With the Oscars just days away, the awards pundits and Hollywood whisperers are trying to read all the tea leaves and figure out what’s winning in all of the 23 categories. A longtime friend and former writing colleague, Mark Johnson at Awards Daily, recently broke down the art of predicting, putting them into four simple
Movies
The first sign of trouble is the credits. In addition to the director using an alias — not necessarily a bad thing, as talented helmers like Kogonada and Daniels can attest — whoever wrote “Measure of Revenge” chose to go uncredited. It doesn’t take long to see why: A mess from start to finish, this
In Lviv, in western Ukraine, VideoGorilla senior developer/chief science officer Andrew Yakovenko is glued to his computer, not doom-scrolling but rather working on an AI-enabled software tool for a Hollywood entertainment company. The company’s senior developer Anton Linevich, holed up in a small village in the center of the country, is likewise focused on work,
The most shocking snub of this year’s Oscar nominations was Denis Villeneuve’s omission from the best directing category for his science-fiction epic “Dune.” “It’s better to be in that position than the opposite,” Villeneuve tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I prefer people say you should have been there instead of ‘what the hell are you
Thessaloniki Film Festival director Orestis Andreadakis was on summer vacation last August when he got a call from Stavros Benos, the head of the newly appointed National Reconstruction Committee, which was tasked with responding to a series of devastating wildfires that had recently swept across the island of Evia. Just weeks before, Greece’s second-largest island
Following the success of their collaboration on Nicolás Postiglione’s debut feature “Immersion,” production shingles Whisky Content of Mexico and Chile’s Juntos Films have forged a medium-term strategic alliance for the joint development of nine films in six years. The agreement comes just days after the premiere of “Immersion,” a thriller headlined by Chile’s most bankable
After his memorable turn as Edward Nashton in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” Paul Dano will be delving into the iconic villain’s origins with a new comic book: “Riddler: Year One.” DC Comics announced Dano’s comic book writing debut on Friday and released a first look image to go along with it. The teaser features glasses
The Motion Picture Association unveiled a report on Friday that calls for a vast expansion of the California film and television tax credit. The report contends that the credit generates billions of dollars in economic benefits for the state and produces a positive return in state and local tax revenue. The report advocates expanding the
The erotic drama is back with the release of “Deep Water,” the Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas-starring thriller that marks the long-awaited directorial return of Adrian Lyne. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker is a master of the erotic thriller, having directed some of the most acclaimed and/or profitable erotic dramas of all time with the likes
Donna Kaz is a multi-genre writer and the author of “Un/Masked, Memoirs of a Guerrilla Girl On Tour,” which covers her relationship with the late William Hurt and her path to becoming an activist fighting domestic violence. Kaz writes about her emotional response to the news of his death. I will never forget the
When this year’s Producers Guild of America Awards are handed out, along with those being recognized for their achievements in projects over the last year will be a handful of the industry’s top names, receiving the guild’s Honorary Awards. These Honorary Awards were not handed out during last year’s virtual ceremony, adding more excitement to
As they prepare for this season’s 33rd annual Producers Guild of America Awards on March 19, PGA presidents Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher are taking stock in the chaotic years they and the guild just navigated and look ahead at what’s to come. “Producers have prevailed!” says Fisher. “Despite difficulties and hardships our industry has
Director Graham Moore was adamant about wanting to nail down the authenticity of what a tailoring shop looked like and what a cutter does in the process of making clothes for his new film “The Outfit.” He recruited fashion designer Zac Posen to take audiences inside the world of tailoring. Says Posen, “He was interested
The Oscars will feature an unusual all-star band starring Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, legendary singer-percussionist Sheila E. and iconic jazz pianist Robert Glasper along with musical director Adam Blackstone, show producers Will Packer and Shayla Cowan announced. The Oscars air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at 8 p.m.
A few key details were revealed about what life will be like at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer now that its $8.5 billion sale to Amazon has closed. In a town hall at Amazon’s Culver City lot, Mike Hopkins, Amazon Studios and Prime Video SVP, unveiled an interim leadership structure. He told staffers that for the time being, MGM’s
Outsider Pictures has secured the international rights to co-directors Pablo Aragüés and Marta Cabrera’s genre feature “Para entrar a vivir” ahead of the Malaga Film Festival this March. It will showcase the film’s trailer at the NEXT from Spain section of the Malaga Festival; the whole film will screen at the Cannes Film Market this
On March 9, LGBTQ employees and allies at Pixar Animation Studios sent a joint statement to Walt Disney Company leadership claiming that Disney executives had actively censored “overtly gay affection” in its feature films. The stunning allegation — made as part of a larger protest over the company’s lack of public response to Florida’s “Don’t
“The Batman” star Robert Pattinson imbues his shadowy crime fighter with an outsider’s emotionality that allows the viewer to read his performance as the costumed vigilante just as easily as his performance as the wealthy recluse Bruce Wayne. But that wouldn’t be possible without the work of David Crossman and Glyn Dillon, the costume designers
Ti West made his name directing nimbly paced throwbacks to horror films of old, from his haunted house breakthrough “The House of the Devil” to his found footage film “The Sacrament.” But after directing six horror films in a row, with very few breaks in between, he decided to take some time off to make
Ghostface will strike again. The Woodsboro Killer will return in another, as yet untitled, entry in the “Scream” franchise on March 31, 2023. It appears to have that date to itself, but it will have to contend with the second weekend of “John Wick: Chapter 4.” Paramount and Spyglass Media produced the film and the
Kitano Takeshi, a contemporary icon of Japanese cinema, is to receive a lifetime achievement award next month at the Festival of Far East Film in Udine, Italy. “A legendary artist on Friday the 29th of April will receive the Golden Mulberry Award for lifetime achievement on the stage of FEFF 24,” the festival announced Friday
Almost 90% of workers in the audiovisual and performing arts industries in Latin America, including Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, have experienced harassment and violence in the workplace. The shocking figures were revealed in a new report published by the UNI Global Union’s media, entertainment and arts department together with the International Federation of Actors (IFA).
“The Batman” flew to a worryingly slow start on Friday at the mainland China box office, where Hollywood films have struggled of late and where the latest coronavirus surge is threatening films of all origins. By 3.30pm on its first full day, the Warner Bros. noir had earned a lowly RMB12.1 million, or $1.90 million
A well-heeled young couple arrive for a weekend away at their Ojai country pad, only to find it already occupied by a criminal drifter out to take not just their money, but their happiness too, over the course of a tense, tetchy overnight hostage situation. But our sympathies aren’t directed exactly as you might expect
Takarada Akira, best known as a star in the early “Godzilla” films and Toho’s other kaiju (monster) and sci-fi movies from the 1950s and 1960s, died on Monday. He was 87. The cause of death has not been announced. Born in 1934 in Japan-occupied Korea, Takarada came with his family to Japan in 1948 as
“CODA” is on the rise as Oscar voting gets underway — and writer and director Siân Heder admits she’s surprised by the love and adoration the film has received in recent months. That includes, most recently, her BAFTA win for adapted screenplay. On the latest episode of the award-winning “Variety Awards Circuit Podcast,” we talk
When Frank Herbert wrote his science-fiction epic “Dune” in the 1960s, he instinctively made the crucial character of Liet Kynes a white man. But Denis Villeneuve sought a modern, diverse cast and he saw Kynes — who must convey integrity and authority while delicately juggling competing diplomatic interests — differently than Herbert. So in his
As Oscar voting opens, the guild awards could prove a guide — or bellwether — to who will take home trophies March 27. Last week’s Costume Designers Guild handed out prizes to “Cruella” (period film), “Dune” (fantasy/sci-fi) and “Coming 2 America” (contemporary). The CDG has matched Oscar 11 times since 1999 (when the guild first
In the latest toy-related movie news, Play-Doh is being molded into an animated feature film from eOne and Hasbro. The prospective picture will be written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Emily V. Gordon, with Jon M. Chu producing, with the potential to direct. “The team looks forward to bringing the audience a moldable, pliable, iconically-scented story about
The slasher genre is full of freaks and weirdos, but none of them quite hits a festive note like the Leprechaun ushering in every St. Patrick’s Day. The mythical Irish monster, played with pizzazz for the bulk of the series by the iconic Warwick Davis, is equal parts Freddy and Chucky, chock full of the