was charged with reckless driving involving serious bodily injury, the use of a motor vehicle in commission of a felony, and driving with alcohol in the system while being underage. The 17-year-old Hogan was sentenced to eight months in Pinellas County Jail. He also received five years of probation, 500 community service hours, and had his driver’s license suspended for a few years. Graziano, with severe brain damage, will need constant care for the rest of his life.

#5 Jackie Chan – Jaycee Chan In 2014, Jackie Chan’s son, Jaycee, an actor himself, was arrested by Beijing police for drug possession. Police also found more than three ounces of marijuana in Jaycee’s apartment. Jaycee then faced an insane amount of charges, including a maximum sentence of the death penalty or life in prison. The main bulk of the charges stemmed from “accommodating drug users.” Eventually, Chan was sentenced to six months in prison, which must have seemed like a big win considering the severity of the charges. His father, Jackie, outside of a public apology on behalf of his son, was not involved in the court cases whatsoever. Neither Jaycee’s mother nor father even showed up at court. That’s tough love. The moral of the story here is: don’t smoke pot in China. You could be killed if you’re caught.

#6 Laurence Fishburne – Montana Fishburne It was a while ago now that Laurence Fishburne basically disowned his daughter, Montana. In 2009, Montana was arrested for prostitution. She was 17 years old. The following year, she made headlines for releasing a p*rn, something her father spent millions trying to stop from being released (unsuccessfully, we should add). That same year, 2010, Montana was arrested after she entered the home of her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, dragged her into the bathroom, and beat her. For this, she was charged with battery and false imprisonment, a step down from the assault with a deadly weapon the prosecutors were searching for. Finally, Montana was just recently arrested again, this time for drunk driving, after she blew more than twice the legal limit (.18 and .17) in breathalyzer tests. Incredibly, this is all on tape as well.

#7 Farah Fawcett And Ryan O’Neal – Redmond O’Neal Redmond O’Neal is the son of late actress Farah Fawcett and actor Ryan O’Neal. Back in 2009, Redmond was thrown in jail and ordered to go to rehab for drug charges. In 2011, he was placed in a treatment center after being found in possession of heroin and a firearm during a traffic stop. Not only is this illegal on its own, but he was also in violation of his probation. After being released in 2012, Redmond relapsed in 2014, was arrested, and ordered to go back into rehab. Finally, in 2015, Redmond was sentenced to three years in jail for violating probation once again. And, once again, this was related to drugs. The O’Neal family has long been at the center of drugs, crime, and controversy; so this one is, sadly, no surprise.

#8 Michael Douglas – Cameron Douglas Like many on this list, Michael Douglas’ son, Cameron, is a repeat offender. He has been arrested for drug offenses numerous times, beginning in 1999. It was then that he was first arrested for possession when he was found with cocaine. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of disorderly conduct and got off. No doubt because of some famous family influence. Later, in 2007, Cameron was charged with possession again. This time, police found a syringe with liquid cocaine in the car that Cameron was in. Two years later, he was arrested again, this time by the DEA for possession of a half pound of methamphetamine. The following year, Cameron’s girlfriend smuggled heroin into him while he was on house arrest. He was then sentenced to five years in prison for drug offenses later that year. In 2011, he was caught with drugs in prison. In 2013, he was found to have drugs in his system while in prison. Amazingly, Cameron was released from prison last year. We will see how long this stint of freedom lasts.

#9 Nicolas Cage – Weston Cage Weston Cage, the son of Nicolas Cage, has been in the news for a number of different reasons in the past. The most recent event came this year, when he was hit with three formal charges after being involved in police car chase in February. While driving drunk, Weston was seen and tailed by police. He then fled and ended up crashing his car into a tree. There was also a fight back in 2011 that Weston was blamed for starting. While out for lunch with his personal trainer, Weston became enraged when he was told he couldn’t eat something. He threw a hissy fit and started crying in the restaurant. The argument then spilled out onto the street where Weston tried to roundhouse kick his trainer. He was then swiftly reminded who was the master and who was the Padawan. Weston was beaten down and hospitalized for his troubles.

#10 Ice T – Elyjah Marrow This one isn’t a child, but a grandchild. Ice-T’s grandson, Elyjah Marrow, made headlines after he was arrested for murdering his roommate in 2015. Police reports indicate that the 19-year-old accidentally shot and killed his friend at their Georgia apartment. The story says that Marrow was playing around with a handgun when it went off and the bullet struck his friend in the chest. Marrow was charged with involuntary manslaughter, possession of a firearm, and reckless conduct. They also tacked on some charges for possession with the intent to sell, after a large quantity of pot was found in the premises. The firearm used in the shooting was also stolen. Ironically, Ice-T is a very vocal pro-gun advocate. We wonder if his position has changed any. Why is that whenever any idiot is playing around with a gun, they’re always pointing right at a friend?

#11 Ray Sharkey – Cecelia Bonnie Sharkey Actor Ray Sharkey was best known for his roles in The Idolmaker and the TV series Wideguy. Sharkey died in 1993 from complications due to AIDS, which means he never got to see his daughter turn into a crazy murderer. In 2015, Ray’s daughter, Cecelia, was charged with the murder of Patricia Metropoulos. Metropoulos was the mother of Cecelia’s boyfriend. One evening, outside of Metropoulos’ home, Cecilia bludgeoned her to death with a baseball bat. The assault was said to have been the result of a fight between the two women. Listen, a mother-in-law can be tough to handle at times, but that must have been one hell of an argument to lead to Cecelia grabbing a baseball bat.

#12 Billy Bob Thornton – Amanda Brumfield There was a long stretch of time when Billy Bob Thornton and his daughter, Amanda Brumfield, were basically strangers. When she was young, Brumfield and Thornton were estranged, but they tried to patch things up later on in life. After the events in 2008, however, Thornton was doing everything he could to distance himself from his daughter. It was then that she was charged with the murder of her 1-year-old goddaughter, Olivia Madison Garcia. It took a few years, but eventually, Brumfield was convicted of aggravated manslaughter. She claimed the death was an accident. She stated that the baby had simply fallen out of her playpen. But the 3½-inch fracture on the little girl’s skull and the mass swelling on her brain suggested otherwise. After the alleged fall, Brumfield even waited more than two hours to call the police. Before calling, she painted the child’s toenails and fed her bananas. She even lay on the floor with the child. Sickening. Billy Bob is probably thankful that he and this monster don’t share a last name.

#13 Ronnie Barker – Adam Barker The late Ronnie Barker was a famed British comedian and actor known for his appearances on several popular TV series. His son, Adam Barker, is a disgusting creep who was found with more than 1,675 images and videos of child p*rnography in 2003. After being arrested, Adam went on the run. He stayed away for eight years, during which time both his parents died. When he finally did return, Adam turned himself in to the police. He was charged and jailed in 2012. He was also found to have created many of those images, which is even more disturbing. The worst of all this is that, instead of rotting behind bars for the rest of his life, which is what he deserves, he spent only 13 weeks in jail before being released. That’s only three months.

#14 Marlon Brando – Christian Brando Marlon Brando was one of the true legends in the industry. But, just when you thought his fame couldn’t get any larger in scope, his son, Christian Brando, was charged for murder. In 1990, Christian shot and killed his sister’s boyfriend, Dag Drollet. The shooting took place at Marlon’s home on Mulholland Drive in Hollywood. The defense was that Drollet was abusing Christian’s sister, Cheyenne. The trial was all over the news and the Brando family drama was on everyone’s tongue. Christian would plead guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to prison. In 1996, he was released. In 2004, Christian was back in the news as a possible suspect in the murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley. These two had a relationship that was brought up during the murder trial of actor Robert Blake. Then, in 2005, Christian was charged with spousal abuse of then-wife, Deborah. It seems like once he started getting in trouble and got a taste for crime, he just couldn’t stop.

#15 Clark Gable – John Clark Gable John Clark Gable, the son of legend Clark Gable, was arrested in 2013 for a DUI after driving his car into six parked cars in Malibu. It was a normal Tuesday afternoon along the pier, when old drunk Gable came flying down the road in is pickup truck completely out of control. Gable was too drunk to realize that he had hit any car, let alone six, so he just kept on going probably thinking he was just dreaming. When he finally came to a stop, police ordered him out of the vehicle. Gable did, but when he stepped out, he just fell flat on his face. A year earlier, in 2012, Gable’s name was in the press after his girlfriend was found dead in their home. Since there were no signs of foul play, Gable was cleared of any suspicion. The death was ruled an accidental suicide. Way to make your pops proud, John.

Source: TheRichest

Forget Netflix and Chill. Try Pure Flix and Pray.

By Katherine Rosman, NY Times, April 22, 2017

CHICAGO--Before breakfast at Sixteen, a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel and Tower here the morning after the premiere for the film “The Case for Christ,” David A. R. White and Andrea Logan White requested a pause.

“Hold on, I want to say grace,” Mr. White said to this reporter, whose mouth was already stuffed full of bacon. “Bless us, Lord, thanks so much for this day,” he went on, concluding: “I love you. Thanks so much for the movie.”

The disconnect between the mainstream news media and evangelical Christians is also a major theme of “The Case for Christ.” Based on the best-selling book written by Lee Strobel, a former journalist at The Chicago Tribune, the movie depicts his process of going from a hard-nosed newsman and atheist to a devout Christian and minister.

It was produced by Pure Flix, a faith-based entertainment production and distribution company in Scottsdale, Ariz., that Mr. White helped found in 2005. In June 2015, the company introduced an on-demand streaming service. While Netflix denizens devour series like “13 Reasons Why” and “Breaking Bad,” PureFlix.com offers bingeable programming like “The American Bible Challenge,” a game show hosted by Jeff Foxworthy; “Family Affair,” a sitcom starring Brian Keith that ran from 1966 to 1971; “The Encounter,” a Pure Flix original scripted series about people who are visited by Jesus; and stand-up comedy from Sinbad and Louie Anderson. Next up is “Hilton Head Island,” a soap opera starring Antonio Sabato Jr. It also streams sermons and documentaries for parents who home-school.

Last month, PureFlix.com had nearly 715,000 unique visitors, according to Alexa, a website traffic analytics company. Greg Gudorf, chief executive of PureFlix.com, said the service’s nearly 250,000 paying subscribers could choose from a catalog of more than 7,500 titles. “We’ve been blessed with really strong growth,” he said.

Mr. White, who was raised a Mennonite in rural Kansas, saw just one secular film in a theater before he turned 18. (“The Mennonites make the Mormons look like a pack of Hell’s Angels,” he said.) A friend’s parents took him to see “Grease” and “when Olivia Newton-John came out in black tights, I thought for sure I was going to hell,” he said. This was enough to persuade him to drop out of Bible college after one year. His goal was to serve God through acting, but then he became interested in production, too. Pure Flix has made hundreds of films (“Do You Believe?” starring Cybill Shepherd), sitcoms, serialized dramas and web series including “On the White Track,” which stars Mr. White and his wife.

On-demand services allow Christians of different disciplines to find content that speaks to their individual interests and beliefs. A theatrical feature film can be a tougher sell to a religious population with many different denominations.

“In the Christian faith, there are divisions with all the sects,” Mr. White said. “The Baptists won’t talk to the Assemblies of God. You have your charismatic Christians. You have your ultraconservatives, like Southern Baptists. You have Catholicism. They’re all a little different.” But, he added, invoking the Rev. Billy Graham, “The foot of the cross is level ground.”

The 2014 Pure Flix theatrical release “God’s Not Dead” found the level ground. It earned more than $60 million at the box office. (Mr. White was a star of the film, and it features Korie and Willie Robertson of “Duck Dynasty.”)

“The Case for Christ” also focuses on a theme that binds all Christians, the resurrection of Jesus. Set in 1980 and decked out with the cars, pastel clothes, handlebar mustaches and smoky newsrooms that conjure the dawn of Reagan’s America, the movie was filmed over six weeks in Atlanta and cost more than $4 million to make. It stars Mike Vogel (recently of the Syfy network’s mini-series “Childhood’s End”), the Tony-winning actress L. Scott Caldwell and Erika Christensen (known for her six-season work on the NBC show “Parenthood”). There are cameos from Robert Forster and Faye Dunaway.

On the film’s marketing poster, Mr. Vogel’s character gazes at a red Time magazine cover from 1966 that asks, “Is God Dead?” (As it happens, Time repurposed the cover for a March 2017 edition, but the modern-day headline read, “Is Truth Dead?”)

The film earned mostly favorable reviews from the small mainstream publications. It received an A-plus CinemaScore, measuring audience appeal, and has a 77 percent favorability mark from Rotten Tomatoes.

By the end of its first two weekends in more than 1,000 theaters around the country, the movie had brought in about $9 million, perhaps less than Mr. White and his partners had hoped for but still delivering a tidy profit.

Thanks to President Trump’s popularity among evangelicals and discussions of “fake news” abounding on the internet, the film has considerable resonance.

“If you watch CNN or Fox, you feel like it’s two different worlds,” said Michael Scott, a founder of Pure Flix and a producer of the film. “Here, you have something similar, you have an atheistic journalist investigating the claims for Christ. There are some similarities even though it was taking place more than 30 years ago.”

Speaking near the red carpet before the screening, Mr. Scott, also the chief executive of Pure Flix, was upbeat and gregarious, if a little nervous. Soon he would need to introduce the film with a list of thank yous “as long as the Bible,” he said. He was standing with Shawn Boskie, who was a pitcher with the Chicago Cubs and is Pure Flix’s vice president for investor relations. (A Q. and A. session after the screening was conducted by Kirk Cousins, a quarterback for the Washington Redskins.)

Mr. Scott was wearing a red-stripe tie that Mr. Boskie bought for him at Trump Tower in New York. Earlier in the evening, Mr. Scott had been yearning for a pair of scissors to help nip a tag hanging from the back of the tie. He didn’t want to just yank it off. “The tie was made in China,” he said.

Us Weekly was not represented on the news media line, but The National Catholic Register and Movieguide were. “This is like ‘All The President’s Men’ journalism before so much of it was doubted and before there were so many different journalists writing for so many different media,” said Jon Gunn, the movie’s director, of his protagonist’s search for answers. “Back when people had notebooks and pens and spoke face to face.”

But the film’s character connects to modern opinions of the news media, too, he said. Mr. Strobel’s character “is a skeptic who says he’s being evenhanded and unbiased but he’s looking to debunk Christianity so he’s not as unbiased as he should be.”

Mr. and Ms. White sidled up to Mr. Gunn and his wife, Lisa, to say hello. Mr. Gunn and Mr. White have known each other for years. Mr. White starred along with Eric Roberts in 2000’s “Mercy Streets,” Mr. Gunn’s first feature film, in which Ms. Gunn, an actress, also had a role.

“I got to make out with his wife for ‘Mercy Streets,’” Mr. White said with a big laugh.

Mr. Gunn said, “Andrea and I are still waiting for our turn.”

“Oh, it’s getting chilly in here,” Mr. White said. Ms. White, who met her husband at a church in Malibu, Calif., when she had blond dreadlocks and was working as a personal trainer, rolled her eyes. “I’ve never been a rainbow-and-unicorn Christian,” she said later.

The world of faith-based entertainment feels small and interconnected in this way. Eamonn McCrystal is an Irish tenor whose music career is managed by Elizabeth Travis, the country singer Randy Travis’s ex-wife and ex-manager who is also a Pure Flix partner. Mr. McCrystal, who played an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer in Pure Flix’s “God’s Not Dead 2,” strolled amid the friends and family of the film’s cast and crew as Ms. Travis walked the red carpet. He carried a cellphone in a leather case that made it look like a little Bible. “Oh, you’re the one that Donald Trump hates,” he said after meeting a reporter for The New York Times.

Brian Bird, the film’s writer, was an executive producer of “Touched by an Angel” and worked on programs including “Step by Step” and “Evening Shade,” the Burt Reynolds sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1990 to 1994. When he was in his early 20s, Mr. White had a recurring role on “Evening Shade” until he stuffed a pillow under his shirt and did an impersonation of Mr. Reynolds in front of the studio audience before filming an episode. Mr. Reynolds turned his rings around and smacked Mr. White on the ear with his open palm. Mr. White was subsequently fired.

Now Mr. Reynolds plays Mr. White’s father on a new sitcom Pure Flix is trying to shop to the networks, a 10-episode season of which has already been shot. In “Hitting the Breaks,” Mr. White plays a former racecar driver who moves with his family from Atlanta to a small town in Colorado, where he has inherited a bed-and-breakfast, the Serenity Inn. His real-life wife plays his wife on the show. Morgan Fairchild, Rob Schneider and Tim Tebow have guest-starred.

Mr. and Ms. White would also like to star in a reality show. After the success of “God’s Not Dead” in 2014, they took meetings with network executives but the discussions went nowhere.

In part “it was a faith thing,” Mr. White said.

“The major networks like the audience of faith,” he continued, “but when you have to go to the audience and say faith things on television, well, we might be too open.”

Ms. White responded, “They’re worried we’ll make the audience uncomfortable, like Jesus freaks.”

“I think the climate is different now,” Mr. White said of producing a reality show based on an evangelical Christian family. “I think it eventually will happen.”

Pure Flix executives are also building a strategy to attract a secular audience so that its content is not mere “preaching to the converted,” said Alysoun Wolfe, another of the company’s partners. This fall, Pure Flix will release in theaters “Same Kind of Different as Me,” starring Greg Kinnear and Renée Zellweger and featuring Jon Voight. It also has been filming “Samson,” starring Rutger Hauer, Jackson Rathbone, Lindsay Wagner and Billy Zane, in South Africa. And Ms. Wolfe, with Mr. Scott, is focusing on the start of Epiphany, a production partner to Pure Flix whose subtler brand name is intended to avoid alienating non-Christians.

“We need to reach a broader audience,” Ms. Wolfe said, “because we want to get the moral lessons out.”