Movies

“Bernard and Huey” helmer and co-founder of Slamdance Film Festival Dan Mirvish, now behind “18 ½,” knew that making a movie about Watergate would still be “resonant and relevant,” he says. Not just in the U.S., but all over the world. Focusing on the infamous “18½-minute gap” from a taped conversation between Nixon and his

Bernardo Quesney’s “History and Geography” and Tomás González Matos’ “Breaking and Entering” are two of the titles screening May 20 at Cannes’ Marché du Film showcase, Sanfic Industria Goes to Cannes.  Two other films round out the selection; Andrew Sala’s “The Barbaric” from Argentina, and Esteban García’s Mexico-Columbia co-production “Back to the Sea of my

Paris-based international sales company The Party Film Sales has nabbed the rights for Antongiulio Panizzi’s hybrid documentary “The Girl in the Fountain,” a double portrait of icons Anita Ekberg and Monica Bellucci, which opened at the Torino Film Festival last November. The story of an actress devoured by her own icon, the film alternates between

Margot Robbie wants to rob. The actor is attached to star in a prequel to “Ocean’s Eleven,” a heist comedy about con artists who rob hundreds of millions from a Las Vegas casino. The upcoming film is still in development at Warner Bros. and has not been greenlit. Jay Roach, who previously worked with Robbie

10 exciting Spanish directors to track in 2022: GABRIEL AZORÍN “I’m interested in films that move from intimacy to mystery exploring language without being solemn,” says shorts director Azorín (“Greyhounds”). Backed by Spain’s Dvein Films and Filmika Galaika, “Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes,” his long-awaited first feature and a friendship tale straddling Roman and

Australian native Thomas M. Wright is no stranger to dark material. He portrayed a haunted ex-con in Jane Campion’s series “Top of the Lake,” wrote and directed fierce plays for his Black Lung theater company and examined a twisted relationship in his 2018 directorial debut, the black comedy “Acute Misfortune.” But few of his past

Searchlight Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to Annapurna’s “Nightbitch,” with six-time Oscar-nominee Amy Adams set to star. Marielle Heller wrote and will direct the film adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s acclaimed debut novel. The movie, described as a “darkly comic neo-horror,” is currently in pre-production, with a scheduled production start this September in Los Angeles. “Nightbitch”

Viola Davis joined Variety and Kering at the Cannes Film Festival for a powerful Women In Motion conversation in which she revealed a director once called her by his maid’s name. The Oscar and Emmy-winning actor was talking about Hollywood’s perception of Black actors and how the amount of roles she can play remains limited

The Cannes Film Festival has made another fix to free up movie tickets on its beleaguered online service. Festival attendees have been complaining for days — even before Cannes officially opened — about the glitchy ticketing website, which takes what feels like an eternity to load and usually ends in an ‘Error’ message, rendering it

When “War Pony” debuts in Cannes on May 21, it will represent the culmination of a project almost a decade in the making. Directed by Riley Keough and Gina Gammell, and written by Keough, Gammell, Bill Reddy and Franklin Sioux Bob, the film about two boys growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South

Lou Ferrigno is set to play a murderous, cannibalistic pig farmer known as “The Hermit” in U.S.-based Italian director Salvatore Sclafani’s chiller of the same title that will mark Ferrigno’s first role playing a creature since CBS TV series “The Incredible Hulk.” Shooting is set to start in August in Syracuse, N.Y., on the horror

KISS takes the stage in the first exclusive clip to emerge from hotly anticipated musical biopic “Spinning Gold.” The long-gestating movie about Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart — directed by his son Tim Bogart and now in post-production — has finally landed, and is being screened to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival market this

Woody Allen, Gerard Depardieu and Johnny Depp all walk into a restaurant. That’s not the beginning of a bad joke — the three controversial men are looming over a favorite eatery in the South of France, and have been for years. La Pizza Cresci, a famous spot frequented for decades by Hollywood players who have

It’s not that we haven’t seen Emily Watson on screen recently — it just feels a long time since any film really made us look at her. Somehow knowing and guileless and haunted at once, her piercing, pale-eyed gaze made an immediate mark in film history with her debut in “Breaking the Waves” a quarter-century ago,

Neon has purchased North American distribution rights to Mark Jenkin’s “Enys Men,” ahead of the horror film’s premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival. The film, which sounds very shades of “The Wicker Man,” stars Mary Woodvine and Edward Rowe. Jenkin wore a lot of hats on this one. He wrote

“Moss & Freud,” a film about supermodel Kate Moss and famed British artist Lucian Freud will be the next feature film for James Lucas. Lucas won an Oscar for live action short film “The Phone Call,” starring Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent. “Moss & Freud” is a dramatized account of supermodel Moss who, at the

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is already recognized as one of the most influential industry showcases in the Baltic and Nordic regions. But the organizing team of the festival, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, are keen to point out that the popular event isn’t just a one-off affair. “What our year-round efforts

Francois Ozon, whose latest film, “Peter von Kant,” opened the Berlinale, is already shooting his next movie, “Madeleine,” with a flurry of stars including Isabelle Huppert, Dany Boon and Fabrice Luchini. The project, which is believed to be his most ambitious since “8 Women,” is being introduced to buyers at Cannes by Playtime and has

For acclaimed Indian actor R. Madhavan ( (“Alai Payuthey,” “Tanu Weds Manu”), making his directorial debut, “Rocketry: The Nambi Effect,” literally required an understanding of rocket science. In addition to directing, Madhavan plays the role of Indian scientist, Nambi Narayanan, a former Indian Space Research Organization scientist and aerospace engineer known for developing efficient liquid

Robert Lantos, the veteran Canadian producer of David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future,” is set to produce a film adaptation of novelist Michael Ondaatje’s “In the Skin of a Lion,” with Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech”) on board to direct. Simon Beaufoy, the Oscar-winning writer of “Slumdog Millionaire,” penned the adaptation. The movie was co-developed

Argentina’s most bankable star, Adrian Suar, has wrapped his directorial debut “30 Noches Con Mi Ex” (“30 Nights With My Ex”) to which FilmSharks has snagged worldwide rights. The Buenos Aires-based sales and production outfit has already sold remake rights to Conchita Taboada of Spectrum Films for Mexico and to Italian producer Alessandro Usai of

TV series adaptations of “Fearless” and “Cold War,” two of the highest-profile Hong Kong action movies of the 21st century, are now in development. The shift into TV represents a major expansion and diversification for Edko Films, the studio headed by legendary producer-financier-executive Bill Kong (“Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” “Monster Hunt,” “Mulan”). The original 2006

Alex de la Iglesia’s latest production, feature “Four’s a Crowd,” is being brought onto the Cannes Film Market by Filmax, which has acquired international sales rights. Described by Filmax as a “wild romantic comedy,” “Four’s a Crowd” turns on Julian, a 50-year-old divorced man who starts to use an app to share his car with

Ukrainian director Olha Zhurba and producer Darya Bassel are teaming up on a documentary about Ukraine’s refugee crisis after their last collaboration, “Outside,” premiered at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX festival this year. The project, with a working title “Displaced,” is being produced by Bassel’s Kyiv-based Moon Man production outfit in co-production with Germany’s Koberstein Film and Denmark’s

Barry Pepper (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Maze Runner”) is set to star in horror film “Scurry” from “Occupation Rainfall” director Luke Sparke. Film Mode Entertainment is launching world sales at Cannes. “Scurry” sees two injured strangers — a family man and a criminal — trapped underground while the city above is attacked by a monstrous threat.

Mountains are not formed in an instant. Tectonic plates may buckle like the crumpling hoods of crashing cars, but it’s a collision that takes thousands of millennia to play out, and on a human timescale, seems infinitesimally slow. An inch here, a millimeter there, even the most imposing ranges were built in increments; rocky peaks

Faith Hill will never forget one of her earliest auditions. She read for director Anthony Minghella for 2003’s “Cold Mountain” for the role that went to Natalie Portman. “I read, I believe, the rape scene and another one. It was intense,” Hill tells me on the new episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “I

There’s no doubt director Stuart McDonald’s “A Perfect Pairing” pairs perfectly with a nice bottle of wine on a lonely night at home. Providing a respite from our hectic reality, this romantic comedy centered on an assured woman who finds love and purpose in the land down under offers delightful entertainment while playing to our

I felt ill when the news broke May 11 that my go-to cinema, Landmark Theatres’ flagship Westside location on Pico Boulevard, was shutting down at the end of the month. I have been going to this complex religiously — call it my house of movie worship — ever since its founding 15 years ago. For

“Game of Thrones” star Michelle Fairley is set to appear in Bouli Lanners feature film “Nobody Has To Know.” Lanners will write, direct and co-star in the project. Fairley, who has also appeared in “Suits” and “Gangs of London,” plays Millie MacPherson in the film. She takes care of Philippe Haubin, a middle-aged man suffering