The Last Movie Stars

• Joanne Woodward as herself • Paul Newman as himself The players • Laura Linney as Joanne Woodward • George Clooney as Paul Newman • Karen Allen as Frances Woodward, Joanne Woodward's stepmother • Brooks Ashmanskas as Gore Vidal • Rose Byrne as Estelle Parsons • Bobby Cannavale as Elia Kazan • Billy Crudup as James Goldstone • Ben Dickey as Mark Rydell, Joanne's roommate • Vincent D'Onofrio as John Huston, Karl Malden • Josh Hamilton as George Roy Hill • Sterlin Harjo as Robert Altman • Oscar Isaac as Sydney Pollack • Latanya R. Jackson as Maude Brink, Joanne's aunt • Zoe Kazan as Jackie McDonald (Newman's first wife, aka Jackie Witte) • Tom McCarthy as Sidney Lumet • Alessandro Nivola as Richard Brooks, Robert Redford • Barry Poltermann as Stewart Stern • Sam Rockwell as Stuart Rosenberg, director of Cool Hand Luke • Mark Ruffalo as Meade Roberts • Jonathan Marc Sherman as Martin Ritt • Steve Zahn as Donald "Duck" Dobbins Original interviews • Stephanie Newman • Martin Scorsese • Billy Crudup • Sanford Meisner • Sidney Lumet • Ewan McGregor • Melissa Newman • Nell Newman • Clea Newman • Maya Hawke • Mario Andretti • Anne Keefe • Mark Wade • Sally Field • A. E. Hotchner • David Letterman • Henry Elkind • Peter Elkind • Emily Wachtel • Ryan Hawke • Zoe Kazan • Sam Rockwell • Mark Wade • James Ivory • Richard Linklater == Episodes ==

Along with Martin Scorsese and Courtney Sexton, Amy Entelis also served as executive producer. The docuseries was produced by Emily Wachtel and Lisa Long Adler of Nook House Productions, Ryan Hawke of Under the Influence Productions, and Adam Gibbs. There was no original cinematography as the film's visuals consist entirely of existing elements (such as film clips and photos) combined with Zoom recordings recorded by Hawke. Barry Poltermann edited all six episodes. Hamilton Leithauser composed the original score, and the song "Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems" by Lana Del Rey and Stevie Nicks is featured prominently in the trailer. ==Release==

Episode 1 of The Last Movie Stars was first screened at the SXSW Film Festival on March 14, 2022. Episodes 3 and 4 were screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2022. CNN+ was originally set to stream the series but after it dissolved, HBO Max became its new home. It was released on HBO Max on July 21, 2022, with all six episodes appearing at once. ==Reception==

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 9.2/10, based on 21 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Last Movie Stars delivers the goods as a revealing retrospective of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's romance, but director Ethan Hawke elevates this docuseries into a revelatory exploration of marriage and stardom." The Guardian called the docuseries "a case study in fandom practiced properly," noting that the documentary series deals with Newman's failings as a parent and his alcoholism, while at the same time taking a worshipful attitude toward its subjects. Its review observed that Hawke "makes no effort to minimize his own presence under some pretense of fly-on-the-wall objectivity. As much as his extensive research project exists to chronicle the lives and works of a Hollywood power couple in a league of their own, he also digests the narrative at hand by examining his own relationship to it." The New York Times television critic Mike Hale called the series "charming, entertaining and, for the eyes, addictive." But he added that "as the story gets darker over the years, the series loses some of its verve, and it starts to feel like a forced march through the two stars' movie and TV catalogs. Hawke doesn't seem as comfortable, or as interested, whenever the subject moves away from acting." The poor quality of many of their movies, he asserted, is glossed over. ==References==