Month: September 2021

A historical drama about two men duelling to determine the veracity of a woman’s rape in 14th century France doesn’t, at first glance, scream “feminism.” But in the deft hands of “Alien” director Ridley Scott, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” scribe Nicole Holofcener and “Free Guy” star Jodie Comer, the woman in question — a

Jodie Comer will begin shooting Ridley Scott’s latest project, “Kitbag,” towards the new year, she confirmed to Variety. Comer will play Josephine opposite Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon Bonaparte in the historical drama about the military leader and emperor. The ‘Killing Eve’ actor is about to embark on promotion for Scott’s “The Last Duel,” another historical drama

Director Denis Villeneuve hopes that audiences will watch “Dune” in movie theaters. “At the end of the day these are difficult times for everybody, safety first, if the audience feels comfortable I encourage them to watch it on the big screen,” Villeneuve said at a press conference on Friday at the Venice Film Festival. “It

Interest in the royals has never been higher but in death, as in life, it’s Diana, Princess of Wales, who continues to nab the headlines. The princess, who would have turned 60 in July, died in a Paris car crash in 1997 alongside her then beau Dodi Fayed. She was only 36. While her sons,

Berlin-based sales agency Picture Tree International has boarded “Farha,” the debut feature from Jordanian writer-director Darin J. Sallam, which world premieres in the Discovery section of Toronto Film Festival. The company has shared the film’s trailer. [embedded content] Inspired by true events, the film tells the story of 14-year-old girl Farha in Palestine in 1948,

After winning the Platform prize in Toronto in 2018 with his “Cities of Last Things,” Malaysian director Ho Wi Ding’s latest effort “Terrorizers” will get its premiere at the Canadian festival this month. It boasts shock value, stylish delivery and a director who has done his time serving convention and is now desperate to break

Charles Gillibert, the thriving French producer behind Leos Carax’s Cannes prizewinning “Annette,” spoke to Variety about his recent acquisition of Les Films du Losange, one of France’s oldest and most revered auteur-driven production and distribution companies. Gillibert teamed up with French financier Alexis Dantec, former managing director of the film financing group Cofinova, to complete

Louis Wain painted cats, hundreds if not thousands of cats. He painted the critters with big googly eyes, gathered round the dinner table, serving tea or slurping at straws. He painted them standing on their hind legs, holding golf clubs and swinging Ping-Pong paddles, and he painted them seated, driving cars and smoking cigars. Premiering

Taken together, boundless courage, physical stamina and emotional resilience form the magnetic core of co-directors E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s nonfiction oeuvre. The duo behind Oscar-winning nail-biter “Free Solo” naturally gravitate toward real-life you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it tales, extracting from them a great deal more than beautifully photographed and entertaining accounts of perseverance and survival. Far greater

The vast majority of sports movies are about exceptional talent. “King Richard” is about exceptional belief: the conviction of one man, Richard Williams, to turn his daughters Venus and Serena into the world’s greatest tennis players. It’s a plan he hatched — together with wife/queen Brandi — even before the girls were born and put

Ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, “Lost Illusions,” Xavier Giannoli’s $17.5 million period film, has already lured major buyers in key territories for Gaumont. Produced by Olivier Delbosc (“Renoir,” “The Midwife”), “Lost Illusions” is a modern adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s masterpiece starring Benjamin Voisin (“Summer of 85”), Cecile

Harry Wootliff, one of Britain’s rising women filmmakers, is in Venice for the world premiere of her second feature, “True Things,” starring Ruth Wilson and Tom Burke. The film, which screens in Venice’s Horizons, also plays at the Toronto Festival. The film, based on Deborah Kay Davies’ novel “True Things About Me,” was initially developed

The filmmakers responsible for “Fauci” may appear to be unusually speedy bandwagon jumpers, but there’s more to the timeliness of their feature-length look at Dr. Anthony Fauci than first meets the log line. Directors John Hoffman and Janet Tobias started work on it before COVID was known to exist, having had the idea that he

Fremantle, which is at Venice with two films in competition –– Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” and “America Latina” by Damiano and Fabio  D’Innocenzo –– is ramping up its film side. The RTL Group-owned company “that everyone used to associate with [TV franchise] ‘Got Talent’ is becoming one of the biggest independent film production

If filmmaker Miranda July hadn’t gotten there first, “The Future” would have made a fine title for fellow director (and husband) Mike Mills’ latest feature, “C’mon C’mon,” a small, soft-spoken yet casually profound family drama in which a subdued, post-“Joker” Joaquin Phoenix plays a middle-aged radio journalist who travels the country interviewing kids, asking what

Fran Drescher has been elected president of SAG-AFTRA, in a narrow victory for the faction that has led the union for a dozen years. Drescher defeated Matthew Modine, who ran on the rival Membership First slate, by a tally of 52.5% to 47.5%. Meanwhile, Joely Fisher — who was Modine’s running mate on the Membership

You may need a PhD in Ingmar Bergman to understand every nuance of French writer and director Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Bergman Island.” Still, the writer’s branch of the Academy may have enough of the qualifications to embrace its charming story. Even with delectable performances from its cast ensemble, most notably Mia Wasikowska in her finest acting

It’s icky, it’s uncomfortable, but “Red Rocket” is also daring and funny, resulting in co-writer and director Sean Baker’s best outing as a filmmaker yet. If audiences and award voters can get past the more risqué elements, the A24 feature could have a fighting chance in a still wide-open awards season. The film’s success begins

Thailand’s arthouse films, frequently employing stellar craft in service of slow cinema, often struggle to achieve meaningful theatrical releases in a home market that is driven by the young multiplex crowd. But Thai cultural films are earning growing attention on the festival and international specialty circuits. After Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s big-screen return to Cannes this year

Telluride is off and running, and it’s not business as usual. The first day began with the annual patron brunch, where press, talent and other festival-goers mingle in the celebration of the Colorado getaway, now in its 48th year. In attendance were “Belfast” writer and director Kenneth Branagh with one of his stars Jamie Dornan,