Month: November 2021

Auteur Paul Thomas Anderson ushers in his breeziest, most light-hearted effort yet with “Licorice Pizza,” a film that could be an all-around awards player, possibly nabbing him an overdue Academy Award for best original screenplay. Add in debut performances from Cooper Hoffman — son of late Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman — and singer-songwriter Alana
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The titular matriarch in Jeremiah Lemohang Moses’ “Mother, I Am Suffocating. This is My Last Film About You.” is not really — or not only — a person. She is a concept, a country, an entire continent. The roving black and white cinematography that underscores a clipped, poetic voiceover (courtesy of Sivan Ben Yishai) addresses
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Spotify is acquiring Findaway, a digital audiobook distributor, as the streaming giant looks to steamroll into a new category of audio entertainment. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory review and approval. Spotify positioned the pact as letting it quickly
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Strand Releasing has acquired U.S. rights to Georgis Grigorakis’ feature debut “Digger,” Greece’s official entry for the Oscars’ international feature film race. Set in the rich forests of Northern Greece, “Digger” is a modern-day psychological Western starring Vangelis Mourikis as an iconoclastic farmer at war against the encroachments of a ravenous industry and the demons
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Richard T. Jones is launching an independent production company dubbed Prophecy Pictures Entertainment, Variety has learned exclusively. Jones is starting the company with producing partners Jeremy Loethen and Kristy Horiuchi. The company’s emphasis is on developing and producing mainstream family, faith-based, and inspirational content across all platforms. The company already has multiple projects in development. Among
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For 15 seasons the members of FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (B.A.U.) profiled — and caught — some of the most gruesome and dangerous serial killers ever featured on scripted television. During that time (324 episodes to be exact), viewers also gleaned insight into the main characters’ backgrounds through dark journeys to hometowns. They worked the term “unsub” into
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Ada Maris has been a working actor in TV and film since the mid-1980s. Over her long career, which includes co-starring in the NBC drama “Nurses,” 1986’s “About Last Night” and most recently FX’s “Mayans M.C.” and HBO Max’s “The Garcias,” the Mexican American actor has been dismayed by the stereotypical and often racist portrayals
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Film festivals have been the primary hatching-ground for Oscar contenders ever since the Academy’s tastes shifted predominantly from studio to independent cinema earlier this century — though in the international feature category, this has been the case for far longer. Rare is the non-English-language nominee that captures voters’ imaginations without a profile boost from one
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Mark Herwick has joined Range Media Partners, the management firm founded in 2020, as president of non-scripted television. Herwick will work with all internal divisions at Range to maintain talent partnerships, brands, IP and industry-first data analytics in order to develop documentary projects. He will also work to develop the company’s verticals such as Ntertain,
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Movistar Plus, the streaming and broadcast arm of Spanish telco giant Telefonica, has confirmed a breathtaking roster of talent which will helm its upcoming five-part anthology series “Apagón,” produced by Buendía Estudios (“Veneno,” “La Unidad”). Inspired by the popular “El gran apagón” podcast, the series features five stand-alone stories, connected only in that they take
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Scooter Braun, founder of SB Projects and co-CEO of HYBE America, will keynote Variety‘s Business Managers Elite Virtual Breakfast, presented by City National Bank on Nov. 18.  The invite-only virtual event is tied to Variety’s annual Business Managers Elite Impact Report, which profiles top business managers working in entertainment and media.  Braun, named Variety’s Music Mogul
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Adele sat down with Variety sister publication Rolling Stone for an in-depth cover interview about her new album “30,” which comes out Nov. 19. While fans assumed that her 2019 divorce filing would inspire much of the new material, Adele said the difficulties of dating as a celebrity in Hollywood served as creative inspiration as
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Ben Stiller and Cate Blanchett are teaming up to turn the 1960s espionage television series “The Champions” into a movie. In addition to acting, Stiller is directing the upcoming film adaptation. Blanchett is producing through her company Dirty Films, and Stiller is producing through his label Red Hour Productions. Additional producers include ITV Studios America
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French auteur Agnès Varda may be gone, but graffiti artist and photographer JR continues the work they collaborated on, and documented, in 2017’s “Faces Places,” creating large-scale installations in which impoverished and/or fragmented locales are plastered with images of their residents. “Paper & Glue” is an unofficial companion piece to JR and Varda’s prior non-fiction
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IATSE International chief Matthew Loeb is urging members to vote to approve the master film and TV contract that was reached last month after down-to-the-wire negotiations and a strike authorization vote. In a lengthy message to members sent Thursday, the day before voting begins, Loeb asserted that the hard-fought deal includes “meaningful improvements on all
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