Consider this a PSA: The owner of the verified Twitter @willsmith account is not the disgraced actor Will Smith who just resigned from the Academy after slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards. The actor Will Smith does not have an official Twitter account. After the actor announced Friday he was relinquishing his membership
Month: April 2022
For an instance, Gillian Anderson may have lost her usual composure as she searched for words on stage in Cannes on Friday to express what she felt about being given Variety’s 2022 Icon Award. Taking to the stage at the opening ceremony of French TV festival Canneseries to pick up the award, the star – soon to
Though the onslaught of streaming giants is impacting Turkey’s TV landscape, it’s not as though Turkish shows weren’t doing gangbuster global biz way before Netflix and other platforms arrived on the scene. “Turkish dramas were already reaching audiences all over the world on linear TV,” says Ekin Koyuncu, head of prominent broadcaster Kanal D’s international
Paramount Australia and New Zealand has greenlighted Helium Pictures’ eight-hour scripted drama “Paper Dolls” for Network 10 and Paramount Plus Australia. Production is set to commence in Sydney later this year and will premier on 10 in 2023. Set in 2000, “Paper Dolls,” which is produced by Helium Pictures, follows the meteoric rise and fall
The Turkish TV market is being shaken up by the arrival of more U.S. streaming platforms, which are driving up production costs, but also providing a new burst of opportunity for talent, content creators and producers. Netflix, which launched in Turkey in 2016, is the country’s streaming market leader when it comes to subs —
TV production is growing in Italy, where U.S. streamers are gradually raising their investment levels just as pubcaster RAI, which is still the industry’s main driver, is cutting back. According to local TV producers association APA, the Italian market in 2022 will generate more than €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) worth of scripted content resulting in
The latest batch of Italian TV series for the international market is a mix of genres spanning from a new Elena Ferrante adaptation made for Netflix, to two RAI reconstructions of the country’s terrorism-plagued past and Sky’s spaghetti Western “Django.” Django This English-language reimagining of the world of “Django,” the cult 1966 Sergio Corbucci spaghetti
With U.S. streamers still driving local market growth, TV producers in continental Europe are juggling between the Hollywood studio business model — under which Netflix and the likes get all rights in return for full-financing plus a fee — and the pre-existing European model based on co-productions that leave indie producers with backend and give
During a press interview for Brian May’s reissue of the 1998 album “Another World” on the “Debatable” SiriusXM program, the Queen guitarist shared his thoughts and remembrances of late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. The 50-year-old drummer unexpectedly died on March 25 in Bogotá, Colombia where the Foo Fighters were scheduled to perform. Rock fans
For at least one evening, worlds are colliding in late-night TV. Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel decided to switch up their hosting duties on April 1, with Kimmel traveling to New York to lead NBC’s “Tonight Show” and Fallon journeying to California to host ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” The studio audiences attending each broadcast were
The Alec Baldwin-hosted “Match Game” isn’t expected to return to ABC, as the Alphabet web begins to firm up its plans for its annual game show-heavy summer lineup. Also unlikely to return are “Card Sharks,” “Celebrity Dating Game” and “The Hustler,” while “Celebrity Family Feud,” “Press Your Luck” and “The $100,000 Pyramid” are expected to
Walter Coblenz, who was Oscar-nominated for producing “All the President’s Men” and also produced “The Candidate” and “The Onion Field,” died March 16. He was 93. Coblenz also produced the Emmy-nominated Joseph Wambaugh TV mini-series adaptation “The Blue Knight.” After serving as assistant director and production manager on Robert Redford’s “Downhill Racer,” he went on
The Queens from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will kick off Grammys Sunday with a fashion show recreating iconic looks from the awards show’s past. CBS and the Recording Academy have partnered with TikTok for two livestream events on music’s biggest night. The 30-minute runway starts at 11 a.m. PT this Sunday on TikTok. Season 12 winner
SPOILER WARNING: Do not read if you have not seen “Morbius,” currently playing in theaters. This story discusses movie’s post-credits scenes. After nearly two years of pandemic delays, “Morbius” has finally opened in theaters, expanding Sony’s universe of Marvel characters and growing the web of Spider-Man villains getting their own origin stories. “Morbius” — starring
On Friday afternoon, Will Smith announced in a statement that he was resigning from the Academy after he slapped Chris Rock during last Sunday’s Oscars telecast. The Academy plans to forge ahead and conduct a formal investigation and disciplinary process on April 18, at which time the organization could impose further sanctions or punishment in
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith has shared a tribute video to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died on March 25 at the age of 50. The video is a compilation of Smith and Hawkins’ most memorable moments together captured on camera, including many clips from touring. Foo Fighters first opened for the
The nation’s biggest TV-news outlets have made it increasingly easy for top officials in the White House to have a presence in your house. If White House press secretary Jen Psaki joins MSNBC as expected, she will be the second Biden official to land at the NBCUniversal-owned network in the space of less than a
Redbox Entertainment, which operates a national network of DVD-rental kiosks and a streaming-video business, said it laid off 150 employees, roughly 10% of its total headcount. The company, which disclosed the layoffs in an 8-K filing Friday with the SEC, said it was cutting jobs because of “the ongoing adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic”
Will Smith, facing possible expulsion or suspension after he assaulted Chris Rock during last Sunday’s Oscars telecast, has instead resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The move comes as the actor is embroiled in the gravest crisis of his career and as the organization behind the Academy Awards has struggled in
Nathan Kim is a rising star: a dancer, choreographer and actor. He was featured in the dance troupe in the showstopping “Euphoria” routine at the end of Lexi’s school play, and is working alongside Charli XCX on her upcoming tour. His moves have gone viral, but Kim isn’t even on TikTok — he doesn’t have
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. No one will be leaving this year’s Grammy Awards empty-handed. Before the biggest names in the music industry take their seats at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this Sunday, they’ll make their way through
Olivia Rodrigo would appear to be close to a shoo-in for several Grammys, but when it comes to what’s generally considered the most prestigious prize, album of the year, there’s a serious competitor packing heat, and he’s old enough to be her grandfather’s grandfather. Rodrigo has a decent shot at winning the Grammys’ quadruple crown,
Judd Apatow’s impact on modern comedy is immeasurable. He began writing, directing and producing several cult TV comedy classics such as “The Ben Stiller Show,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared.” His feature work was more limited until the mid-aughts, when his directorial debut, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” because a runaway hit and
“The Eclipse” by Nataša Urban has picked up the top Dox:Award at Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival. It was awarded at a ceremony in the Danish capital, which opened with a homage to Ukraine – where fest organizers announced they would be screening Daniel Roher’s “Navalny” in theaters across the nation immediately after the festival
Country star Eric Church, who’s taken a social media battering for canceling a sold-out concert to attend an NCAA tournament game, is looking to make it up to Texas fans who were unhappy about being spurned for a ballgame. Church sent a message to ticketholders — or former ticketholders — for the show that was
The best in music are all headed to Sin City where the anticipation is higher than ever for the 64th Grammy Awards in Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. With a lineup that includes Olivia Rodrigo, Lady Gaga, BTS, Billie Eilish, Silk Sonic, Brandi Carlile, Lil Nas X with Jack Harlow, Jon Batiste, John Legend,
Looking back 50 years at anything that isn’t related to geology, evolution or astronomy feels like a glimpse at a long-bygone age. That’s especially so for the 14th annual Grammy Awards, which took place on March 14, 1972 at the Felt Forum in New York’s Madison Square Garden and were broadcast on ABC. The show
Academy Award winner Troy Kotsur is a man of many talents. But above all, he’s a lover of cinema and all its infinite splendor. On the cover of Variety this week discussing his historic best supporting actor win for “CODA,” Kotsur used American Sign Language (ASL) to interpret some of the most iconic lines in
SPOLER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “What’s for Dinner?,” the April 1 episode of “Severance.” Heading into its Season 1 finale next week, Apple’s “Severance” has finally answered at least one very burning question for fans: What the heck is a Waffle Party? On Friday, viewers saw exactly what Lumon
Samantha Morton is returning to the world of “The Walking Dead,” with the actress set to appear in the upcoming anthology series “Tales of the Walking Dead” at AMC. Morton will star in an episode of “Tales of the Walking Dead” as Alpha, the villainous character she played in Seasons 9 and 10 of the