Morgan Freeman will produce and star in Peter Greenaway’s drama “Lucca Mortis,” Variety has learned exclusively. Morgan will portray a writer whose last big adventure will very likely be death. Based in New York City’s Little Italy, he takes a sabbatical and travels with his family to Lucca, Italy in order to trace his ancestral
Month: October 2019
Walt Disney Animation Studios has appointed four filmmakers to work on original content for the studio. Directors Carlos Lopez Estrada (“Blindspotting”) and Suzi Yoonessi (“Unlovable,” “Dear Lemon Lima”), along with Disney veterans Josie Trinidad and Marc Smith are each developing new animated films for theatrical release. The announcement comes as Disney and Walt Disney Animation’s
Movie theater owners are taking the lead in setting requirements for new digital cinema technology. The National Association of Theatre Owners said Tuesday that its executive board approved a resolution that spells out how digital cinema technology will be evaluated. NATO promised that its technology committee will initiate and conduct an open process to understand
The 22nd edition of the Hollywood Film Festival, running Oct. 1-6 at Raleigh Studios, promises a bevy of talented filmmakers. Cinematic voices from 58 countries sent in submissions to this year’s event, which serves as a global stage for storytellers to present their work. More than just a competition, HFF strives to create relationships between
A federal judge has granted an injunction blocking Georgia’s “fetal heartbeat” law, which bans abortion at six weeks’ gestation. Judge Steve C. Jones sided with the plaintiffs, including Planned Parenthood and several women’s health clinics, finding that the law violated the Supreme Court’s precedents in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. “This Court,
Back in the early ‘70s, Eric Clapton and Marvin Gaye fulfilled very different functions in the rock and soul pantheon — a twain to be enjoyed, and never exactly to meet. It only took four and a half decades or so for Gary Clark Jr. to come along and be the guy who can be
Amazon has licensed a selection of Disney titles — including all four “Toy Story” movies, “The Lion King” and “Avengers: Endgame” — for the ecommerce giant’s Prime Video streaming service in Latin America. The deal is set to run for just one year, from Oct. 1 until September 2020. That’s because Disney plans to launch
Victor VIRGILEGetty Images On the sixth day of Paris Fashion Week, an unwelcome prankster in a tweed suit darted onto the Chanel catwalk set under the beautiful art nouveau arches of the Grand Palais at the Champs-Élysées. Her name is Marie Benoliel, better known as Marie S’Infiltre, a self-described YouTube “infiltrator” who creates comedic videos
October 1, 2019 12:45PM PT As part of his interview with Gayle King for an episode of “CBS This Morning” that aired this morning, Lil Nas X returned to the studio where he recorded his global smash single “Old Town Road.” The 20-year-old rapper, born Montero Lamar Hill, took Gayle King to the Atlanta
ABC has pulled the plug on “Grand Hotel” after a single season, Variety has confirmed. Based on the original Spanish series and starring Demian Bichir, Eva Longoria and Roselyn Sanchez, “Grand Hotel” provided an upstairs/downstairs look at the scandals and secrets of both the Mendoza family and the staff that works for them. The show was
October 1, 2019 12:06PM PT NBC has come out on top in both the ratings and total viewership charts for premiere week. The Peacock’s win snaps CBS’ 10-year streak atop the total viewership table. 2019 is the first time NBC has come out on top in the metric since 2001. The network’s top performers came
October 1, 2019 12:05PM PT AMC has ordered two new projects to series, Variety has learned from sources. Both the legal drama “61st Street” and “Kevin Can F— Himself” have been picked up by the cabler. AMC had previously opened writers’ rooms for both projects under their script-to-series model. Both shows are AMC Studios producitons. “61st
Orion Pictures has acquired “10-31,” a sought-after horror script from screenwriters Ian Shorr and Peter Gamble. The script is based on a story by Laurie Ashbourne and screen story by Kathy Charles, and will be produced by Eli Roth and Roger Birnbaum’s Arts District Entertainment, alongside John Zaozirny’s Bellevue Productions. Michael Besman will serve as executive
October 1, 2019 11:31AM PT Henry Capanna, the former head of the Go Go Luckey production banner and a former agent at Broder Kurland, died Sept. 26 of cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was 43. Capanna worked at the Los Angeles-based unscripted production company Go Go Luckey from 2007 through 2015, when
Ariel Rechtshaid is best known in tastemaking music circles as a go-to writer/producer for Adele, Usher, Haim, Charli XCX and Vampire Weekend, whose 2013 album “Modern Vampires of the City” helped net him a 2014 Grammy nod for producer of the year (he also executive produced this year’s No. 1 follow-up, “Father Of The Bride”). In
“Black Panther” star Winston Duke has been cast in the lead role of the Apple TV Plus series “Swagger.” Inspired by NBA champion Kevin Durant’s youth basketball experiences, “Swagger” explores the world of youth basketball, and the players, their families and coaches who walk the fine line between dreams and ambition, and opportunism and corruption.
The lineup of creatives taking a shot with Quibi keeps on growing. This time “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah is teaming up with his regular home Comedy Central to develop a comedy series for Quibi’s mobile-only platform. The series, produced by Day Zero Productions and Comedy Central Productions, will follow the comedian on a
Back in early August, TMZ revealed that pop music crooner-turned-budding actor Nick Jonas quietly sold his chic Los Angeles home in a totally off-market deal, barely a year after famously purchasing the property shortly prior to his engagement and subsequent nuptials to Indian actress Priyanka Chopra. Records show Jonas originally paid $6.5 million and flipped the house
Location-based virtual reality (VR) startup Nomadic has swapped out its leadership: CEO Doug Griffin stepped down this week, and has been replaced with Cliff Plumer, former CEO of Nomadic competitor The Void, Variety has learned. Griffin became the founding CEO of Nomadic in 2015; Plumer served as the CEO of The Void from 2016 to
Eric Pleskow, who was a key management player in United Artists and Orion Pictures over a 30-year period and was involved in the production of 14 Oscar best-picture winners, including “West Side Story,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Platoon” and “The Silence of the Lambs,” died on Tuesday.
If you’re a fan of professional wrestling, this fall is going to be a slobberknocker of a good time. As of Oct. 4, there will be nine hours of pro wrestling available on major broadcast and cable channels every week. WWE programming comprises most of that time, with “Monday Night Raw” airing on USA Network,
The drama series “Claws” has been renewed for a fourth season at TNT, which will also be the show’s last. The series follows Desna Simms (Niecy Nash), who, alongside her crew of manicurists from the Nail Artisans of Manatee County salon, rises to power in the crime world to claim her share of cash and
Jordan Peele is keeping his parking spot on the Universal lot. The Oscar-winning creative behind Monkeypaw Productions has signed an exclusive new production pact with Universal Pictures, an increasingly rare deal that will see all of his movies released at the studio for the next five years. Universal filmed entertainment group chairman Donna Langley announced
The Man in Black is coming to YouTube this fall. YouTube will premiere “The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash,” from director Thom Zimny, on Nov. 11, exclusively streaming the 90-minute documentary for free worldwide. The documentary, for which YouTube acquired streaming rights after its world premiere at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival, features newly
Play video content Exclusive TMZ.com Meghan Markle‘s nephew, Thomas Dooley, quickly lost his towel and was butt-ass naked during his rowdy arrest in Hollywood last week … which we now have on video. TMZ obtained footage of the arrest from Thursday, which took place right around the corner from the Hollywood Hotel just north of
October 1, 2019 10:04AM PT Dave Keuning, seven-time Grammy-nominated songwriter and lead guitarist for the Killers, has a contemporized Cape Cod residence in the celeb-favored foothills above L.A.’s affluent Los Feliz neighborhood on the block at $5.5 million; it first popped up for sale at $5.9 million. Listed with Boni Bryant and Joe Reichling of
October 1, 2019 10:00AM PT Lionsgate nabbed the rights to “White Bird: A Wonder Story,” a forthcoming graphic novel from author R.J. Palacio. The studio recently adapted her popular book “Wonder” into a feature film starring Jacob Tremblay and Julia Roberts. News of the acquisition comes as “White Bird” hits bookstores Tuesday. The novel centers
It’s early September, just two months before the Nov. 12 go-live date for Disney Plus. Michael Paull, president of Disney Streaming Services, sits five floors above Chelsea Market, the bustling mall and tourist attraction in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood — in the global nerve center of the Mouse House’s video-streaming operations. On Disney’s earnings call a few
In Nashville, Busbee was considered one of the good guys. That may go without saying for a lot of writer-producers in a town where being a bad guy isn’t really allowed, but there was a special affection for the personability, diversity and sensitivity that Busbee brought to both the records he worked on and the
October 1, 2019 9:47AM PT Legendary headbanger Dave Mustaine, the original guitarist for Metallica and, since the mid-1980s, lead vocalist and guitarist for the influential thrash metal band Megadeth, has his somewhat surprisingly genteel equestrian estate in Franklin, Tenn., up for sale at a hair under $2.5 million. The fiftysomething heavy metal icon, who announced