In 1998, French filmmaker Olivier Meyrou filmed Yves Saint Laurent as he prepared what would be his final collection before the top-tier fashion brand sold to Gucci the following year. It was the end of an era, as Saint Laurent was already the last of the great French designers to operate his own house, and
Movies
AMSTERDAM — Under the banner of ‘The Humanoid Cookbook.’ this year’s DocLab is going back to the basics of human interaction. In the Brakke Grond, a table and chair are set in front of a TV monitor. There’s a white tablecloth, a place setting and even a little bunch of decorative flowers. But the woman
November 21, 2018 7:48PM PT Singaporean filmmaker, Yeo Siew Hua is to receive the Young Cinema Award at the upcoming Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Indian director and actress, Nandita Das will receive the FIAPF Award. Yeo’s prize is awarded in recognition of his film “A Land Imagined,” which won the Golden Leopard prize at Locarno earlier this
Even after the baton has been passed, and a new hero has laid just claim to our allegiance, the uniquely enduring Rocky legend continues. More than four decades ago, “Rocky” appeared, seemingly from out of nowhere, to introduce relatively-unknown Sylvester Stallone (who also wrote the screenplay) as Philadelphia club fighter Rocky Balboa (aka The Italian
In today’s film news roundup, William Sadler is starring in the thriller “Alice Fades Away,” Janos Szasz will direct a “Black Friday” movie, and “Superman Vs. The Ku Klux Klan” is in the works as a movie. CASTINGS William Sadler, Ashley Shelton, Blanche Baker, and Paxton Singleton are starring in the independent thriller “Alice Fades
November 21, 2018 2:49PM PT “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is set to stuff its Thanksgiving box office competition, with Disney estimating a domestic launch of $80 million-plus at 4,017 sites for the five-day period. Other projections come in between $90 million to $100 million, which would break the previous Thanksgiving record set by Disney’s “Frozen”
AMSTERDAM — Delivering on new artistic director Orwa Nyrabia’s commitment to giving space to documentaries from the global south, this year’s IDFA festival handed its main prize to Anand Patwardhan’s “Reason”, described by the festival as “a broad-ranging examination of Indian society, in which secular rationalists are hunted down as they attempt to stem the
November 21, 2018 12:20PM PT Sony Pictures is staking out two significant dates in 2020 for their piece of the Marvel pie, the Spider-Man universe. An untitled Sony–Marvel project will hit theaters on July 10, 2020, with an untitled Sony-Marvel sequel following on Oct. 2. While no specifics were provided in the studio’s announcement, the
Seriousness is so overrated. In an apparent bid for gravitas, the year’s box-office busting, critic-charming musical, “A Star Is Born,” opted to compete in the Golden Globes drama category. That choice might have triggered a sense of inferiority in the jolly musical or comedy gang — but, no! The musical or comedy category is often
“Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Creed II” are poised to become big holiday hits after earning an impressive $3.8 million and $3.7 million, respectively, from Tuesday previews. The two sequels are expected to dominate the box office during a busy Thanksgiving period and to make quick work of the week’s other wide release, “Robin Hood.”
AMSTERDAM — At 53, Alex Winter has worn many hats in the entertainment industry, moving from the stage to screen and then finally behind the camera, helming indie oddities such as “Freaked” in 1993 and “Fever” in 1999. Latterly, however, he has proven himself a capable hand with non-fiction, and he arrived at IDFA with
Chinese director Feng Xiaogang is busy bolstering his patriotic credentials, revealing that his next film will be about Communist Party history even as he aggressively seeks to douse rumors that authorities plan to fine him 2 billion yuan ($288 million) for tax evasion. His next venture will be a movie about the 70th anniversary of
Before they appeared on the cover of “Sports Illustrated,” before the TV appearances and red-carpet galas and the surprise home makeover from Tyler Perry, the Sheppard sisters were living in a homeless shelter in Brooklyn with their single mother. How they overcame adversity and raced their way into the limelight is the subject of “Sisters
In the opening shot of “The Border Fence,” the camera straddles the invisible line between Austria and Italy, watching without comment as a man blithely walks from one country to the other. This is as it should be in modern Europe, where a heavy influx of refugees and migrants from countries devastated by war and
November 21, 2018 12:04AM PT Sony Pictures has succeeded in getting theatrical slots in mainland China for two of its key movies. Both will launch in the peak month of December. Family action-adventure film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” will be released on Dec. 21 in Chinese theaters. Before that, Screen Gems’ critically acclaimed and sleeper hit
November 20, 2018 8:21PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, Lionsgate claims the top spot in spending with “Robin Hood.” Ads placed for the action-adventure remake had an estimated media value of $7.88 million through Sunday for 1,037 national ad airings
In today’s film news roundup, “Green Book” gets a festival honor, the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild names lifetime achievement winners, and indies “Tyger Tyger” and “Sons of the Cross” are heading into production. HONORS The Palm Springs International Film Festival will present the drama “Green Book” with the Vanguard Award at its annual
Musician and actor Jay Chou is joining Vin Diesel in the fourth “xXx” movie, with D.J. Caruso directing for the H Collective. Diesel is reprising his role as Xander Cage — an extreme sports enthusiast and reluctant spy for the National Security Agency. Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum will produce with Diesel, Samantha Vincent for One
The controversy over Viggo Mortensen’s use of the N-word during a recent Q&A for his movie “Green Book” appears to be over, but can he and the film recover enough to emerge as a genuine awards contender? In the immediate days following the incident, glowing profiles in the likes of USA Today (“Finally, an Oscar for
November 20, 2018 3:36PM PT [embedded content] Lunacy prevails in the new trailer for “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” with Chris Pratt returning to voice Master Builder Emmet Brickowski along with new character Rex Dangervest. The footage show the unfailingly optimistic Emmet searching the galaxy for Lucy — aka Wyldstyle — (voiced by
November 20, 2018 2:22PM PT It looks like David Chase and New Line have found their first star for the “Sopranos” feature film. Sources tell Variety that Alessandro Nivola is in negotiations to star as Dickey Moltisanti in “The Many Saints of Newark,” the prequel movie to the critically acclaimed and massively successful HBO TV
November 20, 2018 1:23PM PT First-day advance ticket sales of “Aquaman” by online ticket service Fandango have eclipsed “Venom” and “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” in their first days of pre-sales. Sony’s “Venom” overperformed in its North American launch with $80.3 million during the Oct. 5-7 weekend. Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” took in $61.2 million
Despite accusations of voter suppression and calls for a boycott from Judd Apatow and other top Hollywood figures, the film and television industry is unlikely to pull out of Georgia. Films such as “Venom” and shows such as “The Walking Dead” have been flocking to the Peach State for years, drawn by its generous tax
From the soft-spoken methodical meter KiKi Layne’s Tish Rivers uses to narrate the history of social and criminal injustices that have ruined the lives of black men and their families in writer-director Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk” to Carey Mulligan’s Jeanette Brinson, a curt and frustrated midcentury housewife who flaunts her extramarital affair
November 20, 2018 12:12PM PT Van Toffler’s Gunpowder & Sky has taken the worldwide distribution rights to Alexandra Cuerdo’s documentary “Ulam: Main Dish.” The festival player, a celebration and account of the Filipino food movement rising on the U.S. culinary scene, will begin a limited theatrical release on Dec. 1 before hitting numerous streaming video
November 20, 2018 12:09PM PT Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema, which was closed in January for remodeling, is re-opening on Dec. 1 with a matinee showing of “Batman Returns.” The New Beverly will then offer a double feature that day of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “Butch and Sundance: The Early Days.” There
Imagine being asked to record an audition to play rock ’n’ roll legend Freddie Mercury in a movie, but your tryout is specifically for the members of Queen, Mercury’s former bandmates. That was the awkward position Rami Malek was put in before he starred in the Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.” “We ended up watching it
Martin Scorsese may be a living legend, but he’s never pretended to be anything other than human. Countless actors and directors paid tribute to him on Monday night at the Museum of Modern Art’s annual Film Benefit — and shared frank, funny stories from their own experiences with the famous director. Emily Mortimer vividly recalls
A boxing heavyweight champion and an outlaw with a bow and arrow will be no match for a video game baddie and his trusty sidekick as “Ralph Breaks the Internet” looks to dominate a busy Thanksgiving weekend at the domestic box office. Disney’s animated sequel is expected to earn between $67 million and $77 million over
Nicole Kidman readily admits she has two husbands. She’s been happily married to country star Keith Urban for 12 years, but then there’s the man she affectionately calls her “work husband”: Per Saari, her partner in Blossom Films, the production banner they launched in 2010. Blossom boasts a carefully curated but high-powered lineup across film