Movies

Betsy West and Julie Cohen, the filmmaking team behind “RBG” and “Julia,” have found their next project. The duo will partner on “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down,” a look at the former congresswoman’s courage and perseverance in the aftermath of a 2021 assassination attempt the left her partially paralyzed and with the language impairment, aphasia.

Lady Gaga is a big “Donnie Darko” fan, and she made sure to let Jake Gyllenhaal know when the two sat down to interview each other as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, presented by Amazon Studios. Gaga named “Donnie Darko” as a movie that inspired her when she was growing up. “I don’t

For the past 25 years, Variety editors and staff have compiled annual lists of industry talent to look out for, stretching various capacities, including directors, writers, producers, cinematographers, and comics. When looking back on the lists from each year, it’s striking to see how many impactful names have blossomed with hugely successful careers within Hollywood,

AT&T CEO John Stankey told investors he expects HBO Max to recoup all of the subscribers lost last fall after WarnerMedia pulled HBO from the Amazon Prime Video Channels marketplace in September, amid ongoing agita in the TV industry about the fees Amazon takes for facilitating sales of subscription TV services. During AT&T’s hourlong fourth-quarter

German sales company Pluto Film is under new ownership following its sale by founders and former CEOs Heino Deckert and Torsten Frehse to Daniela and Benjamin Cölle. Deckert and Frehse, who established the Berlin-based shingle in 2015, are stepping down to focus on the activities of their respective companies, the Leipzig-based production shingle Maja.de and

America’s favorite grandmother is back and badder than ever, “braless and lawless.” Netflix dropped the trailer Wednesday for Tyler Perry’s “A Madea Homecoming,” the 12th installment in the iconic franchise. “Black don’t crack… unless you’re using it,” Madea says in the trailer for the film, which will center around her great-grandson’s college graduation, where hidden

VFX studio Framestore has tapped Simon Devereux as its new director of global talent development. He will oversee Framestore’s training and global workforce at the company, which has worked on blockbusters including “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” ensuring they remain at the forefront of technology, creativity and innovation. Devereux, whose 20-year long career

Xavier Giannoli’s sprawling period piece “Lost Illusions,” Valerie Lemercier’s Celine Dion biopic “Aline” and Leos Carax’s musical romance “Annette” with Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver are leading the race at France’s 47th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars. Other top Cesar contenders include Cedric Jimenez’s action-packed cop drama “Bac Nord,” Catherine Corsini’s social drama

Spanish-Chilean filmmaker Théo Court is prepping the follow-up to his Venice prize-winner “White on White,” which won the Silver Lion for best director in the festival’s Horizons strand in 2019, and was Chile’s submission in the best international feature film Oscar race this year. Court spoke exclusively to Variety about “Tres Noches Negras,” which he’ll

Alexandre Perrier and François-Pierre Clavel’s Bordeaux-based production outfit Kidam, which produced last year’s Cannes Critics’ Week prize winner “Zero F***s Given,” has boarded “Life Ahead,” director Olivier Meys’ story of friendship between two young asylum-seekers, which heads to the Rotterdam Film Festival’s CineMart co-production market this week. “Life Ahead” tells the story of Jahia, a

There’s an extraordinary scene in the middle of “Navalny,” a must-watch documentary that tells the inspiring, scary, and profoundly important story of Alexei Navalny, the vitally popular Russian opposition leader who, as a presidential candidate, became such a threat to Vladimir Putin that the Kremlin tried to poison him. Most of the documentary, which was

“Living,” an acclaimed re-imagining of Akira Kurosawa’s classic meaning-of-life story, has been sold to Sony Pictures Classics follow its premiere at Sundance Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics, the indie division of Sony Pictures, has acquired rights in North America, Latin America, India, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Germany, South Africa, Southeast Asia and airlines worldwide. A release

Beyonce is a contender for the best original song Oscar this year with “Be Alive,” her end-credits number that provides a musical epilogue at the close of “King Richard.” Alongside her, producer/songwriter Dixson helped craft the soaring ballad, which is on the Oscars’ shortlist of 15 eligible songs. Dixson says he hadn’t seen the film

Fernanda Urrejola and Julio Cesar Cedillo will star alongside Josh Lucas in “The Black Demon.” The survival thriller is the latest film from Adrian Grünberg, the director of “Rambo: Last Blood” and “Get the Gringo.” The film centers on an oilman who finds himself and his family stranded on a rig where he is targeted

Jake Gyllenhaal is set to star in “Cut and Run,” a heist thriller about a group of thieves who use high-powered speed boats to rob super-yachts. Their caper takes a turn when they steal the wrong thing from the wrong group of people. New Republic Pictures won rights to the spec script, written by John

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” has been a critical darling, after garnering stellar reviews and winning the top prize from the New York, Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics. The last films to win those three prestigious groups were Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” (2009) and David Fincher’s “The Social Network” (2010), with

“The Tragedy of Macbeth” is getting a re-release on Imax starting Wednesday in several markets, with tickets being sold through AMC. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel received an ASC nomination Tuesday for his work on the Apple Original Films/A24 production, which was shot in black and white. Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand star in the Joel Coen

The nominations for the Costume Designers Guild Awards will be released on Wednesday, recognizing the achievements of the artisans that created some of the most memorable outfits and clothing designs of the year. Following the 10-month eligibility window, the community of over 1,200 members separates the film categories into three groups — contemporary, period and

Chosen as the protagonist of the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Focus section, Amanda Kramer will show eight films to the festival audience, ranging from her 2016 short “Bark” to “Give Me Pity!” and this year’s opener “Please Baby Please,” both set to celebrate their world premieres at the festival. “It’s a funny thing, to be a

“Spoiler Alert,” a new feature led by Jim Parsons from Focus Features, has added four stars to its ensemble cast. Antoni Porowski of Netflix’s “Queer Eye,” Tony award winner Nikki M. James (“The Book of Mormon”), Jeffery Self (“Search Party”) and Bill Irwin (“Rachel Getting Married”) have all joined the project directed by Michael Showalter.

In most films, the sight of a slaughtered human body — weighed down at the bottom of a public swimming pool with blood gushing from its wounds — would be the most stomach-churning thing in any given scene. “Piggy,” however, is not most films. In Spanish writer-director Carlota Pereda’s striking psychological slasher, the image passes

Sam Raimi, the director of Columbia Pictures’ original “Spider-Man” trilogy starring Tobey Maguire, has spoken out about watching his original cast reprise their roles in last year’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” In an exclusive interview with Variety while promoting the Oscar-shortlisted film “You’re Dead Hélène,” a live-action horror short film produced by Raimi, the director

Bradley Cooper earned rave reviews for his lead performance in Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley,” but the eight-time Oscar nominee was not necessarily the director’s first choice for the job. It was Leonardo DiCaprio, who del Toro originally cast in the role of Stanton Carlisle, a drifter and con artist who rises from lowly carnival

Bradley Cooper confirmed during a conversation with Mahershala Ali as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, presented by Amazon Studios, that “Maestro” will finally start filming this May. Netflix’s “Maestro” marks Cooper’s first directorial effort since the blockbuster success of his feature debut, “A Star Is Born.” Cooper also stars in “Maestro” as esteemed

David Fincher’s classic “Fight Club” has been given a different ending in China, where it’s now available on Tencent Video. The story of exactly how the new version came about is unsurprisingly murky, but it does provide something of a win-win situation for all parties. In the 1999 original, Edward Norton’s narrator character kills off

The story of the 2014 Jackson Robinson West little league baseball team’s championship run and subsequent downfall will be chronicled in the feature-length documentary “One Golden Summer.” The all-Black team from Chicago’s South Side defied expectations to win the U.S. Little League Championship, going on to face the baseball team from Seoul, South Korea, for

The horror genre is often overlooked and underappreciated in awards spaces. That’s what makes “You’re Dead Hélène” from Michiel Blanchart, which is one of the shortlisted contenders for live action short, an exciting addition to the Oscar conversation. After dreaming of working in the movies and making shorts with his friends while growing up in

Bradley Cooper (“Nightmare Alley,” “Licorice Pizza”) and Mahershala Ali (“Swan Song”) sat down for a virtual chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors, presented by Amazon Studios. For more, click here. This season, both Bradley Cooper and Mahershala Ali are pulling off a double act. Cooper’s fans can see him in two period pieces: As the

The Miami Film Festival has announced its opening and closing titles for its upcoming 39th edition. The festival, which showcases works from filmmaker’s in the Ibero-American diaspora, will premiere and end with two films listed on the Oscar shortlist for international feature film. “The Good Boss” (El Buen Patrón), a comedy written and directed by

Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty has reportedly been cleared on charges of ‘obscenity’ 15 years after Richard Gere kissed her at an event in India. Shetty, who is best known outside India for her 2007 appearance in reality TV series “Big Brother,” appeared on stage alongside “Pretty Woman” star Gere at an event for HIV-AIDS awareness