French director Catherine Corsini was meant to be the seventh female director in competition at the 72nd edition of Cannes with her film “Le Retour” (The Return). But her competition slot is on hold for now after news broke about several alleged inappropriate incidents during filming. The night before the press conference on April 13,
Movies
Nicholas Hoult recently made headlines for revealing he lost roles in “The Batman,” “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Top Gun: Maverick” in a row, but that’s nothing compared to the handful of A-list projects Rachel McAdams consecutively turned down in the mid aughts. As revealed in her new Bustle profile, McAdams turned
Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” In his first comments since it was revealed that he and Justin Britt-Gibson are no longer writing the script for director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s “Star Wars” movie, Damon Lindelof tells me the project was a “true labor of love.” “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight is now penning the script.
To title your film after a year, as actor-turned-filmmaker Manuela Martelli does, is a bold statement. For Chileans, after all, “1976” (renamed “Chile ’76” for North American markets) will conjure up a host of reactions tied to what was one of the bloodiest years of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. And yet this dazzling debut feature is
The “Scream” franchise is at an all-time high right now, with March’s “Scream VI” grossing $106 million and counting at the domestic box office to become the top-grossing film of the franchise so far. No wonder former cast members like Drew Barrymore and Parker Posey are eager to return. Posey, whose been making the press
Three years ago, T.J. Newman was handing out peanuts and pouring drinks for airplane passengers. Last month, she was hustling between Zoom calls with Nicole Kidman and Jerry Bruckheimer as they tried to outbid each other for the rights to “Drowning,” her upcoming novel about a jetliner that crashes into the ocean. It’s all part
Bob Yari and Marvin Peart’s new content venture WonderHill Studios has named four key executives to bolster operations, Variety can report exclusively. Joining Oscar winner Yari and Peart are executives including The Weinstein Company veteran Laurent Ouaknine as president of distribution; David McPherson as president of music and VP of alternative TV; former Solstice Studios
Last month, to my great surprise, I raved about a Guy Ritchie movie, “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre,” as an exhilarating exception to the rule of Ritchie’s style-over-substance, more-frosting-than-cake school of crime-thriller grandiloquence. The film bombed, and more critics than not disagreed with me. But I stand by my assessment of “Operation Fortune” as a
Aziz Ansari is making his feature directorial debut with “Good Fortune,” a comedy whose plot is shrouded in secrecy. Lionsgate has landed rights to the film, which will be written and directed by Ansari. The comedian, who is also starring in “Good Fortune,” has assembled the high-wattage cast of Seth Rogen and Keanu Reeves. Since
Legendary Entertainment, the content studio behind “Dune” and the rebooted “Godzilla” franchise, has secured a new $800 million credit facility from J.P. Morgan. The new fund updates a preexisting line of credit and will span five years, the company announced Tuesday. It’s a sign of confidence in the unit, run by CEO Josh Grode and
Hugh Jackman has promised fans that his return as Wolverine in the upcoming “Deadpool 3” won’t screw with the previous “X-Men” timeline. In other words, Jackman’s Wolverine character arc from 2000’s “X-Men” to 2017’s “Logan” is safe from whatever will go down in the Marvel Cinematic Universe tentpole. Neither Reynolds nor Jackman have disclosed much
“Cinnamon” — the inaugural project filmed under Village Roadshow Pictures’ Black Noir Cinema banner, co-founded by NBA all-star Kevin Garnett — has debuted its first trailer. Written, directed and executive produced by Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr., the Tubi original film was selected to make its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival and stars
Tribeca Festival has announced the lineup of its 2023 festival, which includes new films from actors Chelsea Peretti and David Duchovny and documentaries about Rock Hudson and news anchor Dan Rather. This year’s event, which takes place from June 7-18, will feature 109 feature films from 127 filmmakers across 36 countries. There will be 93
Blue Fox Entertainment has acquired North American rights to “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” a queer coming-of-age story about two teens who form a special bond after a chance meeting one summer. The sale comes a few months after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Blue Fox is planning
If the 14th annual TCM Classic Film Festival had an official focus, it was on the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros., from the opening night premiere selection of a restoration of “Rio Bravo” to a celebration of the 50th anniversary of “The Exorcist.” Almost equal in emphasis, though, by virtue of the guests brought in,
Oscar-winning French director Luc Jacquet (“March of the Penguins”) will be honored by the Locarno Film Festival with its Locarno Kids Award celebrating a film personality who has brought the magic of movies to younger audiences. “Luc Jacquet’s gaze has followed the perspective of the plant and animal kingdoms through his many voyages to the
CHAMPION CAMPION The Sydney Film Festival will present ‘Jane Campion – Her Way,’ a retrospective of films by the pioneering director. Campion herself will appear in conversation with David Stratton on June 10 at the 2023 edition of the festival, its 70th anniversary presentation (June 7-18). Held in association with ACMI and the National Film
Dubai-based sales agency Cercamon has picked up international rights to “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” by first-time feature director Pham Thien An. The film will have its global premiere next month in the Directors Fortnight section of the Cannes film festival. Pham Thien An previously made short films “The Mute” in 2018 and the one-take
Leading indie sales agent Finecut has picked up international rights to “In Our Day” by idiosyncratic South Korean director Hong Sang-soo. The film is set as the closing title of the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar of the Cannes festival. Hong, who works on low budgets, controls much of the production process and makes repeated use of
New films from Hong Sang-soo and Michel Gondry will world premiere at Directors Fortnight, a selection running parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. This edition marks the first under the leadership of Julien Rejl as artistic director. Succeeding to Paolo Moretti, Rejl was named by the governing body of Directors’ Fortnight, the SRF (Société des réalisateurs
Beleaguered multinational cinema operator, Cineworld says that has halted its attempt to sell off its businesses outside the U.S., U.K. and Ireland. This appears to mean that the group will remain intact as it seeks a pathway out of the U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy strictures. “The group received proposals for the [rest of the world]
Jake Gyllenhaal is determined to star in another Broadway musical. “There are so many musicals I love so deeply,” Gyllenhaal, who starred in a revival of “Sunday in the Park With George” with Annaleigh Ashford in 2017, told Variety at the Los Angeles premiere of his new action drama “The Covenant” on Monday evening. “At
Jonathan Majors and his talent manager Entertainment 360 have parted ways, an insider has confirmed to Variety. The development comes three weeks after the “Creed III” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” actor was arrested on charges of assault and harassment in New York in late March. Majors has also been dropped by his former
In 2014, Argentine writer-director Damian Szifron made a considerable splash with “Wild Tales.” The Oscar-nominated, Almodóvar-produced feature consisted of six escalatingly over-the-top stories that put a blackly comic slant on human behaviors at their worst, adding up to a flamboyantly enjoyable whole. It’s surprising that it’s taken him nearly a decade to deliver his next
Judy Blume is having a major moment. Not only did Prime Video just release a documentary about her life, “Judy Blume Forever,” but Hulu recently also announced it’s turning her book, “Summer Sisters,” into a limited series. And on April 28, a film adaptation of “Are you There God? It’s Me, Margaret?” will be in
“Killers of the Flower Moon” author David Grann recently told Vanity Fair that he is “pretty overwhelmed” that his 2017 non-fiction book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” has been adapted into Martin Scorsese’s latest epic. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, is set
“Floyd,” an original action feature centered around a Latino veteran described as “John Wick” meets “The Big Lebowski,” is currently in development. Erik Olsen (“The Dirt,” “The Book of Eli”) is writing the script and will produce the project with Navid Mcllhargey. Story Kitchen, a media company focused on world-building and untapped intellectual property rights,
Nicolas Cage will not be eating cockroaches on camera ever again. The Oscar winner recently told Yahoo Entertainment that eating two cockroaches on camera during the making of his 1988 comedy “Vampire’s Kiss” remains a career regret. “I’ll never do that again,” Cage said. “I’m sorry I did it at all.” “Vampire’s Kiss” stars Cage
SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points, including the ending for “The Pope’s Exorcist” currently playing in theaters. Director Julius Avery has “only seen parts” of William Friedkin’s classic “The Exorcist.” “I’m not a massive aficionado of exorcist movies,” he tells Variety. Yet despite that, his latest release, “The Pope’s Exorcist,” which is based on
Count Dracula’s bold extravagance has never been an oversight for costume designers, but “Renfield’s” Lisa Lovaas wanted to add a bit of “rockstar flair” to Nicolas Cage’s take on the Prince of Darkness. While Lovaas still aimed for a “current but timeless” wardrobe for the iconic vampire, she pulled inspiration from David Bowie as well