“Crazy Rich Asians,” “The Favourite” and “Black Panther” walked away with top honors at the 21st annual Costume Designers Guild Awards Tuesday night, the final industry guild show before the Oscars on Feb. 24. “The Favourite” and “Black Panther” are up for the Oscar this year, along with “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” “Mary Poppins
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February 19, 2019 9:22PM PT Hollywood talent agents and the Writers Guild of America have achieved some progress at their second negotiating session over agency regulations, according to sources close to the talks. The two sides met Tuesday, two weeks after their first meeting resulted in both sides criticizing each other, followed by the WGA
In today’s film news roundup, Aaron Paul is honored, Bruce Berman is re-upped at Village Roadshow, and Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher get a book deal. FESTIVAL HONORS The Sun Valley Film Festival has selected Idaho native and three-time Emmy winner Aaron Paul as the winner of its Pioneer Award, presented by Variety for his
Olivia Munn is setting the record straight about standing up to “Rush Hour” director Brett Ratner, whom she alleges sexually harassed her over a decade ago. During a panel discussion at the Emily’s List pre-Oscars brunch at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills Tuesday morning, Munn revealed that Ratner called her in 2011 after he denied
Ignore the awful English-language title: “Flesh Out” is an emotionally rich, sensitively made film about a young woman in Mauritania forced to gain weight in order to conform to traditional concepts of well-rounded beauty before her impending marriage. Strikingly registering the sensations of a protagonist living between the dutiful traditions of her class and the
It should go without saying that if you’ve never been to war, you can’t pretend to know what it’s like. Yet for those of us who never have been, the movies have created our image of war; they’re the closest thing to it that most of us are likely to get. I’ll never forget the
February 19, 2019 7:30PM PT Actor Wagner Moura makes his directorial debut in this contentious biopic about 1960s Marxist insurrectionist Carlos Marighella. Does Brazil need a film that openly advocates armed confrontation against its far-right government? That’s the first question that needs to be asked when discussing “Marighella,” actor Wagner Moura’s directorial debut focused on
February 19, 2019 7:22PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv, DreamWorks Animation claims the top spot in spending for the second week in a row with “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.” Ads placed for the fantasy film
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Our Little Island Girl,” the 13th episode of Season 3 of “This Is Us.” It took until the middle of the third season of NBC family drama “This Is Us” to explore Beth’s (Susan Kelechi Watson) backstory, and it turned out she also lost her
The George R.R. Martin drama “Nightflyers” has been canceled by Syfy after only one season. Based on the novella from the mastermind behind “Game of Thrones,” the show was seen as a big gamble for the NBCUniversal-owned cable network, as it represented the most expensive series it had ever developed. The network attempted to spark
Paramount Pictures has promoted Mary Daily, the current international marketing and home entertainment head, to co-president of worldwide marketing and distribution. Daily will join incoming co-president Marc Weinstock in the role. Variety previously, exclusively reported that Weinstock, former president of Annapurna Films, would be coming to the storied Hollywood lot to replace David Sameth. Both
February 19, 2019 6:03PM PT The CW has added veteran Scottish actor Dougray Scott to its “Batwoman” pilot as well as swapped in Marcos Siega for previous director David Nutter, Variety has learned. The pilot, which stars Ruby Rose as the eponymous caped heroine, is being helmed by DC TV head Greg Berlanti, and was
Theatergoers for Academy Awards best picture-nominated films have become younger and more diverse over the past four years, a report released exclusively to Variety showed. Movio, a Vista Group company which specializes in cinema marketing data analytics, said the changes in demographic shifts correspond to the best picture lineup becoming more diverse since the 2015
Jeffrey Wright, the most compelling reason to watch HBO’s new film “O.G.,” is among television’s best actors at switching between codes or manners of being. On “Westworld,” his timeline-toggling android swaps personae so delicately that his performance gains in resonance when recalled in retrospect. (Perhaps that’s why Wright has been so oddly underrated through the
February 19, 2019 4:38PM PT Nahnatchka Khan has signed a four-year overall deal at Universal Television. The deal brings an end to the decade-plus Khan and her Fierce Baby Productions banner spent at 20th Century Fox Television. The move will see Khan exit from her role as showrunner on ABC comedy “Fresh Off the Boat,”
David Ajala has been cast in a lead role in the CBS drama pilot “Under the Bridge,” Variety has learned. In the project, when a scandal rocks the medical practice she runs with her husband and their friends, a surgeon rises to the occasion and takes the lead in trying to mend both the practice and
February 19, 2019 3:51PM PT Sarah Isgur Flores, a press aide to former US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has been hired to help direct and plan political coverage for CNN, a move that generated some pushback on social media Tuesday. Politico previously reported the CNN hire. Flores in the past has criticized CNN coverage. She
February 19, 2019 3:40PM PT Gerald “Jerry” Blum, the inspiration for the character of radio station general manager Art “Big Guy” Carlson on the long-running TV sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati,” died Saturday at 86. The Atlanta radio veteran was affectionately transformed into the fictional Carlson by veteran comic actor Gordon Jump on “WKRP,” which ran
In today’s TV news roundup, the second half of “Arrested Development” season five gets a release date and Netflix announces the voice cast for “Green Eggs and Ham.” CASTING Netflix has announced the ensemble voice cast for the upcoming “Green Eggs and Ham” series executive produced by Ellen DeGeneres and based on the Dr. Seuss book.
February 19, 2019 2:59PM PT In a shock to no one, the 2019 Super Bowl handily defeated all of its broadcast competition in the Live+7 numbers for the week of Jan. 28. Live sports typically receive virtually no lift in delayed viewing, and Super Bowl LIII was no exception. The game did, however, rise from
February 19, 2019 2:05PM PT Arista Records and Smokepurpp/ Lil Mosey manager Josh Marshall today announced the launch of Mogul Vision Music, a new joint venture label focused on “breaking extraordinary talent and building artist careers through innovative A&R, branding and marketing strategy,” according to the announcement. Based in New York with Marshall (pictured above left, with
“Alexa, make the radio and streaming worlds play nice together.” That may be a tall order, but at the 50th annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville this past week, breaking down the barriers of suspicion that separate traditional radio from digital services was the hottest topic. Garth “No Fences” Brooks made sure that was at the
Jussie Smollett is facing prison time and the implosion of his career if it turns out he lied about being the target of a hate crime, legal and public relations experts say. “The best thing that Jussie can do is pray and pray a lot,” said Ronn Torossian, founder of 5W Public Relations. “If he
A few episodes into the new season of “Better Things,” fed-up mother Sam (creator Pamela Adlon) tries a new tactic to break up one of the countless petty fights between her daughters. Instead of forcing them apart and hoping for the best, she throws up her hands and decides to just let them go at it,
Ryan Adams, currently mired in sexual harassment charges raised by a story in the New York Times last week, is being abandoned in droves at Adult Album Alternative radio stations around the country. The singer/songwriter had been a stalwart of Triple A since scoring No. 1 singles with “New York, New York” in December 2001
21 Savage New Mug Shot for Missed Concert Case … I’m So Over It!!! 2/19/2019 1:04 PM PST EXCLUSIVE 21 Savage‘s face kinda says it all — 2 days after ICE finally released him, he had to pose for this mug shot in his felony theft case. Sooo … zero reason to smile. As we
Getty ImagesJohn Phillips/BFC There’s a growing pool of luxury brands that have come under fire for major missteps, including back-to-back blackface controversies from Prada and Gucci. You can now add Burberry to the list. Riccardo Tisci debuted his Burberry autumn/winter 2019 collection at London Fashion Week, and it a hoodie with strings that resembled a
February 19, 2019 12:00PM PT There’s a familiar, acrid aftertaste to “Flack,” Pop’s new drama about the controlled chaos of the publicity industry. The grim behind-the-scenes machinations of the glossy entertainment industry have always been one of TV’s favorite subjects, as are the people tasked with pulling the strings without anyone ever realizing. Over just
Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced mogul arrested on rape charges last May, took time on Tuesday morning to respond to a Variety cover story on Gwyneth Paltrow. The profile centers on Paltrow in the 20 years since winning the Academy Award for best actress for “Shakespeare in Love,” which Weinstein produced. In the story, Paltrow talks
February 19, 2019 11:30AM PT Jee Young Han has been cast in the lead role of the NBC single-camera comedy pilot “Like Magic,” Variety has learned. The project is a workplace comedy that follows an optimistic young woman (Jee) pursuing her dream to be a headlining magician in the eccentric and ego-driven world of the Magic