Movies

“Encanto” star John Leguizamo has signed on to executive produce short film “Triggered” from Tara Westwood. “Triggered,” which stars Westwood, Isiah Whitlock Jr. (“Da 5 Bloods”), Caitlin Mehner (“Dopesick”) and Robert John Burke (“Law & Order Special Victim’s Unit”), deals with themes of gun violence. “’Triggered’ is exceptional in that it doesn’t preach and never

Quentin Tarantino is an outspoken Michelle Yeoh super-fan, so much so that he has cited her performance in the 1992 Jackie Chan action comedy “Police Story 3” as a major influence behind Uma Thurman’s The Bride in “Kill Bill.” So why didn’t Tarantino cast Yeoh in the film? It’s a question Yeoh herself had when

“MVP,” the directorial debut of U.S. Army Green Beret veteran and former NFL player Nate Boyer, will premiere in theaters on Sept. 14. The film’s debut via FilmRise is accompanied by a fundraising campaign from the GNC Live Well Foundation for Boyer’s nonprofit organization, Merging Vets & Players, after which the film is named. Executive

Hilary Linstead, casting director, agent and film and stage producer died on Aug. 6 after contracting a form of leukaemia. She was 83. Described as a “force of nature” by her friends and colleagues, Linstead nurtured and promoted some of Australia’s most famous artistic talents, including directors such as John Bell, Baz Luhrmann, Gillian Armstrong,

Lithuanian director Ignas Miškinis is in production with his coming-of-age drama “Southern Chronicles” (Pietinia kronikas). The film is produced by Lukas Trimonis through In Script with support from the Lithuanian Film Center and the national broadcaster LRT, Film New Europe reports. “Southern Chronicles” is based on Rimantas Kmita’s novel of the same title. In the

With a delicately morose charm, Spanish actress-turned-director Liz Lobato is presenting her debut feature project, “Tierra de Nuestras Madres” as part of the 11th Fanfic Industria’s Ibero-American Work In Progress strand. The farcical fable scrutinizing globalization takes place in the village of La Mancha, where residents know each other thoroughly and tend to their routines

Middle Earth Enterprises, the holding company that owns all of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works including “Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit” and more, has been sold to Swedish gaming conglomerate Embracer. The rights include movies, books, theatrical productions, video games, theme parks and merchandise in Tolkein’s most famous literary works – “Lord of the Rings” and

Former Oslo Pictures CEO-producer Dyveke Bjørkly Graver and producer Andrea Berentsen Ottmar have set up their own shop, Eye Eye Pictures, Variety has learned. The Norwegian producers were both behind the Cannes-winning and double Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World” by star Norwegian director Joachim Trier. The Nordic romcom, released by Neon in the

After three solemn features centered on the ramifications of war — not just in her home country of Bosnia but, in 2017’s “Never Leave Me,” Syria too — writer-director Aida Begić leaves political conflict behind in her fourth. “A Ballad,” however, charges no less abrasively into the emotional battleground of a young woman’s separation from

Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), the demon child of the 2009 horror thriller “Orphan,” was a 9-year-old psycho freak who dressed like a frumpy Victorian doll and spoke in a Russian accent, which upped the ante on her malevolence by making her seem not just a junior devil but a junior devil from the land of Putin.

“Back to the Drive-In” is filmmaker April Wright’s second documentary about drive-ins, following 2013’s “Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-In Movie,” but she’s not milking a good thing with a rehash of the definitive first film. Rather than again explore the overall rise and fall and semi-rise of the phenomenon, in this

The Native American Media Alliance announced the selection of six fellows for the 5th Annual Native American Feature Film Writers Lab, a talent development program that boosts the careers of Native American writers. The six fellows of the fifth annual Native American Feature Film Writers Lab are: Ty Coughenour (Lummi Nation) Rory Crittendon (Cherokee Nation

The Tokyo International Film Festival is to add new venues at this year’s event. It will be the festival’s first-full-scale edition since the COVID pandemic. The festival relocated to the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Ginza area in 2021, having previously operated from the Rpppongi district for many years. It functioned as a real-world event, but had on a few

Swedish director Ruben Östlund opened this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival with his raucously entertaining new social satire “Triangle of Sadness,” continuing a festival tour that began this spring at Cannes — where he nabbed the Palme d’Or, joining the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Michael Haneke in the select club of filmmakers to have

Jonah Hill has released an open letter in which he announced that he will no longer promote his own movies for the foreseeable future in order to continue working on his mental health. Hill’s upcoming projects include a new documentary he directed titled “Sputz” and Netflix’s comedy movie “You People,” which Hill co-wrote with director

Taylor Swift’s acting career is about to get a huge boost with David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam,” which stars the multi-Grammy winner in a key supporting role as a grieving woman. The drama, headlined by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington, is set to be Swift’s most high-profile movie yet. However, it turns out

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” If you haven’t taken a look at Diane Keaton’s Instagram feed, you really should. The 76-year-old Oscar winner entertains her 2.1 million followers with a range of video posts. Some of my favorites include a photomontage of famous men — Justin Bieber, Lil Baby, Oscar Isaac and Kodi

Despite the star wattage of A-listers Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar, the underwhelming box office performance of “Forrest Gump” adaptation “Laal Singh Chaddha” and “Raksha Bandhan,” respectively, have set the alarm bells ringing in Bollywood. Both films released on Aug. 11. The date was tailor-made for “Raksha Bandhan,” a film about brother-sister relationships, as it

From Jason Momoa premiering the final season of “See” to Regina Hall popping up on two red carpets, check out what’s on the calendar in Hollywood, New York and beyond. Aug. 17, WednesdaySoho House founder-CEO Nick Jones and president Andrew Carnie, along with Soho Home managing director Aalish Yorke-Long, host a VIP preview of the

After more than 15 years, America’s most iconic cat is finally returning to the big screen. In 2024, we’re looking forward to the release of “Garfield,” the long-awaited film starring Jim Davis’ iconic comic strip character. The movie will, incredibly, be the first fully-animated theatrical project starring the lasagna-eating grouch, who first appeared in newspaper

Vanity Fair celebrated the 15th anniversary of “Superbad” with a brand new oral history of the R-rated comedy blockbuster, which includes the revelation that Jonah Hill “immediately hated” Christopher Mintz-Plasse after their audition together. Hill was already cast in the film and was reading scenes opposite actors auditioning to play Fogell (aka McLovin). That’s when

Kevin Macdonald’s drama thriller “The Mauritanian” is poised to receive a belated theatrical release in mainland China. The film, which charts the ordeal of a man held without trial at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison, will hit Chinese theaters on Aug. 23, 2022. That is more than a year after its theatrical outing in North

Zac Efron is heading to Vietnam in the first trailer for “The Greatest Beer Run Ever.” Apple TV+ dropped the trailer for its upcoming true-life war comedy starring Efron, Russell Crowe and Bill Murray. The film, which is based on a true story, follows Efron as John “Chickie” Donohue. Set in 1967, Donohue leaves New

The Toronto Intl. Film Festival’s Docs program gets underway Sept. 8 and will feature 22 nonfiction films — a hefty 57% increase from last year’s lineup, which was cut back to 14 due to COVID. Notable titles include Oscar winner Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” which is pictured above and making its

“Beast,” a survival thriller starring Idris Elba, is expected to debut to $10 million over the weekend. But those ticket sales likely won’t be enough to lead domestic box office charts. Instead, the Universal Pictures release looks to be defeated by “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero,” a manga adaptation from Crunchyroll, a company that specializes

In the late summer of 2012, the indie film production and distribution company A24 was born. Drama, comedy, horror, documentary, animation – nothing has been off-limits for the New York outfit. Whether it’s a monochromatic reflection of a family (“C’mon C’mon”), an offbeat character study of a former porn star (“Red Rocket”), or a man

A movie with the action sensibilities of James Cameron and the ambitious scope of George Miller has to be considered a definitive Oscar contender, right? Not without the proper backing by a studio or, in this case, a country that will submit your film for the Academy’s best international feature award. Enter “RRR,” a film

The international trailer has been debuted for Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears,” which has its world premiere on Sept. 9 in competition at Venice Film Festival, before moving to Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival. Celluloid Dreams, which is handling world sales, has revealed territory deals with several distributors. Last month, Panahi was sentenced

For the fourth annual CultureCon presented by the Creative Collective NYC, renowned stars Nia Long and Larenz Tate will take the stage in a “Love Jones” reunion, marking the film’s 25th anniversary. Long and Tate will headline a Creative Genius conversation — a mainstage dialogue celebrating some of the most impactful names in culture —

A war of words has erupted between “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling and “Chocolat” author Joanne Harris over gender identity issues. The spat began after Rowling expressed concern for “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie when he was attacked and received a death threat on Twitter. Harris, who is the head of the U.K.’s Society