American Film Institute

Actor-producer Michael Douglas has been chosen to receive the American Film Institute's prestigious Life Achievement Award, 18 years after the same honor was bestowed on his father, Kirk Douglas. Douglas, 64, who won an Oscar for "Wall Street" and also starred in "Fatal Attraction," "Romancing the Stone," "Basic Instinct," "The China Syndrome" and "Wonder Boys," will receive the award at a ceremony in L.A. on June 11. "Michael Douglas is the rightful heir to the throne of the royal family of American film," Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI board of trustees, said Monday in making the announcement.

Target Presents AFI Night at the Movies on Wednesday was hinged on a simple concept that isn't attempted enough at the red-carpet hullabaloos so intrinsic to Hollywood: Screen an iconic movie, introduced by the starring actor, at the snazzy ArcLight. Throw in some popcorn, soda and -- voila! It's a Hollywood mega-event with the timeless appeal of escaping real life for a couple of hours. No ponderous panel discussions to muck things up.

After the deaths last year of filmmakers Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni and Edward Yang, and cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, organizers of the 2007 AFI Film Festival created a "Milestones" programming block to honor them. "These were the people [we] looked up to and learned about and studied and were formed by," says AFI Fest artistic director Rose Kuo. So the group felt compelled to pay them tribute. But would there be a need for such programming this year? Unfortunately, yes.

The American Film Institute on Thursday announced the 10th annual installment of its "AFI's 100 Years" series. "AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies -- 10th Anniversary Edition" will count down the 100 greatest movies of all time in a three-hour television event on CBS in June. The program will consider classics and newly eligible films released from 1996 to 2006. AFI undertakes this program every 10 years to mark cultural changes.

Al Pacino was an actor in search of a character Thursday evening as he accepted the 35th annual American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. "I don't have a character to play," said the Oscar, Tony and Emmy winner, best known as Michael Corleone in "The Godfather" trilogy. "You're supposed to have something to say."

The votes are in and, once again, the American Film Institute has chosen Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" as the greatest movie of all time. Films that also made the AFI's top 10 are "The Godfather," "Casablanca," "Raging Bull," "Singin' in the Rain," "Gone With the Wind," "Lawrence of Arabia," "Schindler's List," "Vertigo" and "The Wizard of Oz." A jury of 1,500 film artists, critics and historians made the selections, which were included in the AFI's "100 Years ...

Bob Gazzale was only 9 years old when he watched a tribute to actor James Cagney on the American Film Institute's "Life Achievement Awards" television special, but from that moment, he began to fall in love with movies and moviemaking. Years later Gazzale would find himself producing and writing the same show, even receiving multiple Emmy nominations as producer and writer. He also conceived another AFI special that became a vital moneymaker for the organization -- the "AFI's 100 Years ..."

Imagine going to a movie theater that was showing "Star Wars," "Rocky," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Unforgiven," "The Sound of Music" and "Bonnie and Clyde." The good news: You can. The bad news: The films all start at the same time, so you can only see one. To help celebrate its 40th anniversary, the American Film Institute said that it would show 11 classic films at ArcLight Hollywood on Oct. 3 -- with each movie to be introduced by one of its stars or filmmakers.

When the American Film Institute announced it was going to screen 11 of the most memorable movies in Hollywood history -- each one introduced by the film's star or director -- on one historic evening to honor the organization's 40th anniversary, tickets sold out the first day. So no celebrity was left holding a bag of unsold tickets, which could have been hard on the ego. But then came the next dicey issue for the event at 7 p.m.

Warren Beatty, a onetime bit player on the sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" who went on to star in such films as "Bonnie and Clyde," "Heaven Can Wait" and "Shampoo," and to win an Academy Award for directing "Reds," Thursday was named recipient of the American Film Institute's 36th life achievement award.