LL Cool J is pleading no contest in the case of allegedly laughing at Jay-Z‘s freestyles when the latter was in high school … a legend LL doesn’t exactly recall happening. At any rate, the Rock The Bells creator suspects his long-ago mocking of Jay could be the reason he’s never been invited to the
Month: May 2023
As news spread May 1 of Canadian songwriting and singing legend ’s death, realizing the full impact of his artistry and the breadth of his catalog felt all the more jolting. To hear Lightfoot’s virtuosic work is to have been pierced by its beauty. In a 2020 interview with this writer, Lightfoot rhetorically questioned his
Snap took the wraps off new advertising initiatives at its 2023 NewFronts presentation for marketers in New York — including revealing a new test of sponsored links in My AI, which can deliver ads based on a user’s conversation with the chatbot. The company, which averaged 383 million daily active users in Q1, last month
U.S. actor John C. Reilly will serve as president of the jury of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes Film Festival. “Salem,” directed by Jean-Bernard Marlin, has been added to the lineup. The other members of the jury will be French director and screenwriter Alice Winocour, German actor Paula Beer, French-Cambodian director and producer
Natasha Henstridge will star in “House of Abraham,” an upcoming thriller that marks the feature film directing debut of award-winning short filmmaker Lisa Belcher. She joins a cast that includes Lukas Hassel (“The Blacklist“) and Lin Shaye (“Insidious”). Hassel wrote the script. The film tells the story of Dee (Henstridge), a desperate woman who arrives at
Austin Butler is bald and terrifying in the first look at the villainous Feyd-Rautha from Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.” Butler, a recent Oscar nominee for his performance as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” is one of the high profile new additions to the “Dune” cast along with Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken. Feyd-Rautha
Onyx Collective’s “Searching for Soul Food” will arrive on June 2 exclusively on Hulu, Variety has learned. “Searching for Soul Food” follows rock star celebrity chef Alisa Reynolds as she discovers what soul food looks like around the world. As she seeks out the food, she’ll also explore the stories, the people, and the traditions
Filming on Season 2 of “House of the Dragon” will continue in the U.K. despite the U.S. writers’ strike. A source close to production tells Variety that scripts on the hit show have been done for some time, and that filming on the second season won’t be affected. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television
Alanis Morissette and Ed Sheeran will join Luke Bryan as “American Idol” guest judges on May 7. The pair have been selected to take over for Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, who will be traveling overseas for their upcoming performances at King Charles III’s coronation. ABC revealed the switch on May 1, adding that Perry and
Music Box Films has acquired the North American distribution rights to “Fremont,” the critically acclaimed drama from Iranian-British filmmaker Babak Jalali. The film, which premiered to much acclaim, including from Variety, in the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section and later screened at SXSW, stars newcomer Anaita Wali Zada alongside Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White.
Freida Pinto has signed on to “Surface” Season 2 at Apple, Variety has learned exclusively. Pinto joins series star Gugu Mbatha-Raw as well as fellow new cast member Phil Dunster of “Ted Lasso” fame. As previously announced, “Surface” Season 2 will see Mbatha-Raw’s character Sophie return to her hometown of London and “rediscovering the unfinished
Your hormone monster would like a word with you. Florence Pugh, Miley Cyrus, Eugene Levy and Isabella Rossellini will guest star in the Season 2 of Netflix’s bawdy animated series “Human Resources,” the show that follows Netflix’s equally raunchy adult animation series “Big Mouth.” The new season has 10 episodes and is set to premiere
Famous since the top of the 1990s for bold, old-school, synth-rich productions of hardcore rappers (Scarface), multi-hyphenate hip-hop magnates (Kanye West, Travis Scott) and symphonically scored R&B vocalists (Beyoncé, the Weeknd), Mike Dean always sounds as if he’s having the most fun on his chill solo excursions. Take the surprise drop this past weekend of
Pro wrestling legend Chris Jericho is set to star in the upcoming UPtv original movie “Country Hearts,” Variety has learned exclusively. The film, which will premiere this fall, follows “the daughters of country music and rock & roll royalty who find themselves at a crossroads, torn between following their dreams of performing or helping their
“Dancing With the Stars” is coming back to ABC for Season 32, Variety has confirmed with sources. The move to bring the reality competition series back to the broadcast network comes after the show aired one season exclusively on streamer Disney+. For its upcoming season, the show will air on ABC while also streaming on
TV’s late-night shows are going to bed early for the foreseeable future. ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” CBS’ “The Late Show” Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” and NBC’s “Tonight” and “Late Night” are all going on hiatus as a result of the start of the Hollywood writers’ strike — and the shows could be off the air
The Jonas Brothers have announced a 35-date tour of North America for this summer and fall, taking place mostly in arenas but also touching down in a few key stadiums, including Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Wrigley Field in Chicago and (as previously announced) Yankee Stadium in New York. The gambit for the tour is
Fast-rising R&B star Brent Faiyaz has struck a wide-ranging partnership with Steve Stoute’s company UnitedMasters that spans a recording partnership and a creative agency. UnitedMasters CEO and founder Steve Stoute says, “Brent Faiyaz is one of the most prolific independent artists today and we are extremely excited to embark on this new partnership with him. It’s been inspiring to
Music Box Films has acquired North American distribution rights to “Fremont,” Iranian/British Filmmaker Babak Jalali’s follow-up to “Land” and “Radio Dreams.” Jalali’s film, which premiered in the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section and later screened at the SXSW Film Festival, tells the story of mid-20s Afghan refugee Donya (played by real-life refugee Anaita Wali Zada)
Christina Hendricks will lead the psychological thriller “Reckoner,” which will be sold at the Cannes Film Festival this month. The project is written and directed by Nissar Modi (“Z for Zacharian”), who will be making his big screen directorial debut. In the film, an affluent woman’s carefully constructed life is disrupted by a young man
Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival has decided that Canadian media producer Bonnie Thompson will be the recipient of this year’s prestigious Don Haig Award. Thompson is the producer behind Cam Christiansen’s “Echo of Everything,” a feature length documentary exploring the power of music, which will have its world premiere at Hot Docs’ 30th-anniversary festival, on
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor took a few jabs during Monday’s Hot Docs world premiere of Barry Avrich’s “Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella.” The American Justice was in Toronto to celebrate Abella, who served on Canada’s Supreme Court from 2004 until her retirement in 2021. Avrich’s “Without Precedent: The Supreme Life
Paris-based Playtime has unveiled a strong Cannes film market sales slate, which includes competition titles “About Dry Grasses” and “Homecoming.” “About Dry Grasses” is by Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who won the Palme d’Or in 2014 for “Winter Sleep.” The film follows Samet, a young art teacher, who is finishing his fourth year of
With the addition of “new mother” to my CV this year, my to-do list has amassed many new responsibilities that didn’t always clutter my (typically) well-managed workflow. To be clear: I’m not complaining. I couldn’t be more grateful. But as any parent will attest, child-rearing challenges make life feel foreign and chaotic. To color my
Laetitia Casta will soon appear on the big screen as the former wife of an abusive southern Italian man whom she is accused of murdering in the thriller “A Dark Story,” directed by Italy’s Leonardo D’Agostini. In “Dark Story” the French star, whose recent credits include “The Crusade” directed by her husband Louis Garrel, plays
Variety has been given access to the teaser (below) for “Murals,” an immersive 3D documentary that has its world premiere on May 18 at Cannes Next, a sidebar to the Marché du Film in Cannes. The experience, which is created in Unreal Engine and displayed on LED screens, centers on murals by Banksy, created following
Emma Watson hasn’t acted since December 2018, when she wrapped production on Greta Gerwig’s beloved “Little Women” adaptation. Considering the “Harry Potter” star isn’t currently attached to any film or television projects, her acting hiatus could very well hit the five-year mark by the end of 2023. Why did Watson step away from acting? She
Nicolas Cage took a questionnaire for Stephen Colbert during a recent visit to “The Late Show” and revealed in typical Cage fashion that his earliest childhood memory is actually being in his mother’s womb. “Let me think. Listen, I know this sounds really far out and I don’t know if it’s real or not, but
Check out the official Gran Turismo trailer starring Archie Madekwe! ► Sign Up for a Fandango FanAlert on Fandango: https://www.fandango.com/gran-turismo-2023-231714/movie-overview?cmp=Trailers_YouTube_Desc Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to be notified of all the hottest trailers: http://bit.ly/2CNniBy US Release Date: August 11, 2023 Starring: Archie Madekwe, David Harbour, Darren Barnet, Thomas Kretschmann, Djimon Hounsou,
“Some Like It Hot,” a jazzy re-imagining of the classic comedy film about two musicians on the run, dominated the nominations for the 2023 Tony Awards, which were announced on Tuesday, with 13 nods. It was followed closely behind by “& Juliet,” “Shucked” and “New York, New York,” which scored nine nominations apiece. All of