Rainn Wilson has been cast as a series regular in Amazon’s “The Power,” Variety has learned exclusively. Wilson will play Daniel Dandon, who is being described as “the self-righteous and self-important Governor of Washington and constant thorn in Margot’s [Leslie Mann] side. But when the Day of the Girls arrives, Dandon’s position begins to look
Month: February 2020
The Los Angeles that TV and movies portray is rarely, as anyone who’s actually from Los Angeles can tell you, particularly accurate to life there outside the entertainment industry. The sprawling city is dense with its own culture, much of which, thanks to sharp influxes money and new (whiter) residents, is perpetually in danger of
NBC has renewed “The Blacklist” for an eighth season. The series stars James Spader as Raymond “Red” Reddington, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives. Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff, Harry Lennix, Amir Arison, Mozhan Marnò, and Hisham Tawfiq also star. “Congratulations to our incredible cast, producers and crew, all of whom continue to reach excellence
While the process of moving towards full gender parity at festivals remains a slow slog, it’s time to put money where the movement’s mouth is and make other types of tangible steps towards lifting up women’s voices, said speakers at a panel on female filmmaking jointly hosted by Studio Babelsberg, Canada Goose and Variety, moderated
Lana Del Rey has cancelled her European and U.K. tour due to an unspecified illness that apparently has caused her to lose her voice. The singer, 34, said in a statement: “Sorry to let everyone down so last minute but this illness has taken me by surprise and have totally lost my singing voice. Dr has
“Hollywood” is officially Ryan Murphy’s second original series to debut on Netflix, launching May 1, the streamer announced Thursday. The seven-episode limited series “Hollywood” follows Murphy’s first Netflix project, the comedic “The Politician,” which streamed its first season in September 2019. “The Politician” came about under Murphy’s deal with 20th Century Fox Television, though, while
Production of Apple TV Plus’ Charlie Hunnam-starring “Shantaram” has been halted in Australia due to a writing backlog. Only two of 10 episodes shot so far, Variety has confirmed. Though all episodes had been outlined in the writers’ room, it is understood that showrunner and high-profile screenwriter Eric Warren Singer (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “American Hustle”)
February 20, 2020 6:15AM PT A special edition of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” is coming to Showtime, the premium cabler announced Thursday. This special season will launch June 5 at 8 p.m., just in time for Pride month, and following the conclusion of the 12th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” on VH1. Both Showtime
Spanish broadcaster RTVE and Amazon Prime Video have announced pre-production on “Boundless,” a new four-part historical drama detailing the 16th century global circumnavigation undertaken by Spain’s Juan Sebastián Elcano and Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Simon West (“Con Air,” “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”) is attached to direct, with Mono Films and Kilima Media producing. 500 years ago, the
Changes are afoot for Showtime as the newly enlarged ViacomCBS scrutinizes its $13 billion in content spending across the company. ViacomCBS on Thursday unveiled plans to rebrand the Showtime Showcase channel — one of a handful of secondary channels in the Showtime group — as Sho BET to feature scripted series aimed at African-American audiences.
February 20, 2020 6:03AM PT CBS All Access and Showtime are on track to garner a combined 16 million subscribers by year’s end, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish told investors on Thursday. ViacomCBS’ subscription streaming offerings ended 2019 with 11 million subscribers in total, a 50% gain over 2018. CBS Corp. previously forecast the two streaming
When debates arise over the lack of airplay for women at country radio, the industry is often told that the answers lie in the generally unpublished research stations do to determine which songs their listeners like most. Now, proponents for the women of country are battling back with data of their own, looking to fight
En Vogue will be musical guests on the March 17 episode of “Empire,” which also happens to be star Taraji P. Henson’s directorial debut of the show. The group — Cindy Herron-Braggs, Terry Ellis and Rhona Bennett — will appear as themselves when Cookie (played by Henson) books them as a musical guest on her
Bong Joon-ho and the key cast of quadruple Oscar-winning black comedy “Parasite” returned home to South Korea this week. At a press event in Seoul on Wednesday they reflected on lessons from the Academy Awards. “Compared to Hollywood studios and Netflix, our Oscars campaign was smaller. Other nominees had enormous ads on billboard and TV
February 20, 2020 3:38AM PT Megan Fox, best known for “Transformers” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” is set to star in suspense thriller “Aurora.” Arclight Films will start worldwide sales for the movie at the European Film Market in Berlin. “Aurora,” to be directed by Lazar Bodroža (“A.I. Rising”), tells the story of a female
London-based distributor Dogwoof and music films specialist Eagle Rock have partnered on international sales for the Natalie Johns-directed “Max Richter’s Sleep.” The film follows the ground-breaking British-born German composer — who rose to prominence with the Golden Globe-winning “Waltz with Bashir” and whose credits include “Ad Astra” and “Shutter Island” — as he created his
British actor Jeremy Irons, this year’s president of the international jury at the Berlin Film Festival, has spoken out about prior controversies surrounding his alleged views on sexual abuse, same-sex marriage and abortion. Irons opened the jury’s press conference on Thursday, calling it a “privilege” to have been named president, but wasted no time in
Herbert L. Kloiber, former managing director of Tele München Group, has launched a new media venture focusing on European film and series projects. Munich-based Night Train Media is looking to develop, co-produce, finance and distribute in-house and third-party projects. Speaking to Variety, Kloiber said it was the ideal time to launch the company “in this
Liam Neeson is set to star in the action crime thriller “Memory” to be directed by the U.K.’s Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale,” “Goldeneye”). STX International is handling the international sales rights and will unveil the project at the Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market. “Memory” follows Neeson as an expert assassin who himself becomes a target
Saudi Arabian film director Mahmoud Sabbagh, who made a splash with groundbreaking romcom “Barakah Meets Barakah” and black comedy “Amra and the Second Marriage,” roughly a year ago became president of Saudi’s Red Sea International Film Festival, the kingdom’s first full-fledged festival and market. The ambitious event, which will run March 12-21 in Jeddah, recently
“Veep” creator Armando Iannucci has teamed with “Intouchables” and “Death of Stalin” producer Yann Zenou on a coming-of-age theatrical feature comedy set in the world of amateur sumo wrestling. Rocket Science is handling worldwide sales at the European Film Market. Iannucci will act as executive producer. Other producers, alongside Zenou, on the project are Emily
Viaplay, Scandinavia’s leading streaming service, has ordered “Delete Me,” a Norwegian form series skewing young adults and headlined by cast of up-and-comers. Written and directed by Marie Kristiansen (“Young and Promising”), the series uses innovative narrative techniques to explore vital contemporary topics such as cyber-bullying, hacking and exclusion. Each episode of 20 minutes is told
Pulsar Content, the Paris-based sales company launched at Toronto, has acquired “Wild Indian,” a thriller executive produced by and starring Jesse Eisenberg, along with Michael Greyeyes (“Fear the Walking Dead”). The film marks the feature debut of Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr., whose shorts have played at Toronto and Sundance. “Wild Indian” was developed at the
February 19, 2020 10:00PM PT Leading arthouse film sales company The Match Factory has boarded Wang Xiaoshuai’s drama “Above the Dust,” the follow-up to the director’s “So Long, My Son,” which won Silver Bears for best actor and actress at last year’s Berlin Film Festival, and was distributed in more than 30 territories. Wang’s screenplay
The Berlin Festival has taken a hit from the coronavirus epidemic that began in China, but the absence of Chinese buyers may signal wider industry problems. Festival organizers, who do not anticipate further virus-related damage, told Variety that 118 individuals set to attend from China have cancelled, out of approximately 21,000 accreditations. From other territories
AMC Networks’ streaming service Shudder has acquired the genre thriller “Dead & Beautiful,” directed prominent Dutch filmmaker David Verbeek (“Full Contact”), for the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The film is represented in international territories by Indie Sales. Verbeek’s seventh feature “Dead & Beautiful” follows a group of young and spoiled teenagers
Halting all film releases and closing cinemas over Chinese New Year was the most dramatic possible expression of the emergency response to the novel coronavirus threat that spread from the city of Wuhan in January. The movie distribution and exhibition sectors had been counting on a billion dollars of box office revenue over the 10-day
Stefan Ruzowitzky, director of the Oscar-winning “The Counterfeiters,” and “The Grudge” screenwriter Stephen Susco have boarded “Alone,” a remake of the 2007 supernatural Thai thriller by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom. The new film follows conjoined twin sisters from an Asian family in Boston whose loving relationship is tested when one of them befriends a
Charades has scooped up international sales rights to “Shorta,” the buzzed-about Danish project that was presented at Les Arcs’s work-in-progress and Goteborg’s Nordic Film Market. “Shorta,” directed by Frederik Louis Hviid and Anders Ølholm, unfolds in the aftermath of the killing of 19-year-old Talib Ben Hassi while in custody. The film follows two police officers,
MK2 has boarded Alex Helfrecht’s “A Winter’s Journey,” a feature blending live-action, CGI and hand-painted animation made by the creative teams behind “Despicable Me” and “Loving Vincent.” Adapted from Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise,” the film stars Gaspard Ulliel, John Malkovich, Martina Gedeck, Charles Berling and newcomer Gabriella Moran. Set in 1812 Bavaria, the film tells the
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