“Cold War” cinematographer Łukasz Żal has won the top feature award from the American Society of Cinematographers. “Cold War,” shot in black and white, topped Alfonso Cuaron’s digital 65mm black-and-white lensing of his own “Roma,” Linus Sandgren’s multi-format work on Damien Chazelle’s moonshot drama “First Man,” Matthew Libatique for Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born,” and
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Blessed with scene-stealing natural beauty, Western Norway has served as a breathtaking backdrop for international films such as Alex Garland’s sci-fi drama “Ex Machina” and “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.” But local bizzers say there’s more to the region than meets the eye. “People may already know that our region is picture perfect,” says Sigmund Elias Holm,
2018 was a landmark year for Stockholm-based producer Piodor Gustafsson, head of Black Spark Film & TV whose Oscar-nominated films “Border,” “The Wife” and TV dramas “Moscow Noir “and “Sthlm Requiem” landed on screens worldwide. The producer also stepped up to his role as talent spotter/nurturer by adding the job of film and TV agent
February 9, 2019 10:12PM PT Nancy Pelosi, one of the night’s many notable guests at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy celebration on Saturday, got a standing ovation from Hollywood elites as she was introduced by Davis at the start of the annual gala. “The first introduction tonight is of someone who has joined us many times before
“Leave No Trace” has won the USC Libraries Scripter Award for best movie adaptation and “A Very English Scandal” took the television award. “Leave No Trace,” was adapted by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, based on the 2009 novel “My Abandonment” by Peter Rock. “A Very English Scandal” was adapted by Russell T. Davies from John
February 9, 2019 9:30PM PT Sebastián Muñoz’s drama “El Principe” has closed key major territory deals before its European Film Market premiere, licensing North America (Artsploitation Films) and Germany/Austria (Salzgeber). Sold by Patra Spanou, “El Princípe,” which proved a standout at works-in-progress strands of Chile’s Sanfic and Spain’s San Sebastián festival, has also sold to
SF Studios, the Scandinavian company celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, is developing an English-language series based on Max Tegmark’s 2007 bestseller “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” The science-fiction series will follow a group of young scientists working at a startup who discover the first artificial intelligence and envision ways
Leading Chinese film studio Huayi Bros. has begun sounding out international distributors in Berlin about director Guan Hu’s $80 million war film “800.” It will be completed by midsummer and is one of the most anticipated Chinese titles of the year. Guan, who broke through to international and commercial success with 2015 gangster drama “Mr.
NBC late-night sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live” usually calls upon Alec Baldwin to put on a suit, tie and combover wig to portray Donald Trump but in the Feb. 9 episode, regular cast member Kenan Thompson donned the look, so to speak, in “Them Trumps.” The sketch was a commercial for a fictional series
XYZ Films’s upcoming sci-fi thriller “Stowaway” is set to shoot in Munich and Cologne after securing regional funding in Germany, where the Los Angeles-based company is looking to establish a long-term relationship with production partners Rise Pictures and Augenschein Filmproduktion. Directed by Joe Penna (“The Arctic”) and starring Anna Kendrick and Toni Collette, “Stowaway” follows
February 9, 2019 9:00PM PT Brian O’Shea’s The Exchange has sold Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Spall starrer “Mrs. Lowry & Son,” about the British artist L.S. Lowry, to several major territories. Distribution rights were picked up by Rialto in Australia, DDDream Intl. in China, Paradiso in Benelux, Notorious in Italy, Sky Digi in Taiwan, and
February 9, 2019 9:00PM PT Former Focus Features exec Jonathan Halperyn and Korda Studios’ Daniel Kresmery are in Berlin talking to partners about their recently minted Central and Eastern Europe-based content and production business Hero Squared. Halperyn spent over a decade at Focus Features in finance and strategy on the international team. Kresmery established the
With the Scandinavian market becoming increasingly divided between blockbusters and indies, mid-budget films are left in limbo and struggling to get financial backing. “The polarization starts at the funding stage,” says Hakon Overas of Norway’s 4½ Fiksjon, the production company behind Hans Petter Moland’s “Out Stealing Horses,” in competition for the Golden Bear in Berlin.
“Saturday Night Live” took a step back from politics at the top of its Feb. 9 return, instead featuring a cold open that dove into the state of journalism today. On the set of “Meet the Press,” Kyle Mooney’s Chuck Todd interviewed Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson (played by Kenan Thompson), Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy
February 9, 2019 8:40PM PT Sales agent Global Screen has kicked off sales for German thriller “The Collini Case,” starring Elyas M’Barek, the star of the hit “Fack Ju Göhte,” franchise, and produced by Constantin Film. ARP Selection has acquired all rights for France and is planning a wide release at the end of year.
February 9, 2019 8:32PM PT One of Motown’s most influential artists, Smokey Robinson, hit back at criticism of Jennifer Lopez leading the Motown tribute at Sunday’s Grammy Awards. “I don’t think anyone who is intelligent is upset,” he told Variety. “I think anyone who is upset is stupid.” Speaking to Variety’s Marc Malkin outside Clive
The extraordinary success of Chilean filmmakers will be celebrated in the 2019 Week of Chilean Cinema, which launches in Madrid, then travels to Paris and Berlin. The week offers a larger narrative: the Chileans have won more awards, festival acclaim and global box office in the past decade than any other filmmaking industry in all
The second season of BBC America’s cat-and-mouse drama “Killing Eve” picks up only 30 seconds after the events of the first season ended, but crafting what is to come is a new executive producer in Emerald Fennel. Fennel stepped in to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s creation after the first season was already written but before it was
Jake Paul Sued Your ‘Citizens Arrest’ was BS Based on My Race 2/9/2019 2:52 PM PST EXCLUSIVE Jake Paul‘s security roughed up a neighbor and falsely placed him under a “citizens arrest” because of the way he looked … according to a new suit. Paul’s neighbor claims in February 2018, he rang the buzzer to
Polygram Entertainment has unveiled a quartet of music documentaries in development on the Bee Gees, the Go-Go’s, hip-hop jewelry and the origins of mixtapes, Variety has learned exclusively. Polygram, which was revived in 2017 by Universal Music Group, rolled out details of the projects Saturday afternoon during a pre-Grammys showcase in downtown Los Angeles. Members
The AMC dramas “Into the Badlands” and “The Son” are coming to an end on AMC, the cabler announced Saturday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. “Into the Badlands” will end after the final eight episodes of Season 3. The martial arts drama returns on March 24 at 10 pm ET following a new
February 9, 2019 2:30PM PT Under its new script-to-series model, AMC has opened a writers’ room for the drama series “61st Street.” The series hails from showrunner and executive producer Peter Moffat as well as executive producer Michael B. Jordan via his Outlier Society production banner, it was announced Saturday at the Television Critics Association
Frictionless international film and series production is at the top of agendas in Central and Eastern Europe these days, with increasingly competitive territories adopting policy tweaks and launching new film promotion bodies. The freshly minted Slovak Film Commission is looking to catch up quick to its longstanding Czech counterpart, the Czech Film Commission, with a
Katie Grand is an all-powerful fashion stylist, but she falls down Instagram scroll-holes just like the rest of us. And this is how she discovered Tomo Koizumi, a Tokyo-based designer whose signature style is defined by gowns, cocktail dresses, bodysuits and jackets done in exploding rainbow ruffles. She brought him to New York Fashion Week
A recurring controversy flared up again at last month’s Sundance festival, this time with the Zac Efron-starring Ted Bundy biopic “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” as its lit match: Where is the line drawn between representation and celebration in films about appalling figures, particularly with a swoon-worthy sex symbol in the lead? That’s an
Chinese filmmaker Wang Quan’an is a man in control of himself and his narrative, and at ease on the European festival circuit. His “Ondog” is an early front-runner for a trophy at the Berlin Film Festival, where it played in competition Friday. The film, the tale of an encounter between a very young cop and
February 9, 2019 12:30PM PT Cult Japanese director Sabu has completed “Jam,” an action film which features three men from completely different walks of life who find themselves heading for a showdown. One is a do-gooder, another a singer, and the third a Yakuza gangster. The film heads the slate that sales company Free Stone
“” host AJ Calloway has been suspended after multiple women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, Variety has confirmed. “Upon becoming aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against AJ Calloway, we began an internal review to determine whether there had been any misconduct by Mr. Calloway on ‘Extra’ and whether any employee of the
Rock isn’t dead. It’s not on life support, either, and hasn’t been for a single solitary second since Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and the forefathers of the genre brought it into the mainstream more than six decades ago. “Rock is alive and well, it’s just been underground,” says Allison Hagendorf, Global Head of
Seven Portuguese titles will screen during the Berlinale, and a bevy of Portuguese producers are attending the European Film Market seeking co-producers and international sales agents for their projects. Two Portuguese features will screen in the non-competitive Berlinale Forum dedicated to more avant-garde cinema. “The Portuguese Woman,” a historical drama by Rita Azevedo Gomes, is