The HBO original film “Paterno” starring Al Pacino premieres on April 8. It premieres at the same time as in the United States, at 8am, with a same-day encore at 9pm, again exclusively on HBO.

The series will also be streaming on HBO Go via AIS Play and AIS Playbox.

Starring Oscar winner Al Pacino in the title role, the drama centres on Pennsylvania’s Joe Paterno in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal.

Paterno is an American college football player, athletic director and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2011.

After becoming the most successful coach in college football history, Paterno’s legacy is challenged and he is forced to face questions of institutional failure in regard to the victims.

Barry Levinson (“Rain Man”) directs from a script by Debora Cahn (“Grey’s Anatomy”, “Vinyl”) and John C Richards (“Sahara”). The film also stars Riley Keough (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), Kathy Baker, Greg Grunberg, Annie Parisse and Larry Mitchell (“Brawl in Cell Block 99”).

With a library of 800-plus movies, a cult following and a record for giving stars their break, Lloyd Kaufman could be the biggest movie mogul you’ve never heard of.

For half a century, the 72-year-old co-founder of Troma Entertainment – the world’s oldest independent film studio – has been the enfant terrible of comedy horror, a low-budget Abbott and Costello for the grossout crowd.

Troma’s iconic B-movie back catalogue includes such squelchy, sanguinary delights as “The Toxic Avenger”, “Surf Nazis Must Die”, “Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead” and “Tromeo and Juliet”.

The movies – mainly shown these days in art house theatres and on college campuses – haven’t made money since the 1990s but Troma’s mutants have become icons of American schlock culture.

“Troma has left a big mark on the countryside of the moving images industry. But we are not that well-known,” laments Kaufman, who describes the studio he founded with university friend Michael Herz as “jalapeno peppers on the cultural pizza”.

Troma was a stepping stone to Oscars glory for Oliver Stone and Kevin Costner as well as a filmmaking hothouse for James Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 and 2”) and Trey Parker and Matt Stone (“South Park”, “Team America”).

Other luminaries whose early work can be found in Troma’s library of self-produced and acquired movies include Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Samuel L Jackson and Eli Roth.

Not for the thin-skinned or politically correct, the filmography is a Pandora’s box of cannibalism, radioactive goo, bodily fluids and pneumatic breasts, not to mention relentlessly mocked racial, religious and sexual stereotypes.

AFP caught up with Kaufman at his oceanside hotel as he visited Los Angeles for the west coast premiere of his latest opus “Return to Return to Nuke ’Em High: AKA Vol 2”.

The second part of an $800,000 revisiting of Troma’s 1986 classic “Class of Nuke ’Em High,” it deals with environmental degradation, bullying, anti-LGBTQ prejudice and school shootings, all in the inimitable Troma style.

The movie reunites fans with Tromaville High School classmates and lovers Chrissy and Lauren, who battle fellow students who have turned into vicious mutants after eating contaminated tacos as part of a corrupt school meals programme.

“Poultrygeist,” a satire of the chemical-industrial food complex, focuses on a fast food restaurant built on a native American burial ground that sparks a disco-dancing chicken-human hybrid zombie apocalypse.

“The Toxic Avenger,” considered by most to be Kaufman’s finest work, stars 40-kilogram weakling Melvin Junko, who falls into a vat of chemical waste and emerges as Toxie, New Jersey’s first superhero.

Pretty much ignored upon its release in 1984, it eventually proved to be Troma’s breakthrough into the mainstream consciousness, celebrated by arthouse types from Greenwich Village to Tokyo.

It has spawned three sequels, a stage musical, a Marvel comic, video game and a children’s cartoon series, and is due to be inducted into the US Library of Congress this year.

“The people in Tromaville are… perfectly capable of running their own lives but they suffer,” Kaufman says.

“They are victims of a conspiracy of the labour elite – labour leaders who make millions of dollars while the constituency is eating dog food.”

To say Kaufman is outspoken would be to undersludge the radioactive pudding. A twinkle in his eye, he enjoys pulling the rug from under establishment figures he considers pompous or corrupt.

The Troma hashtag for the ballet dresswearing Toxie – #MeTutu  is a provocative nod to the entirely serious #MeToo movement against sexual harassment that is likely to offend as much as it amuses.

But the free-speech advocate has sincerely held beliefs about the way Hollywood – that “small number of devil-worshipping international media conglomerates” – runs things.

“Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people in the movie industry are just scum of the earth – stupid, incompetent, dishonest, the worst,” he says.

His evidence of the “filthy” showbiz culture, he says, is the sycophantic embrace of disgraced movie tycoon Harvey Weinstein while he was sexually abusing with impunity.

Paradoxically, he refers to the reaction to the scandal variously as “The OxBow Incident” – a 1943 movie about the injustice of mob lynching – and the “Red Scare”, a reference to post-World War II paranoia over communism infiltrating US society.

“How many naked people have been in our films? Thousands. In fact I’ve been naked in my movies. The point is we’re like ‘Bambi’ compared to the way the scum of this mainstream is,” he says.

Kaufman reveals that his own stars audition naked but adds that his female casting agent or another witness is always in the room.

His daughter Charlotte, who has acted in many of his movies, was the director of photography on the latest and had to excuse herself while he pranced naked in a sendup of the notorious “Silence of the Lambs” Buffalo Bill scene.

It was Kaufman who gave childhood friend and fellow Yale student Oliver Stone his first movie job, producing the 1973 erotic crime story “Sugar Cookies”.

“I knew when we were in grade school that Oliver Stone would be great, either as something constructive great or an axe murderer,” he says.

“And it turns out he’s one of our most talented and, certainly in my lifetime, one of America’s greatest directors.”

Directed by Vangelis Seitanidis, the 2014 road movie tells the story of Cousteau and Rico, two friends who go on a long journey to reconnect with school-beauty Nadia, who they both chased in their youth and who, they hear, has joined a convent. This disturbs them and they decide to check it out for themselves.

The journey is also an opportunity for the two friends to discuss their personal angst, as well as the social angst in the country. Rico is a high-ranking civil servant with a wife and family who love him. But he has an eye for the girls and constantly cheats on his wife. Cousteau is a failed businessman who is going through a low phase.

The screening is supported by the Embassy of Greece, who will serve wine and snacks after the film. Greek ambassador HE Pericles Boutos will introduce the movie. The venue, as ever, is Room 201 on the second floor of River City Bangkok.

Book your seat by emailing rcbfilmclub@gmail.com or wathanya@rivercity.co.th or call (02) 237 00778, extensions 600/701.

The producers of hit Netflix royal saga “The Crown” apologised on Tuesday over the firestorm that erupted after it emerged that Claire Foy was paid less than costar Matt Smith.

But the statement stopped short of admitting that Foy had been treated unfairly, or of offering to redress the balance with a retrospective bonus for the actress, who plays Queen Elizabeth II in the British royal saga.

“We want to apologise to both Claire Foy and to Matt Smith, brilliant actors and friends, who have found themselves at the centre of a media storm this week through no fault of their own,” the statement from London-based Left Bank Pictures said.

The furore erupted last week when producers admitted that Smith, who plays the queen’s husband Prince Philip, negotiated a better deal than Foy because of his perceived higher profile.

They did not reveal either salary – Foy’s was put at $40,000 (Bt1.25 million) an episode by Variety last year – but told a panel event in Jerusalem that Smith’s 2010-2013 starring role on the BBC’s “Doctor Who” had been the decisive factor.

The explanation has not appeased critics who argued that the discrepancy should only have shown up in the first season, before Foy was garlanded with acclaim.

The part has earned the 33-year-old British actress a host of award season nominations, including at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Emmys and Screen Actors Guild awards. She has won two SAGs and a Globe.

An online petition even called on Smith to donate the difference accumulated over two years.

“As the producers of ‘The Crown’, we at Left Bank Pictures are responsible for budgets and salaries; the actors are not aware of who gets what, and cannot be held personally responsible for the pay of their colleagues.”

Suzanne Mackie, one of the show’s producers, said the discrepancy was being resolved for the third season but that will not benefit Foy.

“The Crown”, which costs $7 million an episode to produce, is replacing its leads for the start of filming in July, with Olivia Colman stepping in as the queen and an actor to replace Smith not yet announced.

“We understand and appreciate the conversation which is rightly being played out across society and we are absolutely united with the fight for fair pay, free of gender bias, and for a rebalancing of the industry’s treatment of women, both those in front of the camera and for those behind the scenes,” Left Bank said.

“We all have a responsibility to do what we can to ensure that these issues are tackled, and as a leading production company we want to make our contribution to the debate.”

The high-intensity series returned with a new cast for its 10-episode fifth season on February 3, showing at the same time as in the US at 10am with a same day encore at 9pm. New episodes debut every Saturday at the same time.

After the overwhelming success of the first four seasons, the series kicked off with fanatical terrorist Omair Idrisi escaping the Syrian authorities and planning to launch an unprecedented attack that could change the face of modern warfare. The ensuing manhunt could only be entrusted to counter-terrorism’s best and brightest. Enter Section 20 – the elite, multinational, covert special ops team tasked with tracking down Idrisi and his British co-conspirator wife, Jane Lowry. The main characters include Lance Corporal Gracie Novin (Alin Sumarwata), a crack shot and ready-for-anything gearhead who is looking to make the step up. Genuine and honest to the point of bluntness, she’s the heart and soul of the team.

Sergeant Samuel Wyatt (Daniel MacPherson) is best when working alone and has no intention of being dragged into a team situation. But what he wants and what he gets are rarely the same thing.

The series is also streaming on HBO GO via AIS Play and AIS PlayBox.

The well-known radio host Saithip “Chod” Montrikul Na Ayudhaya posted news of Anochao’s death along with a funeral timetable on Instragram.

The actor’s bathing rites were to be held at Wat Phrasri Mahathat in Bangkok’s Bang Khen district at 4pm on Wednesday, after which an Abhidramma rite would be performed through Sunday before his cremation on Monday.

Anochao, the youngest son of his parents’ eight children, suffered a serious head injury in a road accident sustained while filming the movie “Rakkan Wanlanid”, or “Love A Little Bit Each Day”, in Chiang Mai in 1983.

Anochao had been care for by his mother Ampai Yodbutr, who was honoured as one of the nation’s outstanding mothers in April 2002 and passed away in 2012 at the age of 88 from lung cancer.

His siblings, notably his sister Euamporn Yodbutr, continued to take care of Anochao in line with Ampai’s last words: “Don’t leave your brother.”

Anochao, born December 30, 1958, had performed in many Thai films released between 1982 and 1984 and received the best supporting actor award in 1982 for the film “Thep Thida Rong Ngan”.

THEY MUST surely be among the most popular couples in the Netflix universe right now and Drew Barrymore and her on-screen husband Timothy Olyphant were certainly all smiles as they dropped into Bangkok last week for the premiere of the horror-comedy “Santa Clarita Diet” prior to this Thursday’s launch of the second season.

The stars appeared to genuinely enjoy chatting with fans and the press and were obviously amused by the advertising blitz that saw poster and screens at every traffic junction showing fingers and ears floating in Thailand’s favourite tom yum goong soup.

In “Santa Clarita Diet”, Joel (Olyphant) and Sheila (Barrymore) Hammond are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the Los Angeles suburb with their teenage daughter Abby (Liv Hewson). Until the day that Sheila wakes up feeling a little, well, undead. Despite her hunger for human flesh and a more adventurous life, she tries to carry on and appear normal to the outside world.

Season 2 finds the Hammonds trying to adapt to Sheila’s now-advanced undead state. The family continues to investigate what happen to Sheila and whether her condition can be cured. Sheila finds it increasingly difficult to suppress her fleshy appetite and bold new attitude, and Joel remains determined to keep his family together at all costs. Abby and Eric (Skyler Gisondo) explore new relationships and dip into environment activism, though most of their time is spent cleaning up her parents’ messes. Unfortunately, while the family has become markedly better at murder, the number of missing people in Santa Clarita is starting to pile up and it’s no longer going unnoticed.

The two stars told us a little more about the upcoming season. Excerpts:

SEASON ONE HAS BEEN GROUND BREAKING |IN MANY WAYS. WHAT’S HAPPENING |IN SEASON TWO?

Olyphant: The second season is better than season one. The two characters realise that this is the way it’s going to be and do their best to try to save the marriage and the world.

Barrymore: The second season is bigger and better with higher stakes. It is a pleasure to go to work everyday and talk about things that are normal and things that absolutely not normal in any way.

THE SHOW COMBINES SOCIAL REALITIES WITH A STORY THAT IS PURE FANTASY. WHY DO YOU THINK IT WAS WRITTEN THIS WAY?

Barrymore: I like the show because the writers want it to be about a good marriage and the sacrifices the family have to make it work. It could be a metaphor for anybody. I don’t want to watch a dysfunctional couple arguing the whole time. There’s a wonderful balance between the craziness and the blood and the family. The type of love, the sweetness that the family members have for one another, is a great antidote to the blood and the killing.

IN THE SHOW WE SEE YOU EATING A LOT OF FLESH; WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY EAT ON SET?

Barrymore: It could be a dehydrated apple or weird rubber that they make sweet, or sometimes it’s fermented rice or wet cake. It’s lots of things and all of them taste disgusting! I get surprises every day and there is nothing I taste on the show I’ve tried that make me want to go back for more. The wet cake, which was supposed to be raw chicken legs, was the tastiest! So I pretend I’m crunching on a pizza.

IN THE FIRST SEASON, YOU PLAYED A REALLY SUPPORTIVE HUSBAND. WILL THERE BE ANY CHANGES IN THE NEW SEASON?

Olyphant: It’s getting harder to be supportive, but he’s doing the best he can.

THE SHOW AND NETFLIX ARE GETTING REALLY POPULAR IN ASIA. HOW DOES THIS NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES FEEL TO YOU?

Barrymore: I’ve never done television in my life so I had no idea what it would be like. Everyday I have a new script. I wonder what I would do if I didn’t like the script. What if you get stuck? I’m terrified of that.

Olyphant: Just tell them to change it. You are Drew Barrymore.

Barrymore: Yeah, but fixing the problems is a long job and doing that every week is no fun. It’s exhausting. You’re acting 17, 18 hours a day, learning 12 pages of dialogue. I’ve been in the business for 20 years. It’s really hard.

WAS IT A TOUGH DECISION TO SWITCH FROM FILM TO TV?

Barrymore: I trust Victor Fresco who wrote and created the show and he promised he would be there every day. These days I love reading the scripts every week and I can’t wait to act them out. At the read-throughs with the executives, the writers and the other actors, it’s like doing mini-theatre. It’s a whole new world for me. I took the gamble and I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

Olyphant: It’s a great job. I’ve spent my whole life trying to get out of read-throughs. But the scripts are great, so the read-throughs for this are solid.

DO YOUR CHILDREN GO TO THE SET |WITH YOU?

Barrymore: I had to lie to my children several times. On some nights I would miss parts of the blood and every single time my kids would be like ‘Mum, what’s that?’ and I was like … ‘Paint! We were, um, painting at work today’.

DO YOU THINK THE FAMILY SITUATION IS A METAPHOR FOR TODAY’S RELATIONSHIPS?

Olyphant: That’s the essence of the show, the fact that you are in a long-term relationship and want people in that relationship to make changes. It’s disruptive to the relationship. The key to making the relationship work is showing that you are willing to accommodate that person’s dream and sacrifice your needs. Joel is making some big sacrifices, helping his wife kill people but it’s also a team effort. This season starts to address how Sheila tries to make sacrifices as well.

YOU HAVE SAID THAT ‘ON SET NO MATTER HOW MUCH BLOOD YOU PUT ON DREW BARRYMORE, SHE IS STILL ADORABLE’. CAN YOU ELABORATE?

Olyphant: I don’t know how she does it. But there is something in her that’s sweet

and vulnerable and this, and her willingness come across when the camera rolls – it’s who she is as a person. It’s a gift. I really think the joke about putting the blood on her and she’s still adorable is because Drew is essential to the show.

Barrymore: First, thank you and second, that describes how I want my character to come across. That said, it wouldn’t work if a man weren’t kind of pulling it all together. I think you need to know that there is a fundamental good guy.

Olyphant: Yeah, because I’m, awesome. (laughs)

Barrymore: With Victor and Tim, I know I’m giving the character the perfect tone. There’s tenderness in there, and just good comedy, good writing that’s not overtly taboo and plenty of interesting stuff.

A LOT OF PEOPLE LOVE THE POSTER. |HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?

Barrymore: It’s great! We did that in Europe and America last year and it was so strong. Netflix really has confidence. They’re not afraid and that resonates. In Bangkok it features tom yum goong. It’s my favourite, that spicy Thai soup with lemongrass and coconut. Clearly, it’s not talking about Tom, who just got eaten.

MUNCH ON THIS

– “Santa Clarita Diet” starts streaming on Thursday.

– Find out more at http://www.Netflix.com/santaclaritadiet.

The first package, Enjoy Extra Movies, is for movie lovers who want a more affordable price. It has several HD channels with top movies, such as Fox Action Movies, True Film HD2 and Warner TV.

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At just Bt199 per month per package and subscribers can get one package for free by subscribing to either of these two packages. Moreover, owners of TrueMove H customer can buy a package at just Bt150 per month.

The hosts and other celebrities attended the launch, among them Patcharasri “Kalamare” Benjamas and chefs, Ngamphrom “Hong” Thaimee, Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn, and Thanintorn “Noom” Chantharawan; Paowalee Pornpimol, Pusin “Tao” Warinruk and Neck Naruphol; Willy McIntosh, Punyawee “Por” Sukkulworasate, Samaporn “Pook” Rangsikunphiphat, and Aphisara “Dao” Kertchoochuen.

“It challenges me,” said Rungtham Pumseenil, the founder of Memiti, producer of game and quiz shows and reality television in Thailand.

“Channel 3 has a massive viewer base so choosing programmes that will draw them in can be quite difficult.

“‘Songkhram Plai Jawak’ is a reality cooking competition. Each chef teams will make their own versions of common foods such as phad kraphao or phad thai’ It starts airing this Sunday (March 25).”

“Samoraphoom Ching Pleng”, which kicks off on June 24, will see the contestants go up against Paowalee, Tao Pusin and Neck Naruphol.

“Hollywood Game Night 2018” will be a kind of home party led by Willy McIntosh. For this season, it will recruit Channel 3’s stars. It will be on air on August 13.”

The trade publication Variety and CBS News said the Academy immediately opened an investigation after receiving three harassment claims against John Bailey on Wednesday.

In response, the Academy issued a statement saying that it “treats any complaints confidentially to protect all parties.”

The group’s membership committee “reviews all complaints brought against Academy members according to our Standards of Conduct process, and after completing reviews, reports to the Board of Governors.”

It added: “We will not comment further on such matters until the full review is completed.”

In December, the Academy adopted a code of conduct for its members.

Bailey, 75, a cinematographer whose credits include “Groundhog Day” and “The Big Chill,” was elected to a four-year term as head of the Academy in August.

He followed Cheryl Boone Isaacs, an African-American woman who had led the charge to increase racial diversity in the Academy. Her tenure included dealing with the social media-driven #OscarsSoWhite campaign and accusations of racism within the Academy.

Bailey’s brief tenure has been marked by the birth of the #MeToo movement started by actress Alyssa Milano and which went global, highlighting accusations of sexual abuse.

Harvey Weinstein, whose studio Miramax was behind hits such as “Shakespeare In Love” and “Pulp Fiction,” was expelled from the Academy in October following accusations of sexual harassment and abuse by dozens of women.

At a February lunch for this year’s Oscar nominees, Bailey promised the Academy would adopt a “greater awareness and responsibility in balancing gender, race, ethnicity, and religion.”

“The fossilized bedrock of many of Hollywood’s worst abuses are being jackhammered into oblivion,” he said.