Zachary Levi will star as NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner in “American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story.” The film, from Lionsgate and Kingdom Story, is expected to begin production later this year. Brothers Jon and Andrew Erwin will direct and produce. Warner played in the NFL from 1994 to 2008, and is regarded
Month: July 2020
David Dobkin had no idea the Eurovision Song Contest even existed until the script by Will Ferrell and Andrew Steele landed on his desk. But the director of “The Judge” and “Wedding Crashers” fell in love with both the comedy about the international music competition — “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” —
Variety first reported on June 20 that Netflix was in negotiations for the property. The drama recaps the trial that followed what were intended to be peaceful protests that turned violent at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The organizers of the protest — including Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden and Bobby Seale
Actor Ray Fisher accused director Joss Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior on the set of the 2017 film “Justice League,” in a tweet that quickly went viral on Wednesday. Fisher also claimed in his tweet on Wednesday that former Warner Bros. co-president of production Jon Berg, and former DC Entertainment president
NBCUniversal told members of Bluprint in May that it was planning to wind down the subscription VOD service centered on crafts and hobbies “over the next few months.” Instead, the media company is selling the assets of Bluprint to TN Marketing, a Minneapolis-based online video subscription and streaming business. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Is Mary Ramos, the woman Quentin Tarantino praised as “the unsung hero of my filmography,” staging a takeover of TV music supervision, too? Ramos is a television newbie, but made up for lost time by shaping the soundtracks to two of the year’s most binge-worthy limited series, “Mrs. America” and “Little Fires Everywhere,”working with former
Ty Dolla $ign is one of the most prolific artists working today, but although he made a pile of guest appearances in 2019, he has not released much under his own name since 2018’s “MihTy” tag-team with Jeremih. He’s back with a big splash today, with a new song called “Ego Death” featuring Kanye West
Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere” adaptation opens with the upper-class Richardsons’ house ablaze. A fire truck pulls up to the curb as matriarch Elena (Reese Witherspoon) watches from the edge of her driveaway. But it is too late to save the stone structure, which is burning from almost every room within. It takes until the finale
Though he co-starred in “Avenue 5” in the spring, Zach Woods had already been an HBO mainstay on “Silicon Valley.” There, Woods played Donald “Jared“ Dunn, the uneasy Pied Piper COO with an intense attachment to the company’s founder Richard (Thomas Middleditch) and a horrifying — albeit comically vague — history. In the fourth episode
Although they are set a century apart, both Netflix limited series “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker” and “Unbelievable” tell years-long true stories of enterprising women in a shorter-form storytelling setting. Susannah Grant, who wrote, produced and directed “Unbelievable,” weaved a complicated, multi-person, multi-jurisdiction narrative that starts with a young woman’s
Dahvi Waller says she felt like she was rolling a massive boulder up a hill when she started her research for the FX on Hulu limited series “Mrs. America.” She had to figure out how she was going to tell the politically, racially and socially complex story of the Equal Rights Amendment and the women
European cinema giant Vue has pushed back the reopening of its U.K. cinemas by three weeks to July 31. Vue CEO Tim Richards confirmed to Variety that the chain, which was originally set to reopen from July 10, will instead begin a phased reopening of its venues from July 31, joining rival cinema operator Cineworld
Jay-Z’s Made in America festival has been a Labor Day and Philadelphia tradition since 2012, but not surprisingly, it will not be taking place in 2020. An official statement from the festival reads: “2020 is a year like no other. We are in a pivotal time in this nation’s history. Collectively, we are fighting parallel
During several weeks of rehearsal in the build-up to shooting “The Favourite,” the core cast members, including Nicholas Hoult, would run scenes, play acting games and dance, while director Yorgos Lanthimos and writer Tony McNamara looked on. After only two days of frolicking around, McNamara says he earmarked Hoult to play a lead role in
Tanya Saracho performed no small feat trying to tie up the complex character relationships in her Starz comedy “Vida” in a six-episode final season. But even as she was juggling tumultuous familial relationships with Lyn (Melissa Barrera) and Emma (Mishel Prada) learning their father is actually alive with equally rocky romantic relationships for each sister,
The art of adapting a novel into a television series is a tricky business, one that involves speaking to the audience that has already read the book while also drawing in viewers who have not. Several limited series this season took the additional step of tweaking the endings of those stories, some to infuse an
Sunac Culture has acquired Chinese distribution rights to “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” the upcoming project by Australia’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” director George Miller. It stars Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. MGM recently picked up the North American rights. Both the North American and Chinese deals were brokered by CAA Media Finance. Rights in
On Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading expert in infection diseases in the U.S., testified before Congress amid growing alarm surrounding the 80% spike in confirmed COVID-19 infections in the past two weeks. About halfway through the session, Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked Fauci for a direct assessment of where the country could be headed if
Juliette Schrameck, the former managing director of MK2 Films (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”), will be joining the well-established French production company Agat Films starting Sept. 1. Schrameck, who stepped down from MK2 Films in April after a 10-year tenure, will be partner and producer at Agat Films. While at MK2 Films, Schrameck co-produced
Peacock, NBCUniversal’s new streaming service that launched nationwide in two weeks, has struck an agreement with ViacomCBS to license Paramount movies and TV shows. Coming to Peacock — on a nonexclusive basis — are series including “Ray Donovan” (starring Liev Schreiber, pictured above), “The Affair,” “Undercover Boss,” “The Game,” “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Real Husbands
For Diane Guerrero, taking on the role of Crazy Jane in HBO Max’s “Doom Patrol” isn’t as easy as just playing a kooky character from a comic book series. Jane actually has 64 personalities, the result of childhood sexual trauma. “It’s like, ‘Of course I’m doing this role. It’s because I am’ — and this
It may be a blessing of sorts for anyone interested in checking out “Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash” that its VOD release is coming in the middle of a pandemic, when not very many people are rushing to get back on planes again anyway. The film delivers on the
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the major Emmy categories should consider expanding their nominations to 10, given the sheer number of viable contenders in this age of peak TV. Indeed, that’s true for the comedy, drama, limited series and competition races, in which there will absolutely be a ton of snubs when
“Scoob!” will be hitting theaters in some overseas markets despite skipping the North American box office in May due to the coronavirus pandemic. Warner Bros. has confirmed the film will enjoy a combined theatrical release and premium VOD outing internationally — a strategy that was also recently employed by Universal, which plans to release animated
Elton John is launching a weekly archival concert footage series entitled “Elton John: Classic Concert Series,” featuring footage from concerts throughout his career on his Official YouTube Channel. The series begins on Friday (July 3), at 12 p.m. ET/ 9 a.m. PT exclusively on YouTube with “Live at Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh” from 1976. Following this Friday’s episode, a new,
The Writers Guild of America and the major Hollywood studios have set the broad outline of a new master film and TV contract, quieting concerns about labor strife adding to the industry’s struggle to relaunch production amid the turmoil of the pandemic. Multiple sources said the three-year contract agreement was essentially settled in the wee
Mark Duplass is a man of many hats — he’s a writer, director, producer and actor. One of his most high-profile gigs in front of the camera as of late is Chip Black, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon’s producer boss on “The Morning Show,” the Apple TV Plus series about a morning news show that
Now there’s a new way to get Peloton fitness instructors to bark commands at you from the TV. Roku and Peloton inked a deal under which the Peloton App — with thousands of on-demand workouts, as well as live classes — will be available on the streaming-media platform starting this month. Peloton launches on Roku
Maroon 5 bassist Mickey Madden was arrested Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles on charges of domestic violence, according to multiple media reports. Police confirmed to Page Six that the charge against the 41-year-old musician involves willful infliction of a “traumatic” injury on a spouse or cohabitant. The identity of the victim was not immediately available;
Russell Crowe came to prestige television for the first time this season with “The Loudest Voice,” a limited series about the life of Fox News creator Roger Ailes. No stranger to the medium is his old friend Nicole Kidman, whose second season of “Big Little Lies” saw her storyline of domestic abuse resonate even after her abuser