Spotlight 4
15:37This Spotlight Is the Beautiful Diane Keaton!
Diane Keaton born Diane Hall; January 5, 1946 is an American film actress, director, and producer. She began her career on stage and made her screen debut in 1970. Her first major film role was as Kay Adams-Corleone in The Godfather (1972), but the films that shaped her early career were those with director and co-star Woody Allen, beginning with Play It Again, Sam in 1972.
Her next two films with Allen, Sleeper (1973) and Love and Death (1975), established her as a comic actor. Her fourth, Annie Hall (1977), won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Keaton began studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. She initially studied acting under the Meisner technique, an ensemble acting technique first evolved in the 1930s by Sanford Meisner, a New York stage actor/acting coach/director who had been a member of The Group Theater (1931–1940). She has described her acting technique as, "[being] only as good as the person you're acting with ... As opposed to going it on my own and forging my path to create a wonderful performance without the help of anyone. I always need the help of everyone!" According to Jack Nicholson, "She approaches a script sort of like a play in that she has the entire script memorized before you start doing the movie, which I don't know any other actors doing that."
In 1968, Keaton became a member of the "Tribe" and understudy to Sheila in the original Broadway production of Hair. She gained some notoriety for her refusal to disrobe at the end of Act I when the cast performs nude, even though nudity in the production was optional for actors (Those who performed nude received a $50 bonus). After acting in Hair for nine months, she auditioned for a part in Woody Allen's production of Play It Again, Sam. After nearly being passed over for being too tall (at 5 ft 8 in./1.73 m she is two inches/five cm taller than Allen), she won the part.
After being nominated for a Tony Award for Play It Again, Sam, Keaton made her film debut in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970). She followed with guest roles on the television series Love, American Style and Night Gallery, and Mannix. Between films, Keaton appeared in a series of deodorant commercials.
Keaton's breakthrough role came two years later when she was cast as Kay Adams, the girlfriend and eventual wife of Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film The Godfather. Coppola noted that he first noticed Keaton in Lovers and Other Strangers, and cast her because of her reputation for eccentricity that he wanted her to bring to the role (Keaton claims that at the time she was commonly referred to as "the kooky actress" of the film industry)
Her performance in the film was loosely based on her real life experience of making the film, both of which she has described as being "the woman in a world of men." The Godfather was an unparalleled critical and financial success, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year and winning the Best Picture Oscar of 1972.
Two years later she reprised her role as Kay Adams in The Godfather Part II. She was initially reluctant, stating that, "At first, I was skeptical about playing Kay again in the Godfather sequel. But when I read the script, the character seemed much more substantial than in the first movie." In Part II, her character changed dramatically, becoming more embittered about her husband's activities. Even though Keaton received widespread exposure from the films, her character's importance was minimal.
In 1977, Keaton starred with Allen in the romantic comedy Annie Hall, one of her most famous roles. Annie Hall, written by Allen and Marshall Brickman and directed by Allen, was believed to be autobiographical of his relationship with Keaton. Allen based the character of Annie Hall loosely on Keaton ("Annie" is a nickname of hers, and "Hall" is her original surname)
Many of Keaton's mannerisms and her self-deprecating sense of humor were added into the role by Allen. (Director Nancy Meyershas claimed "Diane's the most self-deprecating person alive.") Keaton has also said that Allen wrote the character as an "idealized version" of herself.
Keaton has also said that Allen wrote the character as an "idealized version" of herself. The two starred as a frequently on-again, off-again couple living in New York City. Her acting was later summed up by CNN as "awkward, self-deprecating, speaking in endearing little whirlwinds of semi-logic", and by Allen as a "nervous breakdown in slow motion." The film was both a major financial and critical success and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Keaton's performance also won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2006, Premiere magazine ranked Keaton in Annie Hall as 60th on its list of the "100 Greatest Performances of All Time,"
Keaton's eccentric wardrobe in Annie Hall, which consisted mainly of vintage men's clothing, including neckties, vests, baggy pants, and fedora hats, made her an unlikely fashion icon of the late 1970s. A small amount of the clothing seen in the film came from Keaton herself, who was already known for her tomboyish clothing style years before Annie Hall, and Ruth Morley designed the movie's costumes. Soon after the film's release, men's clothing and pantsuits became popular attire for women.
In Manhattan in 1979, Keaton and Woody Allen ended their long working relationship, and the film would be their last major collaboration until 1993. In 1978, she became romantically involved with Warren Beatty, and two years later he cast her to play opposite him in Reds. In the film, she played Louise Bryant, a journalist and feminist, who flees from her husband to work with radical journalist John Reed (Beatty), and later enters Russia to locate him as he chronicles the Russian Civil War. The New York Times wrote that Keaton was, "nothing less than splendid as Louise Bryant – beautiful, selfish, funny and driven. It's the best work she has done to date."
( Side note i did a post on warren beatty you can check out by clicking here XXX )
( Side note i did a post on warren beatty you can check out by clicking here XXX )
In 1987, Keaton directed and edited her first feature film, a documentary named Heaven about the possibility of an afterlife. Heaven met with mixed critical reaction, with The New York Times likening it to "a conceit imposed on its subjects." Over the next four years, Keaton went on to direct music videos for artists such as Belinda Carlisle, two television films starring Patricia Arquette, and episodes of the series China Beach and Twin Peaks.
By the 1990s, Keaton had established herself as one of the most popular and versatile actors in Hollywood. She shifted to more mature roles, frequently playing matriarchs of middle-class families. Of her role choices and avoidance of becoming typecast, she said: "Most often a particular role does you some good and Bang! You have loads of offers, all of them for similar roles ... I have tried to break away from the usual roles and have tried my hand at several things."
She began the decade with The Lemon Sisters, a poorly received comedy/drama that she starred in and produced, which was shelved for a year after its completion. In 1991, Keaton starred with Steve Martin in the family comedy Father of the Bride. She was almost not cast in the film, as the commercial failure of The Good Mother had strained her relationship with Walt Disney Pictures, the studio of both films. Father of the Bride was Keaton's first major hit after four years of commercial disappointments.
Keaton reprised her role four years later in the sequel, as a woman who becomes pregnant in middle age at the same time as her daughter. A review of the film for The San Francisco Examiner was one of many in which Keaton once again received comparison to Katharine Hepburn: "No longer relying on that stuttering uncertainty that seeped into all her characterizations of the 1970s, she has somehow become Katharine Hepburn with a deep maternal instinct, that is, she is a fine and intelligent actress who doesn't need to be tough and edgy in order to prove her feminism."
Keaton reprised her role of Kay Adams in 1990's The Godfather Part III. Set 20 years after the end of The Godfather, Part II, Keaton's part had evolved into the estranged ex-wife of Michael Corleone. Criticism of the film and Keaton again centered on her character's unimportance in the film. The Washington Post wrote: "Even though she is authoritative in the role, Keaton suffers tremendously from having no real function except to nag Michael for his past sins."
In 1993, Keaton starred in Manhattan Murder Mystery, her first major film role in a Woody Allen film since 1979, having made a cameo in 1987's Radio Days. Her part was originally intended for Mia Farrow, but Farrow dropped out of the project after her split with Allen.
In 1993, Keaton starred in Manhattan Murder Mystery, her first major film role in a Woody Allen film since 1979, having made a cameo in 1987's Radio Days. Her part was originally intended for Mia Farrow, but Farrow dropped out of the project after her split with Allen.
Keaton's first film of 2000 was Hanging Up with Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow. Keaton also directed the film, despite claiming in a 1996 interview that she would never direct herself in a film, saying "as a director, you automatically have different goals. I can't think about directing when I'm acting."The film was a drama about three sisters coping with the senility and eventual death of their elderly father, played by Walter Matthau. Hanging Up rated poorly with critics and grossed a modest US$36 million at the North American box office.
Relationships and family
Keaton has had several romantic associations with noted entertainment industry personalities, starting with her time with the Broadway production of Play It Again, Sam when she auditioned for director Woody Allen. Their association became personal following a dinner after a late-night rehearsal. It was her sense of humor that attracted Allen. They briefly lived together during the Broadway production, but by the time of the film release of the same name in 1972, their living arrangements became informal. They worked together on eight films between 1971 and 1993, and Keaton has said that Allen remains one of her closest friends.
She was already dating Warren Beatty from 1979 when they had co-lead roles in the film Reds. Beatty was a regular subject in tabloid magazines and media coverage in which she was included much to her bewilderment. Her avoidance of the spotlight earned her in 1985 from Vanity Fair the attribution as "the most reclusive star since Garbo."This relationship ended shortly after Reds wrapped. Troubles with the production are thought to have caused strain on the relationship, including numerous financial and scheduling problems. Keaton remains friends with Beatty.
Keaton also had a relationship with her The Godfather Trilogy costar Al Pacino. Their on-again, off-again relationship ended following the filming of The Godfather Part III. Keaton said of Pacino, "Al was simply the most entertaining man... To me, that's, that is the most beautiful face. I think Warren was gorgeous, very pretty, but Al's face is like whoa. Killer, killer face."
In July 2001, Keaton revealed her thoughts on being older and unmarried: "I don't think that because I'm not married it's made my life any less. That old maid myth is garbage." Keaton has two adopted children, daughter Dexter (adopted 1996) and son Duke (2001). Her father's death made mortality more apparent to her, and she decided to become a mother at age 55.She later said of having children, "Motherhood has completely changed me. It's just about the most completely humbling experience that I've ever had."
Outside of the film industry, Keaton has continued to pursue her interest in photography. As a collector, she told Vanity Fair in 1987: "I have amassed a huge library of images – kissing scenes from movies, pictures I like. Visual things are really key for me." She has published several more collections of her own photographs, and has also served as an editor for collections of vintage photography. Works she has edited in the last decade include a book of photographs by paparazzo Ron Galella; an anthology of reproductions of clown paintings; and a collection of photos of California's Spanish-Colonial-style houses.
Keaton has also established herself as a real estate developer. She has resold several mansions in Southern California after renovating and redesigning them. One of her clients is Madonna, who purchased a US$6.5 million Beverly Hills mansion from Keaton in 2003. She received the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Gala Tribute in 2007.
Keaton wrote her first memoir, entitled Then Again, for Random House in November 2011. Much of the autobiography relies on her mother Dorothy's private journals, in which she writes at one point: "Diane...is a mystery...At times, she's so basic, at others so wise it frightens me." In 2012, Keaton's audiobook recording of Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem was released at Audible.com. Her performance was nominated for a 2013 Audie Award in the Short Stories/Collections category.
So what has Diane Been up to lately well...
Diane Lent her voice to the character Jenny in the 2016 cartoon film finding dory and Diane will be in the new film this year called Hampstead as Emily Walters.
Till Next Time!
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