Month: December 2023

To paraphrase David Mamet’s caustic sales pitch from “Glengarry Glen Ross,” KISS has always been closing. That’s fine. From the start of the band’s mega-success with 1975’s “Alive!” and its crunching live single, “Rock and Roll All Nite,” through to bassist/demon Gene Simmons’ sales campaigns moving KISS condoms and coffins, everything the quartet has done
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A movie about George Santos is in the works at HBO Films, Variety has confirmed. HBO Films has optioned the rights to Mark Chiusano’s book “The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos,” which was published on Nov. 28. The film comes from Frank Rich, who executive produced the
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Tunisian filmmaker Ala Eddine Slim attended this week’s Atlas Workshops at Marrakech Film Festival with the rough cut of his third feature film, “Agora.” The film revolves around three missing people who return to a remote town in Tunisia, where the local police inspector, Fathi, tries to unravel the mystery with the help of her
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After recovering from a prolonged health scare, and newly based in Western Europe, Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev stepped back onto the international stage at this year’s Marrakech Film Festival. Better still, the director of Oscar nominated films “Loveless” and “Leviathan” will soon step back behind the camera, as he readies the oligarch drama “Jupiter,” his
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Karim Debbagh‘s leading Tangier-based line producer Kasbah Films has secured a raft of U.S. and U.K. projects that will lense in Morocco, including “Lords of War,” the sequel to “Lord of War,” starring Nicolas Cage as the world’s most notorious arms dealer. While attending the Marrakech Film Festival, Debbagh spoke to Variety about his work
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World premiering out of the Marrakech Film Festival ahead of a wider and promising festival run, Luck Razanajaona’s “Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story” will offer the cinema of Madagascar its most prominent international showcase in nearly three decades. The feat didn’t come easy — or quickly — for the Malagasy filmmaker, who graduated from Marrakech’s
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Nabil Ayouch, a leading Moroccan filmmaker whose latest movie as a producer “The Blue Caftan” became the first Moroccan film to ever make it to the Oscars shortlist, is wrapping up his next directorial effort, “Everybody Loves Touda.” Now in post-production, “Everybody Loves Touda” follows the journey of a strong-willed woman, along the lines of
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Emma Stone joined “Saturday Night Live‘s” coveted Five-Timers Club this Saturday, and was welcomed into “SNL her-story” by Tina Fey and Candice Bergen during her monologue. Fey and Bergen gifted Stone with the iconic Five-Timers Club jacket, which Stone joked had a joint in the pocket. “That must be Woody Harrelson’s jacket,” Bergen quipped. “There’s
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India is on the verge of producing a global breakthrough streaming hit, leading industry players said over the past week across two panel discussions. The mood in the country has been celebratory, even self-congratulatory, albeit with some justification, after the Oscar wins for S.S. Rajamouli’s “RRR” and Karthiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga‘s “The Elephant Whisperers.”
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In bigger picture terms, the major highlights of Ventana Sur were a masterclass by Cannes head Thierry Frémaux and an impromptu speech by San Sebastián director José Luis Rebordinos, heads of the most important film festivals in the world and Spanish-speaking world, supporting the continued existence of INCAA. There words came after Argentinian President elect
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SZA has been honored with Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year Award. After the release of her debut album “Ctrl” in 2017, the shapeshifting singer released her follow-up “SOS” to great anticipation. And it paid off. Following its release in December last year, the album shattered records from Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin and would eventually
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Joan Baez believes in torch-passing, and she signaled her approval of Boygenius in a big way by presenting the trio with the Group of the Year award Saturday at Variety‘s annual Hitmakers event, presented by Sony audio. “I’m here to offer the award for Group of the Year to three women who have personally and
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Olivia Rodrigo was honored with Variety‘s Storyteller of the Year Award at this year’s Hitmakers brunch, presented by Sony audio, by her friend and Grammy winner, St. Vincent, who described Rodrigo as a “precious baby angel muffin, but if a precious baby angel muffin were also tough as nails and cool as hell.” Upon taking
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Ryan Gosling sometimes regrets coining the phrase “Kenergy.” Speaking on Saturday at Variety‘s Hitmakers event, however, he embraced the idea of “Kenergy” — a term he said he made up while on a press junket for the hit film “Barbie” — to describe musician, songwriter and producer Mark Ronson. Gosling was at Hitmakers, presented by
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Here are five things you need to know before watching ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’. #shorts #aquaman2 ► Buy Tickets for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: https://www.fandango.com/aquaman-and-the-lost-kingdom-2023-226755/movie-overview?cmp=Trailers_YouTube_Desc ► Learn more about Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aquaman_and_the_lost_kingdom?cmp=Trailers_YouTube_Desc
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Changemaker of the Year, Maren Morris celebrated her honor at the Variety Hitmakers, presented by Sony audio, by listing off the women who inspired her including Taylor Swift, Sinead O’Connor and Billie Holiday. Introduced by singer and songwriter Maggie Rogers, her colleague praised Morris for using her voice to uplift others. to fight for gender
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Billie Eilish and Finneas were honored with the Film Song of the Year at Variety‘s Hitmakers, presented by Sony audio, on Saturday for the “Barbie” power ballad “What Was I Made For?“ The duo’s award was presented by Bernie Taupin, the famed lyricist and longtime writing partner with Sir Elton John. “A lot of great people can
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Grammy Museum President and CEO Michael Sticka highlighted the museum’s work to reach more students post-COVID through the museum’s education program while accepting the Music Education and Advocacy Leadership Award presented by City National Bank at Variety’s seventh annual Hitmakers event. “Being the President and CEO of the Grammy Museum has been the highlight of
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Catatonic with a bright red swollen eye, middle-aged Rafik (Majd Mastoura) sits handcuffed inside a police station in the aftermath of a violent outburst at his soul-crushing office job. Whatever gripe eroded his sanity doesn’t matter as much now, since the incident, including a suicide attempt, unearthed a supernatural ability he possesses. An unpredictable oddity
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“The Thundermans Return,” the Nickelodeon film continuation of the popular TV series, has dropped its first teaser trailer. “The Thundermans Return” premieres on Paramount+ and all Nickelodeon channels in March 2024. “A super new movie brings the return of one super superhero family,” the narrator says. The teaser can be seen below. “The Thundermans” aired
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BUENOS AIRES — Representatives of Ibero-American film industry collectives gathered to discuss diversity, parity and equality in the audiovisual sector at a pair of panels held by Ventana Sur’s Punto Genero and industry strands in Buenos Aires on Thursday. Moderated by Lyara Oliveira, São Paulo promotion agency Spcine’s director of innovation and audiovisual policies, the
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