In a bizarre sequence of events, TikTok star Addison Rae on Friday said her account had been hacked — and then was temporarily disabled — before being restored a few hours later. An unknown hacker (or hackers) took over Rae’s TikTok handle, which has 55.5 million followers, changing the account name to “joeandzak1” and updating
Month: August 2020
President Trump, in a new executive order Friday evening, set a 90-day deadline for China’s ByteDance to fully divest the U.S. assets of TikTok based on the U.S. government’s fears that the video app threatens America’s national security. That means Beijing-based ByteDance will have until Nov. 12 to find a U.S.-based buyer for TikTok operations
Tetsuya Watari, the Japanese actor who worked with international cult favorites Seijun Suzuki and Kinji Fukasaku on some of their best-known films, died on Aug.10 of pneumonia at age 78. His death was announced Friday following a private family funeral. Joining the Nikkatsu studio in 1964 after graduating from Aoyama Gakuin University, Watari soon became
In “Apocalypse ’45,” we see images of World War II — the last six months of it, when our forces were engaged in a grisly death-throes battle with the Japanese in the Pacific — that are more colorful, raw, and deeply naturalistic than the images we’re used to seeing. And that footage hits us with
In observance of India’s Independence Day on Aug. 15 we decided to put together an intro to Hindi films for those interested in dipping their toes in one of the largest film industries in the world. We limited it to Hindi films from Mumbai (except “Bombay”) as India produces nearly 2,000 films a year and
The micro-budget feature “Focus, Grandma” from Bosnian helmer-writer Pjer Žalica is a black comedy set in Sarajevo during the spring of 1992, when members of a dysfunctional family are summoned to the bed of their dying matriarch. As the siblings and their spouses arrive from far-flung parts of Yugoslavia, their squabbles and meanderings down memory
Duane L. Tatro, who composed for nearly two dozen TV series, including such long-running hits as “Dynasty,” “The Love Boat” and “Barnaby Jones,” died Sunday at his home in Bell Canyon, Calif. He was 93. Tatro’s music accompanied the action on “The FBI,” “Mannix,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Cade’s County,” “Cannon,” “Most Wanted,” “Vega$” and
A judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by three songwriters who argue they should be credited for Lizzo’s hit “Truth Hurts.” Justin and Jeremiah Raisen, as well as Justin “Yves” Rothman, have alleged that the song is copied from “Healthy,” a track they wrote with Lizzo a few months before “Truth Hurts” was composed.
As statues to Confederate heroes are torn down around the country, the question of whom to honor in their place poses an intriguing challenge — one that writer-director Mark Amin seems to have anticipated with his abolitionist adventure movie “Emperor.” Essentially a filmic monument to a scarcely documented American hero, “Emperor” tells the virtually unknown
For some musicians, being in quarantine has provided an opportunity to take time to revisit some worthy sessions that might otherwise have gotten put off or overlooked. That seems to be the case with Diana Krall, who has announced a new album, “This Dream of You,” culled from scores of studio recordings she did with
Heidi Bivens, the costume designer for HBO’s hit series “Euphoria,” discussed how she created each character’s Halloween costume in the latest episode of Variety Artisans presented by HBO. Because series creator Sam Levinson wrote in costume cues for each episode’s script, Bivens felt she was able to execute his vision to the fullest extent. For
Food Network is cutting down the number of episodes for the upcoming fourth season of its holiday series “Christmas Cookie Challenge,” because of a crew member tested positive for COVID-19 this week, Variety has learned. The season will be six episodes long instead of its usual eight. Sonic Dog, the producers of the show, offered Variety a statement
Sorry, football fans: AT&T said it is not changing the restrictions for the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package for the upcoming season. To purchase Sunday Ticket, you must still be either a DirecTV subscriber, or — if you don’t subscribe to the satellite TV service — you may be eligible to get the streaming
In today’s TV news roundup, the Billboard Music Awards have a new air date, and Thomas Roberts has been hired as the new host of DailyMailTV. DEALS Thomas Roberts has been hired as the newest host of DailyMailTV, which is going into its fourth season. Most recently, Roberts was the evening news anchor at WGCL-TV
August used to be the doldrums for the music business, a dumping ground for low-priority releases that were usually ignored while everyone was on vacation and/or gearing up for the big Fall releases that would carry through until the holiday season. That model was on its way out even before the pandemic, but now all
Ewan McGregor and his ex-wife have finally reached the end of their divorce case … and we’ve learned the actor is parting ways with half of his royalties from the ‘Star Wars’ prequels. According to the divorce judgment, the judge signed off on Ewan and Eve’s split of the property from their 22-year marriage …
After 13 years at the premium cabler, president of HBO Films, Miniseries and Cinemax Len Amato is departing. The move comes as Cinemax continues to phase out original programming and HBO focuses on acquired film content. All drama programming is being consolidated under HBO exec VP of programming Francesca Orsi. According to a source familiar with
It may be a good thing that Charlie Daniels did not live to hear Nickelback’s newly released cover of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” if only for the language issues. Performing the 1970s smash live in later years, the famously conservative Daniels would sing the climactic line “You son of a bitch” as “You
Director Vince Marcello knows fans can not get enough of “The Kissing Booth,” and not long after Netflix released the film’s much-anticipated sequel, “The Kissing Booth 2,” it was announced that a third installment had already been shot. Marcello says, “Although “The Kissing Booth” is a romantic comedy, the heart of it is a coming
With theaters open in 44 of the 50 states, cinemas are finding something to show — although turnout is still so modest that distributors are still being hesitant about what to release. That means another week in what’s now going on five months of the industry’s pivot to streaming releases, with a fresh batch of
Chinese tech firm ByteDance, the owner of social media app TikTok, censored content critical of China’s government on its news aggregation app BaBe in Indonesia from 2018 to mid-2020, according to a new report from Reuters citing six people with direct knowledge of the issue. Local Indonesian moderators for the Baca Berita (BaBe) app were
Netflix has ordered a documentary feature based on the life and career of civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Variety has learned. The yet-to-be-titled documentary will be directed and produced by Nadia Hallgren, who recently received two Emmy nominations for her work on Netflix’s Michelle Obama documentary “Becoming.” Kenya Barris will produce via Khalabo Ink Society, while Roger
Anthony Anderson’s Hollywood career has been consistently characterized by successful pivots, from scene-stealing comedic roles to searing dramatic turns to effervescent hosting duties and many disparate points in between. But even he couldn’t have predicted his latest foray into the unforeseen, as the first person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Peacock has landed the series reboot of “Clueless” centered on the character Dionne for development, Variety has learned exclusively. The untitled comedy series is described a baby pink and bisexual blue-tinted, tiny sun-glasses wearing, oat milk latte and Adderall-fueled look at what happens when queen bee Cher disappears and her lifelong number two Dionne steps
Facebook announced that it’s letting businesses, creators, artists, educators and media publishers generate cash from holding online events on the platform. The social-media giant is promising to not collect any fees for paid online events for at least the next year. However, for payments Facebook users submit through the app for Apple’s iOS app, Apple
Play video content The Simpsons Marge Simpson’s known for her patient and loving demeanor, but it seems she has less patience for President Trump‘s advisor, who used her to jab at Sen. Kamala Harris … ’cause she’s firing back, politically. TV’s beloved animated housewife responded to Jenna Ellis‘ dig at Kamala … claiming she sounded
Focus Features executive Robert Walak is exiting his position as president and will move into an advisory role at the company. There is currently no plan to replace his position. Walak was appointed president of Focus Features, the specialty studio owned by Universal, in February 2016. Before moving to Los Angeles two years ago, he
Comedian Tig Notaro is replacing Chris D’Elia in Zack Snyder’s zombie movie “Army of the Dead,” Variety has confirmed. News of the recasting comes following allegations that D’Elia sexually harassed underage girls. Multiple women, some as young as 16, accused D’Elia of misconduct, including sending them inappropriate and explicit messages online. In wake of the allegations,
Two years ago, Ivana Mikovic—former COO of public broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia—took a look at the booming local TV landscape and saw an opportunity for a bold new venture. Partnering with Boban Jevtic, the former head of Film Center Serbia, she hatched a plan to build a sprawling, state-of-the-art film studio on the outskirts
Marge Simpson responded to a tweet uploaded by a senior advisor to president Donald Trump in which she mocks vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, comparing her voice that of “The Simpsons” character. In a video uploaded to Twitter, Marge (voiced by Julie Kavner) said that she feels disrespected by Jenna Ellis’ comment, which she interpreted
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