Filming “Crazy Rich Asians” challenged cinematographer Vanja Cernjul with a scale nearly as epic as the holidays of the Singapore billionaire characters the story revolves around. The Croatian-born veteran of action and fantasy films and TV series (“The Deuce,” “Marco Polo”) was faced with dozens of locations to be covered with a score of characters.
Movies
The EnergaCamerimage fest’s main lineup, its competition for best cinematographer, covers a vast range of styles, and honors several fresh visual stylists along with many legends in the field. As festival director Marek Zydowicz puts it, this year’s selection “was particularly tough because of the variety of visual means used to enhance the stories being
Mahershala Ali has accepted an apology from “Green Book” actor Viggo Mortensen for using the N-word on at a screening of their film — but noted that it was not appropriate for his co-star to use the slur. Mortensen used the word on Wednesday night at the ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood during a conversation moderated by
Fathom Events has partnered with Warner Bros. Pictures to bring Peter Jackson’s World War I documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old” to U.S. theaters on Dec. 17 and Dec. 27, Variety has learned exclusively. Tickets go on sale on Nov. 16. Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures, said, “With this being
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored five up-and-coming screenwriters Thursday as part of its annual Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting program. On hand to present the awards was program director Jennifer Yuh Nelson (“Kung Fu Panda 2”) and fellowship chair Robin Swicord (“Memoirs of a Geisha”). Swicord, who began working with the fellowship more
November 9, 2018 2:04PM PT Barbra Streisand and Guillermo del Toro have joined over 40,000 signatures on a petition to save classic and cult film treasure trove FilmStruck. The subscription-streaming service, which contained over 1,800 contemporary and classic arthouse, indie, and foreign films, announced its imminent closure on Oct. 26 much to the dismay of
November 9, 2018 1:33PM PT Rob Friedman has left Global Road Entertainment, IM Global, and Open Road Films as chairman and chief executive officer two months after Global Road filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Friedman, who has held top executive posts at Lionsgate, Summit, Paramount, and Warner Bros., was expected to depart the positions
Holiday season has already started for “The Grinch” as it heads for a merry $61 million opening weekend at 4,140 North American locations, early estimates showed Friday. Universal-Illumination’s animated comedy is performing right in line with forecasts of between $55 million and $65 million this weekend. Fox’s second weekend of “Bohemian Rhapsody” should lead the rest
After seeing Mimi Leder’s “On the Basis of Sex,” centered on Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, at a screening last week, two things became apparent: the RBG drama is a crowd pleaser, and critical minds will object to its basic presentation. Judging by reactions to last night’s AFI Fest opening night world premiere, the
November 9, 2018 12:17PM PT The historic Western town area at Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills, Calif., where productions including “Westworld” have shot, burned down Friday in the Woolsey fire, according to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation area’s Twitter feed. “Westworld” uses the Western town set to shoot its Main Street scenes. The HBO
“Green Book” actor Viggo Mortensen has released an official apology for using the N-word on a panel proceeding a screening of his film Wednesday at the ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood. “I have no right to even imagine the hurt that is caused by hearing that word in any context,” Mortensen’s statement read “especially from a white man.” News of the
November 9, 2018 10:10AM PT Netflix has acquired Emmanuel Mouret’s critically acclaimed French period drama “Mademoiselle de Joncquières,” which world-premiered at Toronto. The deal for most rights worldwide excludes France, Switzerland, Canada and the Benelux countries. Represented in international markets by Indie Sales, “Mademoiselle de Joncquières” competed in Toronto’s Platform section. The 18th-century love-triangle drama
As a comedian, Sarah Silverman says the type of humor she personally gravitates toward is the really “aggressively dumb, silly humor,” such as fart jokes. But lately, she has become much more known for her political commentary on her Emmy-nominated Hulu show, “I Love You, America With Sarah Silverman,” as well as on her Twitter
Why did veteran cinematographer Robert Richardson, a three-time Oscar winner, agree to work on “A Private War,” the first narrative feature directed by documentarian Matthew Heineman? It had a lot to do with Heineman’s courage and sense of purpose, says the DP. Heineman was nominated for an Oscar himself for his documentary feature “Cartel Land,”
Theatrical documentaries are a risky financial proposition at best. Few have major theatrical runs. However, 2018 saw several exceptional releases garner multimillion-dollar grosses domestically, demonstrating the genre’s cyclical ability to appeal and compete in a crowded field. Five documentaries are among 2018’s top 100 box office grossers: Focus Features’ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” ($22.6
LOS CABOS Mexico — In “Ana’s Desire,” Ana lives with her young son in an upper-class neighborhood of a big Mexican city. She begins the film, delicately cleared dead leaves from a rose. It is a premonitory symbol. Suddenly, Juan, her long-lost brother, turns up on her doorstep. He has news, he finally confesses, which
Documentaries have a reputation for being, as Jerry Seinfeld put it at the 2007 Oscars, “incredibly depressing.” But not this year. While 2018 has seen its share of high-profile political docus, including Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9” and Errol Morris’ “American Dharma,” audiences seem to be in serious need of inspirational non-fiction films that don’t deal directly
Breast cancer, gun violence, end of life — all weighty topics that many people would like to avoid, let alone watch a film about. But this year three short documentaries not only explore each difficult issue head-on, but also give audiences a new, hopeful and productive way to comprehend and cope with these distressing subjects.
LOS CABOS, Mexico — Gerardo Gatica and Alberto Muffelmann’s Panorama Global, the company behind Alfonso Ruizpalacios’ “Museo,” are partnering with its co-screenwriter, Manuel Alcalá, and Mauricio Katz, screenwriter of “Miss Bala,” and Netflix “Maniac,” on futuristic thriller “Frogtown.” As talent become one – if not the – key competitive issue in the world’s new film-TV
“The Grinch” has opened with a merry $2.2 million at 3,200 North American locations on Thursday night. Universal-Illumination’s holiday-themed animated comedy, which began showings at 6 p.m., is expected to gross between $55 million to $65 million this weekend when it expands to 4,140 screens. “The Grinch” should dominate moviegoing over the second weekend of “Bohemian
LOS CABOS, Mexico — Sundance nominee and National Board of Review grant winning short filmmaker Charlotte Glynn is preparing her fiction feature debut, “The Gymnast,” and met with Variety to discuss the project at the Los Cabos market and festival where she is participating in the Films in Development section. A Pittsburgh-raised New York transplant, Glynn has made waves
Fan-favorite actor Pedro Alonso, star of the Netflix Spanish-language phenomenon “Money Heist” (“La Casa de Papel”) is signing with Buffalo 8 Management for representation in North America. At Buffalo 8, Alonso will be represented by manager-producer Steven Adams, one of the firm’s partners. Buffalo 8 will be seeking film and TV opportunities for Alonso throughout the Americas, the
Lady Gaga has no problem living — and revealing — her truth. While accepting a patron award at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s third annual Patron of the Artists Awards on Thursday night in Beverly Hills, the “Star Is Born” actress called on Hollywood to provide better mental health care for people in the entertainment business. In
LOS CABOS, Mexico — A mix of traditional pre-colonial and modern, urban-infused storytelling, Julio Hernández Cordón’s “Neza” pitches at this week’s Los Cabos Festival Works in Development, where the filmmaker’s most recent film “Buy Me a Gun” – Director’s Fortnight and San Sebastian Horizontes Latinos competitor – is in competition. Born in North Carolina but
November 9, 2018 1:00AM PT Alessandro Nivola plays a loner suddenly saddled with a child in this atmospheric but underdeveloped drama. Alessandro Nivola looks like a conventionally handsome leading man, but has largely had the career of a character actor so far — something that may factor in his being relatively under-sung for an impressive
Five months after the release of Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary “RBG” — whose runaway success, at a staggering $14.3 million, all but confirms its subject’s unlikely rock-star status — and directly on the heels of justice Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious appointment to the Supreme Court comes “On the Basis of Sex,” a rousing origin story for
LOS CABOS, Mexico — In town to promote “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” celebrated writer-director Terry Gilliam met with Variety for a conversation in which the Monty Python alum laughed more than he talked, addressed graciously the good and bad of film criticism, and taking silly work seriously. Gilliam started off stressing that he is not,
LOS CABOS, Mexico — September’s 43rd Toronto Intl. Film Festival was Piers Handling’s 37th and final edition, the director and CEO since 1994 stepping down after the event following 23 years at its helm and an association running back to 1982. Honored at Mexico’s Los Cabos Festival, Handling reflected in a conversation with Mexican journalist
For a long time, performance artists cultivated the image, and maybe still do, of standing outside the system of conventional bourgeois values. (More often than not, that was the whole point.) But in the fascinating avant-garde home-movie documentary psychodrama “Narcissister Organ Player,” the performance artist who calls herself Narcissister comes off as both a liberated
In today’s film news roundup, Chris McKay is attached to direct “Jonny Quest,” Greg Berlanti is directing a Rock Hudson movie, documentary “The Last Race” gets an early release, and Valeria Golino is honored. DIRECTOR ATTACHMENTS Chris McKay, director of “The Lego Batman Movie,” is attached to helm a live-action “Jonny Quest” movie for Warner