Month: February 2019

As debate continues to rage over Liam Neeson’s racially-charged remarks, many in Hollywood are wondering anxiously what the fallout might mean for his upcoming films and the future of his career. Some observers even think the interview could permanently damage his career. After he shared this week that, decades ago, a close friend revealed she was
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HBO is looking to go big — and small — with its programming this year. HBO programming president Casey Bloys spoke with Variety at the Television Critics Assn.’s winter press tour on Friday about company’s increased investment in original programming and its embrace of “intimate” shows alongside blockbusters such as “Game of Thrones” and “Westworld.”
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HBO is sticking with its decision to release a controversial documentary about Michael Jackson in the face of criticism from the late pop singer’s estate. “It doesn’t change our plans,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys told Variety Friday. “We announced the air date. It will air as planned.” Earlier Friday, the Jackson estate sent a
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Janelle Monáe said that her Grammy nominations for her album “Dirty Computer” are for her “trans brothers and sisters.” The recording artist scored two Grammy nominations, one for album of the year with “Dirty Computer,” and another for best music video for her track “Pynk.” Monáe’s album was lauded for its exploration of sexuality, and the
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February 8, 2019 2:02PM PT BBC America will serve up a third installment of its popular “Planet Earth” series in 2022 after setting a five-year extension with BBC Studios for high-end natural history programming. The deal covers BBC America’s rights to the ambitious “Planet Earth III” production as well as “Frozen Planet II” in 2021
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At the very end of Wang Quan’an’s enchanting seventh feature, a droll title appears: “Based on True Stories.” It’s amusing because it’s unnecessary; this is the kind of cinema that makes its stories true by telling them, that puts eccentric, real, cyclical life — calf births and lamb slaughters — before its camera and generously
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Three women trapped by circumstances and thrown together by fate set out on a cross-country journey of self-discovery in South African director Jenna Bass’ contemporary Western, “Flatland,” which opens the Panorama section of this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Bass returns to Berlin a year after taking part in the Generations program with the satirical thriller
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Attorney Dina LaPolt, whose clients include Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Britney Spears and Fifth Harmony, was honored with the Service Award at the Entertainment Law Initiative’s annual pre-Grammy lunch held at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica. The honor recognizes “a commitment to advancing and supporting the music community through service.” LaPolt was a key supporter
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Wagram, France’s leading independent music label, is launching Wagram Stories, an incorporated new studio dedicated to film production and publishing, whose first title is having its market premiere at the EFM in Berlin. Wagram, a 20-year-old company whose talent portfolio includes Orelsan, M, The Dø, Dominique A, Katerine, Lilly Wood & the Prick, and Brigitte,
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While the face of Seven Bucks Productions has always been its co-founders Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia, production president Hiram Garcia has played an integral role in its expansion, and that includes its latest venture: the indie film world. With the opening of its coming-of-age drama “Fighting With My Family,” opening domestically this weekend following
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February 8, 2019 12:21PM PT The studio has contributed its OpenColorIO tool to the Academy Software Foundation Sony Pictures Imageworks has contributed a software tool used to create movies like “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” “Hotel Transylvania 3,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” to the open source community. OpenColorIO, a tool
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Genre filmmaking currently seems to be getting more traction within projects in the Italian cinema pipeline, be it dark fables, a Cosa Nostra thriller with a fresh angle, a Rome origins epic in pre-Roman Latin, or other types. Below is a compendium of standout titles in various stages, some of which may surface on the
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February 8, 2019 10:36AM PT Sam Esmail is staying put at Universal Content Productions (UCP), with the “Mr. Robot” creator inking a rich new overall deal with the studio. Under the new multi-year deal, Esmail will produce content for linear and streaming platforms, including NBCUniversal’s recently announced streaming service. “As a creator, nothing is more important
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February 8, 2019 10:00AM PT Malin Akerman has been cast in a lead role of the NBC drama pilot “Prism,” Variety has learned. “Prism” is an exploration of a murder trial in which every episode is told through the perspective of a different key person involved. Each new version of the facts ratchets up the mystery
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