“Top Gun” actor Val Kilmer surprised everyone when he revealed that for the past 40 years, he’s been capturing his life and career on video, ending up with more than 800 hours of footage. A feature documentary was the natural conclusion of his faithful chronicling, and when Kilmer mentioned that he was digitizing the footage
Movies
Five years after David Ayers’ “Suicide Squad” was met with lackluster reviews, “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn took another stab at the DC Comics story, using several of the same characters and lots of new faces in what’s not quite a reboot and not quite a sequel. While the film doesn’t hit theaters
All products and services featured by Variety are independently selected by Variety editors. However, Variety may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. From “Pirates of the Caribbean” to “The Haunted Mansion,” Disney has never had a hard time turning its
Will Smith stars as the real-life father of two of the most gifted athletes of all time in “King Richard.” Warner Bros. has released the first trailer of the moving drama that could be a box office hit and possible awards contender. Inspired by a true story, “King Richard” tells the story of Richard Williams
No rest for the weary, especially when it comes to Oscar campaigning. Focus Features has set up the first Oscars FYC special screening and conversation of the awards season for Tom McCarthy’s “Stillwater” with star Matt Damon and the writer and director scheduled to attend in-person at the 350-seat Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles.
“The Suicide Squad” is cunningly scuzzy, disreputable fun. It’s being advertised as a movie “from the horrifyingly beautiful mind of James Gunn,” and as much as I love “Guardians of the Galaxy” and enjoyed most of its sequel, I can’t say that I ever thought of James Gunn as having a horrifyingly beautiful mind. It
It’s surely not her first time, but Margaret Cho is headed to “Fire Island.” The Emmy-nominated actor and comedian has joined the cast of the upcoming Searchlight Pictures film opposite Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang. She’ll play a key role as a homeowner and host on the notorious LGBTQ-friendly island. Variety first reported that
It’s a day of yes for Jennifer Garner and Netflix: As part of a new deal with the streamer, Garner will develop a number of new movies for her to produce and star in — and one of them is a sequel to “Yes Day.” The family comedy premiered on Netflix in March, and according
First Look Media has tapped Maria Zuckerman to serve as president of Topic Studios, a major promotion for the executive who joined the company in May 2019. “I’m thrilled to recognize Maria’s role in growing Topic Studios with her promotion to president,” said Michael Bloom, First Look Media’s CEO. ”Maria and her team have built
The Toronto International Film Festival has revealed the slate of titles that will round out its contemporary world cinema and discovery programs. Among the films playing in the contemporary world cinema lineup include director Wen Shipei’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” Lorenzo Vigas’ “The Box,” Manuel Martín Cuenca’s “The Daughter” and Bouli Lanners’ “Nobody Has to
Wilmer Valderrama has a very personal reason for launching “Essential Voices,” his podcast featuring interviews with essential and frontline workers. His dad battled COVID-19 and suffered two minor heart attacks in the past year. “They showed up and helped my dad be with us for many more years,” the “NCIS” star tells me. “I’m so
Hollywood was in a collective state of shock last month when Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment forged a multiyear deal to make movies for Netflix. Two years ago, the legendary director reportedly opposed the idea that streaming films should qualify for Oscars. The new pact was seen as a sign that the old guard was finally
Paris-based sales agency Luxbox has added sales to the U.K., Australia and Brazil to previous deals with the U.S. and France on Directors’ Fortnight title “Clara Sola,” making good on its upbeat critical reception at the Cannes Festival this month. London-based Peccadillo Pictures has acquired U.K. rights. Sydney’s Rialto Distribution, has scooped rights to Australia;
Paola Suárez, producer of the breakout Argentine mob drama “La Chica que limpia,” died on Sunday after suddenly collapsing in Córdoba, Argentina, at the age of 41. Her death comes just months after Fox gave a series greenlight in May to “The Cleaning Lady,” a U.S. version of “La Chica que limpia” created by Miranda
Spain’s San Sebastian Festival, the most important film meet in the Spanish-speaking world, has unveiled the 13 title lineup of its 2021 New Directors lineup, which includes awaited debuts such as Argentine Mara Pescio’s “That Weekend” and Spaniard Javier Marco’s “Josephine” plus Jeonju Fest double winner “Aloners.” Here are the titles and some descriptions. More
The U.K. government’s Film and TV Production Restart scheme has resulted in 640 film and TV projects worth over £1.9 billion ($2.63 billion) going into production in the last 12 months. Among those which have benefited from the scheme are the sixth season of “Peaky Blinders” and Cannes film favorite “Mothering Sunday,” which stars “The
You can’t fault the writing-directing duo of David Charbonier and Justin Powell for reckless overreaching: Their first feature, “The Djinn” (released just 10 weeks ago, though shot in 2018), stirred terror around just one boy in an apartment. Their second, which premiered at Fantastic Fest last fall, cautiously ups the ante to two boys and
An 18-year-old woman was killed and a 19-year-old man was badly injured during a shooting at a screening of “The Forever Purge” in Corona on Monday night. Police have yet to identify a suspect in the case or make any arrests. Police were called around 11:45 p.m. on Monday, after the screening at the Regal
Warner Bros. has acquired rights to South by Southwest award-winner “The Fallout” and plans to debut the film on HBO Max. Written and directed by Megan Park in her feature filmmaking debut, “The Fallout” premiered at SXSW and took home the grand jury and audience awards at this year’s annual film festival. The story follows
Imax may not have returned to pre-pandemic levels, but the cinema company got a lift during its most recent quarterly earnings from the renewed interest in moviegoing, as well as the arrival of a few well-timed blockbusters. For the three-month period ending in June, revenues at the company climbed to $51 million, a 475.4% jump
Sony Pictures Classics has landed rights to “The Phantom of the Open,” a heartwarming drama starring Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans. Craig Roberts, known for his onscreen roles in “Submarine” and “Red Oaks,” directed the film. “Paddington 2” screenwriter Simon Farnaby adapted the screenplay from his book of the same name, which was
Audiences will be rooting for a working-class family to get away with manslaughter in “Sheep Without a Shepherd,” a gripping Chinese crime thriller set in small-town Thailand. Centered on an ordinary guy whose extraordinary film knowledge holds the key to keeping his family out of jail, this cleverly scripted item marks an auspicious feature debut
Rick Aiello, actor and son of Oscar nominee Danny Aiello, died of pancreatic cancer on Monday at a hospital in Warwick, N.Y., his niece Sydney Fingerhut told Variety. He was 65. Fingerhut remembers him as a great uncle who was close to all his nieces and nephews, and a “strong guy.” With more than 60
As soon as Chinese film fanatic Li heard the news earlier this month that the Cannes Film Festival had scheduled a surprise special screening for a documentary about political unrest in Hong Kong, he rushed straight to his computer to open the page for his favorite online bookstore. He already owned a copy of festival
It’s been almost 25 years since two unknown actors came out of nowhere to write and co-star in the Oscar-winning “Good Will Hunting,” minting them on spot as Hollywood boy wonders. And, according to Matt Damon, there might be a few more scripts on the horizon between him and Ben Affleck. At Monday night’s New
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon will mount a film adaptation of “The Fortress of Solitude” at Amazon Studios, continuing his creative relationship with the streaming giant. Behind the festival hit “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and Benedict Cumberbatch’s “The Current War,” Gomez-Rejon will direct the project based on Jonathan Lethem’s New York Times bestselling novel. Acclaimed
Sharpened Iron Studios has acquired the original musical screenplay “Amarillo” and has enlisted European filmmaker Ate de Jong to direct the film. “Amarillo,” written by Variety’s executive VP of global content Steven Gaydos, is set behind the scenes of a reality TV music competition series and tells the story of two young singer-songwriters who pretend
Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” has been tapped as the centerpiece selection for the 59th New York Film Festival. The film stars Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Benedict Cumberbatch and will be released by Netflix. The streamer has awards ambitions for the Western, a historical drama that unfolds on a Montana cattle ranch
In “Jungle Cruise,” a Disney adventure that demonstrates how basing a movie on a theme-park ride may now be a more natural occurence than adapting it from a novel, Emily Blunt plays Dr. Lily Houghton, a London researcher-explorer who’s as fearless, in her demure way, as Indiana Jones, and Dwayne Johnson is Frank Wolff, the
To accompany the new Tom McCarthy-Matt Damon movie “Stillwater” — recently lauded at the Cannes Film Festival, and set to be released in theaters Friday — Focus Features and L.A. Times studios have partnered to produce a new podcast miniseries called “Convicted: Across Borders,” hosted by attorney and author Marcia Clark. The first episode has