Movies

In today’s film news roundup, Woody Harrelson will star in a satire, Kaitlyn Dever will be honored, and the docs “Saul & Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band” and “Before the Plate” find distribution. CASTINGS Woody Harrelson, Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean have signed to star in Ruben Östlund’s upcoming satire “Triangle Of Sadness.” The movie, set

February 4, 2020 6:00PM PT “Sylvie’s Love,” a sweeping period romance starring Tessa Thompson, has sold to Amazon Studios out of this year’s Sundance film festival, sources close to the deal told Variety. The sale, brokered by Endeavor Content on behalf of the filmmakers, closed in the high seven-figure range, insiders added. “Sylvie’s Love’ marks

Sixty years. That’s how long a Louisiana judge sentenced Rob Richardson to serve for armed bank robbery. Garrett Bradley covers more than a third of that term in “Time,” and the cumulative impact — boiled down into an open-minded and deeply empathetic 81 minutes — will almost certainly rewire how Americans think about the prison-industrial

There was no better way to kick off the romantic month of February than with the premiere of “To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You,” where cast and crew debated about Lara Jean’s complicated love triangle and whether fans would be Team Peter or Team John after watching the film. The sequel finds

“Giving Voice” has won the Festival Favorite Award, selected by audience votes from the 128 features screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Sundance Institute made the announcement Tuesday, noting that “Boys State” and “On The Record” were the runner-ups for the award. Others in contention were “Binti,” “Crip Camp,” “The Fight,” “The Reason I

February 4, 2020 2:50PM PT “The Mandalorian” could be taking a page from “The Avengers.” The hit Disney Plus series may introduce new heroes and villains who will star in their own spinoff shows, Walt Disney Company chairman Bob Iger told investors on Tuesday shortly after the company presented quarterly earnings. Iger said the company

MADRID  — Spanish writer-director José Luis Cuerda, a masterful modern practitioner of Spain’s central comedic tradition, died Feb. 4 in Madrid from a stroke. He was 72. He will also be remembered for discovering Alejandro Amenábar, especially producing his first feature, “Thesis.” Born in Albacete, central Spain, but moving to Madrid, Cuerda made his feature

February 4, 2020 1:36PM PT A refugee couple escapes war in Sudan only to face a new evil in British public housing in promising filmmaker Remi Weekes’ debut. Out of the frying pan, through the fire and into the hellish, demonic inferno of British low-income public housing. For husband-and-wife Sudanese refugees Bol (Sope Dirisu) and

February 4, 2020 12:15PM PT It would be difficult to find five films more diverse in technique approach and subject matter than this year’s nominees foranimated short film. Dcera (Daughter)Daria KashcheevaIn creating her student film “Dcera” at FAMU in Prague, Kashcheeva was interested in telling a story about how childhood events shape adult relationships. Her

To open with an establishing drone shot has become something of a cliché for lower-budget films looking to create a sense of scale inexpensively, but in Argentinian director Verónica Chen’s fifth narrative feature “High Tide,” the choice feels unusually apt. The camera glides frictionlessly over an opaque turquoise sea, breakers foaming at its edges, and

February 4, 2020 11:22AM PT The Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have agreed to enter into formal contract negotiations for a successor deal to the DGA master contract on Feb. 10. “The DGA and the AMPTP have also agreed that neither organization will comment to the media,”

Liza Minnelli was only 25 years old when she won an Oscar for her work as Sally Bowles in Bob Fosse’s film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Cabaret.” But after the film’s release and six months before the Academy Awards were handed out, the two collaborated again — this time on “Liza With a Z:

A key witness in the Harvey Weinstein trial took the witness stand for a third day on Tuesday, a day after the trial was halted when she broke down in sobs during cross-examination. Jessica Mann, who claims that Weinstein sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions, testified that she also caught Weinstein trying to film

In the ten years since the Guild of Music Supervisors was formed, the organization has come a long way. Granted, the job still involves low pay, long hours and little respect, but at least the craft has been validated with Grammy and Emmy categories introduced by the Recording Academy and the Television Academy, respectively. The

February 4, 2020 10:00AM PT Former AMC Studios executive Rick Olshansky has joined Verve talent agency in the role of special advisor. Olshansky will help the agency run its business operations and represent Verve on dealmaking with outside entities. The literary-focused agency is marking its 10th anniversary this year. “Rick’s invaluable industry experience will help

Because of the rigid voting rules for the Oscars, Greta Gerwig was not able to vote for herself for best director for “Little Women.” When Gerwig was asked to be a member of the Academy in 2016, she was invited as an actor, and therefore that’s the sole branch in which she votes — even

The American Film Market has cut two days from its schedule and will run for six days, starting in November with its 41st edition. The Independent Film & Television Alliance made the announcement Tuesday, saying that the reduction reflects the “changing needs of the global film industry” and reflectsAFM’s commitment to provide the most efficient

Cynthia Erivo, the breakout star behind “Harriet,” has described the experience of being the sole actor of color vying for an Oscar a “bittersweet” experience that should serve as an example for future awards. Appearing on the BBC Breakfast show today, Erivo, who portrayed U.S. abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the film, warned: “I want it

Andy Samberg time-loop comedy “Palm Springs” broke sales records (by the cheeky sum of 69¢), and “Taylor Swift: Miss Americana” inspired a mini mob scene at an otherwise star-starved Sundance. But in the end, the film that defined the 2020 edition of America’s most important indie-movie showcase was a #MeToo revenge thriller called “Promising Young

British comedian and actor Matt Lucas will voice the lead role in “Molesworth,” an animated film adaptation of the best-selling series of boarding school books written by Geoffrey Willans and illustrated by Ronald Searle. Lupus Films and Melusine Productions, the producers behind the acclaimed animated feature “Ethel & Ernest,” will team up with Uli Meyer

Ian Bonhôte, a double BAFTA nominee for the feature documentary “McQueen,” has attached as the director on narrative feature “Faithfull,” about the singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull. Altitude has acquired worldwide sales rights. As previously reported, Lucy Boynton, who played Mary Austin in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and appears in Ryan Murphy’s “The Politician” for Netflix, stars as Faithfull.

American playwright and filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan, French actor and “The Artist” star Bérénice Bejo, and Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir will serve on the International Jury of the Berlin Film Festival. The other jury members are German producer Bettina Brokemper, Italian actor Luca Marinelli, and programmer, film critic and director Kleber Mendonça Filho from Brazil. As

For female filmmakers in the industry, this year’s round of Oscar nominations – in which acclaimed female-helmed films such as “Hustlers” and “The Farewell” were shut out in place of male-directed Best Picture nominees predominantly centred on stories of white men – told a frustratingly familiar story. But in the Academy’s non-fiction branch, a different

Some movie stars level a kind of divinity that transcends personal preference — woe betide the dissenter who openly finds Audrey Hepburn cloying, or Cary Grant less than charming. That Bruce Lee had long ascended to that level of iron-clad cool was underlined by the biggest popular quibble with “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,”

February 3, 2020 10:09PM PT The meteoric rise and contentious fall of the envelope-pushing 1990s cult cartoon series is charted in this lively documentary. For many the 1990s were the Age of Irony, with hipster cultural touchstones like Spy magazine and the TV show “Strangers With Candy” helping make snark the preferred flavor of the

Fear of the spread of the coronavirus that is sweeping China has begun to contaminate the film industry in South Korea. Box office between Friday and Sunday dropped by 70% compared to last week’s 4-day holiday weekend and by 30% compared with the weekend before that. Though the virus may only be partly responsible. “We

In today’s film news roundup, Nicolas Cage’s “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” and indie drama “Shooting Heroin” get release dates, the “Big Fur” documentary finds distribution and Ezra Miller forms a production company. RELEASE DATES Lionsgate has dated the Nicolas Cage movie “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” for March 19, 2021. Tom Gormican is

Seven-time Oscar nominee Dennis Gassner (“Blade Runner 2029,” “Jarhead”) was in Alaska recovering from back surgery when he got an interesting email. “Do not do the ‘Bond’ film,” it read. “I have a film that’s very ambitious. Sending script now.” The note, Gassner recalls, was from director Sam Mendes, who he’d previously worked with on

In 1964, Variety reviewer Robert J. Landry was over the moon about the Paramount movie “Becket,” which Edward Anhalt scripted from Jean Anouilh’s play. Landry said the film was “invigorated by story substance, personality clash, bright dialogue and religious interest. Patrons and perhaps reviewers will tend to heap credit on the actors. They deserve it

With “Little Women,” producer Amy Pascal has scored her second Oscar nomination (after “The Post”). Writer-director Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott is only the third best picture nominee ever to be produced, written and directed solely by women, following “The Piano” and “Winter’s Bone.” Pascal has another distinction: Of the nine nominated films