A psychologist told jurors on Tuesday that Amber Heard suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder due to physical and sexual abuse at the hands of ex-husband Johnny Depp. Dawn Hughes testified that she had diagnosed Heard after examining her for 29 hours and reviewing therapy records, and that she had concluded that Depp engaged in a
Movies
The 2022 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) has announced the winners of its annual filmmaker awards, with Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s “Once Upon a Time in Calcutta” winning the grand jury prize for feature film. Anmol Sidhu’s “Jaggi” was the recipient of the Uma da Cunha Award for feature film debut, as well as
“POV,” the Emmy-winning PBS documentary series, has announced the acquisition of environmental thriller “Delikado” as part of its upcoming 35th season. The film, which premiered April 29 at the Hot Docs Canadian Intl. Documentary Festival, is the directorial debut of award-winning journalist Karl Malakunas. “Delikado” is produced by two-time Emmy nominees Marty Syjuco and Michael
Making good on their promise to deliver a singular virtual fan experience, the cloud graphics company Otoy has mounted its first project under a sweeping rights deal with “Star Trek” creator The Roddenberry Estate. Variety reported last summer that Otoy would produce everything from holographic and digital renderings of the famous Starship Enterprise vessel to
After two years of upheaval due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sundance Institute has announced dates for the 2023 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. The fest will take place as an in-person and virtual hybrid, running Jan. 19-29, in Park City, Utah, and beyond, with selections also screening on Sundance’s digital platform. “We can’t
A judge refused to dismiss Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, as the high-profile trial reached its midpoint on Tuesday. Depp is arguing that Heard cost him tens of millions of dollars — and his role in the sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film — when she published an op-ed reviving her domestic
The Cannes Film Festival, which is set to kick off on May 17 in the French Riviera, is significantly loosening its COVID health and safety protocols. The annual celebration of movies won’t be testing attendees as it did last year and will not institute a mask mandate at screenings and events. Variety spoke exclusively with
Meg Ryan will direct and star alongside David Duchovny in “What Happens Later,” an “evolved and nostalgic” take on the romantic comedy. The film is based on the play “Shooting Star” by American playwright Steven Dietz, who also co-wrote the screenplay with playwright and novelist Kirk Lynn, and Ryan. Bleecker Street has snapped up the
“Happening” unfolds in 1963 France, but the story of a woman risking imprisonment and her health to obtain an illegal abortion has emerged as the year’s most urgent drama. “When I started thinking about making a movie about this topic, everybody asked why I would want to do that at this time?” says Audrey Diwan,
Italy’s Culture Minister Enrico Franceschini has announced plans to widen the window between a movie’s theatrical release date and the time it can drop locally on a streaming platform. The move comes after producers and distributors sounded alarm bells about their struggle to get audiences back into movie theaters. Speaking to the Italian industry gathered
Tom Cruise’s long-delayed “Top Gun: Maverick” is finally set to blast off in theaters later this month, but making a follow-up to his classic 1986 action drama was not always of interest. A 1990 interview Cruise gave to Playboy magazine during the publicity tour for “Born on the Fourth of July” has resurfaced from Gizmodo
Long-running indie duo Beach House — who released the sprawling 18-song double album, ‘Once Twice Melody,’ just a few weeks ago — are making their film-scoring debut with Netflix’s “Along for the Ride,” which is described in the announcement as “a sweet summer film based on the popular YA book by New York Times bestselling
Troy Kotsur, the newly minted Oscar winner, has signed with Verve. The actor most recently made history as the first Deaf man in history to win an Academy Award. He was recognized for his supporting turn in Sian Heder’s “CODA,” a warm-hearted drama about the only hearing member of a Deaf family. “CODA” went on
Sony Music Entertainment is officially in production for a Cyndi Lauper documentary titled “Let The Canary Sing,” a feature-length film that promises to explore the singer’s 30-plus year career. The film, which is being made in partnership with Lauper herself, will be directed by award-winning documentarian Alison Ellwood, who most recently directed the Emmy-nominated two-part
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a busy place. With its crisscrossing sequels, superheroes who dart in and out of each other’s movies, and labyrinth of laws and totems and over-the-cosmos-and-far-away lands, it’s become a metastatic playground, the kind of place that even the most ardent comic-book fans have to dedicate themselves to keeping up with.
Menemsha Films has taken distribution rights in North America to Thomas Roth’s drama “Schächten – A Retribution” in a deal with Berlin-based sales company Picture Tree Intl. PTI has debuted the film’s trailer, and will hold an invitation-only private screening of the film for buyers in Cannes. Neil Friedman, president of Menemsha Films, said: “The
“Smyrna My Beloved,” a tale weaving together tragic refugee stories of the past and present on the island of Lesbos, and “Holy Emi,” portraying the lives of two Filipino sisters living in Athens who are beset by mysterious forces (pictured above), will serve, respectively, as opening and closing night presentations at the 16th Los Angeles
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has officially concluded its world premiere and the first reactions for the new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are pouring in online, with film journalists calling the long-awaited sequel everything from a film that “fully goes horror” to “a mixed bag.” One thing almost everyone seems to
The search for a new chief executive officer at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has escalated in recent weeks, multiple sources familiar with the process tell Variety. Months ago, the organization behind the Oscars hired management consulting firm Korn Ferry to scout replacements for outgoing CEO Dawn Hudson, who previously announced she
Ron Galella, the paparazzi photographer who pioneered the controversial art of candid celebrity imagery, died Saturday at his home in Montville, N.J. He was 91. The New York Times said he died of congestive heart failure. Galella was best-known for his years-long pursuit of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, whom he photographed relentlessly throughout
“How Saba Kept Singing” seeks to understand how Polish Jewish teenager David Wisnia survived nearly three years in Auschwitz. The editing and vague timelines make it seem as if this latest doc from multi-hyphenate Sara Taksler (“Tickling Giants”) is revealing something previously unreported, even though a 2019 New York Times article already divulged the touching love
Hollywood has seen some strange stories over the years, but what happened last week was incredibly bizarre, even by movie business standards. Nothing, it seems, could quite prepare people for the spectacle and social media fallout that followed after Olivia Wilde was mysteriously served custody paperwork onstage at CinemaCon. Wilde — who shares two children
UTA’s ventures department has added industry veteran Nick Axelrod to its executive roster. Axelrod joins the company as vice president, with a focus on helping UTA build, develop and invest in businesses at the intersection of media, entertainment, consumer products and technology. He will be based in Los Angeles and report to Sam Wick, head
Oscar Isaac has said in previous interviews that making “X-Men: Apocalypse” was an “excruciating” experience, but don’t expect the actor to completely disown Bryan Singer’s 2016 superhero misfire. Isaac donned blue makeup and prosthetics to play the eponymous villain in the film, which is widely regarded as the worst “X-Men” movie to date. “No, I
Two of the most awaited European animation films of the year – Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars” and Pierre Foldes’ “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” – look set to world premiere in competition at France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the biggest animation festival in the world. Sneak peeks at Annecy’s Work in Progress strand, its industry cornerstone, include Apple
Issa Rae has been tapped to serve as the ambassador for the 2022 American Black Film Festival (ABFF), and she’s bringing a special treat to Miami Beach. Rae will screen her highly anticipated HBO Max series “Rap Sh*t” for the festival’s closing night on June 18. “I’m honored to be this year’s Festival Ambassador,” said
India will be the official country of honor for the Cannes Film Market (May 17-25) this year. This is the first time the market is having an official country of honor and the new tradition will be continued annually with different nations at future editions. There s a neat coincidence: India is celebrating its 75th
AMC CEO Adam Aron is a rock star to a very specific group of people. Those people, of course, are the 4 million non-professional investors who sent the company’s stock price soaring and currently own 80% of the movie theater chain. The new shareholders, who rescued the beleaguered chain from bankruptcy during the pandemic, call
Louis Leterrier (“The Incredible Hulk,” the first two “Transporter” films) is set to take over the director’s chair on “Fast X” from Justin Lin, Variety has learned. The decision comes less than a week after Lin’s surprise departure from the helm of the 10th installment in the main “Fast and Furious” movie franchise. Leterrier, who beat
Johnny Depp’s agent testified on Monday that Depp was to receive $22.5 million to star in the sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film, but Disney decided to go “in a different direction” after Amber Heard published an op-ed reviving her domestic abuse allegations. Jack Whigham, who represented Depp at Creative Artists Agency and later at