Mary Ellen Trainor 1952-2015

Lethal Weapon and Goonies actress dies aged 62

Mary Ellen Trainor, a fixture of 1980s movies such as Lethal Weapon and Romancing The Stone, died last month at the age of 62.

Trainor, who was born in San Francisco, studied broadcast journalism at San Diego State, where she was a college roommate with future Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy. While studying, she was offered a spot as a radio personality for a local station and eventually went on to become station editor at KCBS.

She moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and started her career in film and television as a production assistant. She also met and married Robert Zemeckis, appearing in several of his films. Her first screen appearance, though, was a small role on an episode of Cheers. Film-wise, her big break was in Zemeckis’ Romancing The Stone where she played Kathleen Turner’s sister, Elaine. From there she would become a stalwart character performer in movies such as The Goonies, all of the Lethal Weapon films, Die Hard, Ricochet, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, Grand Canyon, Forrest Gump, Moonlight Mile and Freaky Friday. Her television career encompassed shows including Roswell, Tales From The Crypt, Remington Steele and Amazing Stories. While she and Zemeckis divorced in 2000, they had a son, Alex.

"Mare and I have been close since our days together as roommates, and she even provided the introduction to Steven Spielberg that jumpstarted my career," Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement. "She was a great actress, warm friend and generous spirit."

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First Trailer For The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

''Snow has to pay for what he's done...''

Some were concerned that the first part of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, which followed the tone of early chapters in Suzanne Collins’ third book, was a little lacking in action for the opening half of the films’ big finish. The second aims to redress that balance, with Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen and the rebels launching an all-out assault on the Capitol. Take a look at the first trailer... 

Yes, it’s the big push for Katniss, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Finnick (Sam Claflin) and the rest and Julianne Moore’s President Coin decides that the time has come for one last effort to destroy the evil, scheming President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and his fashion-obsessed dystopia. From the looks of this, some of the bigger moments of the book have made it to the screen, and we’ll see how the various interpersonal issues play out too. 

Director Francis Lawrence recently tweeted that some of the cast and crew had recently reunited to get the film’s epilogue in the can – delayed so that the Atlanta landscape could become suitably green and pleasant for the mini-shoot, so the movie is officially, finally wrapped, at least in terms of physical production. 

{The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2}

With Elizabeth Banks, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Willow Shields, Stanley Tucci, Jena Malone and more in the cast, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 lands in our cinemas on November 20.

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Carey Mulligan Is Pregnant -- And We're Really Hoping It's a Boy

A Mumford son (or daughter) is on the way for Carey Mulligan and husband Marcus Mumford, US Weekly reports.

On Sunday, the Great Gatsby actress walked the Tony Awards red carpet in a pretty loose-fitting, deep crimson gown that hid her baby bump.

Check out more looks from the Tonys red carpet

Mulligan,

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Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice: Meet the Revamped Powerpuff Girls!

The Powerpuff Girlsare back with new voices and a new look.

Cartoon Network has release the brand new character artwork for Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, three best friends juggling school and saving the world before bedtime. While their big eyes and signature style remain, the characters will

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Real Housewives Bombshell! Who Had an Affair?

Marriage troubles continue for Shannon Beador, who revealed on Monday's Real Housewives of Orange County season premiere that her husband had an affair.

After saying her marriage "was better than ever" on last season's reunion show, Shannon revealed that she and David were going on a counseling

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Sony Hires Two More Writers For Female Jump Street Film

Lizzie and Wendy Molyneux are the second scribe team aboard

As Sony pushes ahead with expanding the Jump Street world into what it hopes could become a cinematic shared universe, it appears the studio is opting for another big cinematic trend – duelling script development. With one team already at work on screenplay ideas for a female take on the buddy cop formula, sibling writers Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux have been hired to take their own crack at the story. 

Sony brought on Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs in April to start working up an idea for female equivalents to Jenko and Schmidt, but apparently liked the Molyneux duo’s pitch and will have both writing teams working simultaneously before either picking one or possibly combining the best bits of both into a final screenplay. It’s still very early days for the project, so there’s no information yet on what the plot might be. 

The Molyneux sisters are currently best known for their work on excellent US TV ‘toon Bob’s Burgers, but have several scripts in development for the big screen including Hot Stuff at DreamWorks Animation and My Sister Is Marrying A Douchebag.  

As for the further adventures of the original Jump Street team, it appears the studio still wants to mash-up Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill’s undercover duo with the Men In Black franchise, but also has Rodney Rothman working on 23 Jump Street, which may or may not facilitate the crossover.

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Ben Wheatley Adds Jack Reynor And Sam Riley To Free Fire

As the cameras start rolling on the action-thriller

Anything Ben Wheatley sets his mind to brings a high degree of anticipation in these parts. Throw Martin Scorsese into the mix and you’ve got the recipe for something truly compelling. So it is with Free Fire, the next cab in Wheatley’s rank after his upcoming High-Rise. It's just added Jack Reynor and Sam Riley its cast roster.

Not a man to rest of his laurels - or rest very much at all - the writer/director has moved from post-production on High-Rise and started the cameras rolling on this action-thriller, which has Scorsese exec–producing. Free Fire is billed as a hard-boiled crime film set in violence-ridden 1978 Boston. A secluded meeting between two gangs in a deserted warehouse suddenly explodes into a shoot-out and a fight for survival.

Wheatley already has Sharlto Copley, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy and regular collaborator Michael Smiley aboard to star, from a script he’s penned with his regular co-writter Amy Jump.

The set-up sees Larson's character brokering a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two Irishmen (Murphy and Smiley) and a gang (headed up by Hammer and Copley) who are selling them a small arsenal of weaponry. The handover goes wrong - as movie handovers are wont to do - and shots are fired. From then on, it's a fight for survival.

"It’s a testament to the way Ben makes his films and works with actors that he's attracted such a first-class international cast to strap on the squibs for Free Fire,” enthuses BFI Film Fund director Ben Roberts. "And Scorsese for heaven's sake... We're very excited.”

Wheatley’s comet-like rise has taken him from micro budget Down Terrace to a splashy period action-thriller in the space of six years and six films, all without sacrificing his creative stamp. Expect this one to be a must-see. High-Rise, meanwhile, will land later this year.

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