Movies

What makes CAA tick? How do top agents see the dealmaking environment? How deep are the wounds from the WGA battle? What has it meant to have private equity in the house for the past decade? Nine senior CAA agents and executives and the co-CEO of parent company TPG opened up to Variety on these

Kevin Huvane, Richard Lovett and Bryan Lourd are mad as hell. Exasperated, frustrated and, by their own admission, a little beaten down after a nearly two-year battle with a most unexpected foe: the Writers Guild of America. The three longtime leaders of CAA have had enough of being told by outsiders what they should and

CAA’s longtime leaders had a lot on their minds on the sunny afternoon in late October when Kevin Huvane, Bryan Lourd and Richard Lovett sat down with Variety for a no-holds-barred conversation in Lourd’s Holmby Hills backyard. The trio talked about their unique partnership and why it has endured, the state of the talent representation

“We never do this.” That phrase was repeated often in conversations with a dozen top leaders at CAA during the reporting of this week’s Variety cover story. It’s true. No show business entity understands the value of myth-building more than the talent agency, which exists to broker power from within luxurious fortresses. None of the

At last. After a star-spangled American Film Market lineup this year was met by an initial near deafening silence from buyers, European film-TV group Studiocanal confirmed Wednesday that it has pre-sold the world, apart from the U.S. and China, on Liam Neeson action thriller “Retribution.” A second new Studiocanal title, Working Title romantic comedy “What’s

The Film Federation of India has selected Lijo Jose Pellissery’s “Jallikattu” as the country’s representative in the 2020 Oscars’ best international feature category. The Malayalam-language film has been a festival favorite around the world having played at Toronto, London, Busan and Stockholm in 2019 and at Rotterdam in 2020. Pellissery won best director at the

Abu Dhabi will soon have a large state-of-the art complex for the media and entertainment industry that is being trumpeted as a milestone in the United Arab Emirates’ efforts to diversify away from its oil-based economy. Called Yas Creative Hub and located on Abu Dhabi’s artificial Yas Island, which is a tourist attraction, the more

Under the rhythmic hacking of machetes, the zig-zag gashes in the trees look like wounds, exposing the bark’s red flesh and the raw, bone-white wood within. The men clinging to the trunks with rope slings and crude crampons are chicleros, collecting the bright white sap that oozes from the trees to boil into chicle, a

The Laos-based Luang Prabang Film Festival has set out a selection that focuses strongly on films from South East Asia, or were made in or about the region. Now entering its tenth edition, the independent festival will be held fully online this year and run Dec. 4-10, 2020. All films will be screened free of

Long ago and far away, the fictional Swiss Family Robinson carved out an idyllic life for themselves on a tropical island. As Radu Ciorniciuc’s deeply embedded documentary begins, the Romanian family Enache — father Gică, mother Niculina and their nine children — seem to be doing something similar. In sun-flared shots, giggling, lithe, rough-and-tumble kids

The Philippines has selected the Brillante Mendoza-directed war drama “Mindanao” as its national contender for the Academy Awards best international feature category. The selection was made by the Film Academy of The Philippines and announced on Tuesday by the Academy’s director general Vivian Velez. The film tells the twin stories of a Muslim woman who

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that accused the Hollywood Foreign Press Association of using its clout to control the market for overseas entertainment coverage. In a ruling issued on Friday, Judge Stanley Blumenfeld tossed the lawsuit brought by Kjersti Flaa, a Norwegian reporter who alleged that she had been repeatedly denied membership

Longtime stunt coordinator Jery Hewitt, known for his work on the Coen Brothers’ films, including “The Big Lebowski” and the Academy Award-winning “No Country for Old Men,” along with Wolf Entertainment shows such as “Law & Order,” died Saturday, his family confirmed. He was 71.  Over the past 30 years, Hewitt worked on more than 300 episodes of Dick Wolf programming, including “Law

Autism rights activists are now asking Sia to cancel the release of her “Music” movie. In response to a trailer released on Nov. 19, starring Maddie Ziegler as a nonverbal autistic teen, activists, people on the autism spectrum and their loved ones have continued to speak out on the film’s display of offensive stereotypes and

Permitting agency FilmLA has made an extraordinary pitch to producers to remain in “strict” compliance” with COVID-19 safety protocols as California tightens overall regulations. The agency made the announcement Tuesday in the wake of the new limited stay-at-home order issued by the state of California, which took effect on Nov. 21 in order to pause

When Peter Macdissi first began going on auditions, there weren’t many roles for a young man from the Middle East. “It’s getting better,” the 46-year-old Lebanese actor and producer tells Variety. “On TV, there are some things right now, and it’s really getting better. When I first started in my twenties or early thirties, oh

Warner Bros. has unveiled global release dates for “Wonder Woman 1984.” As the studio announced last week, the superhero sequel — spotlighting Gal Gadot’s female heroine — will debut simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. In the U.S., “Wonder Woman 1984” is hitting the big screen on Dec. 25 as planned. But overseas, where

Director and producer Garrett Bradley understands the importance of home videos to Black history in the United States. Combing through over 100 hours of family footage filmed by her subject Fox Rich for the documentary “Time,” Bradley elaborated on why this record is crucial, not only to her film, but in creating a living record

Skydance Media, the production company behind “Mission: Impossible,” “Terminator” and “Top Gun,” has hired Rebecca Mall as the new head of marketing. Along with news of Mall’s hire, Skydance announced that Jack Horner is departing his post as executive VP of corporate communications and publicity, while Anne Globe is exiting as chief marketing officer. In

France, which has been on lockdown since Oct. 30 to curb the second wave of the pandemic, will see its cinemas, theaters and museum reopen on Dec. 15. French president Emmanuel Macron unveiled some gradual measures to ease the lockdown on Tuesday during a televised address. “The peak of the second wave of the pandemic

Beyoncé’s “Black is King” earned nine Grammy nominations Tuesday, including song of the year and record of the year. The singer, who led the nominations, also received a nomination for Best Music Film. It was the fourth time she has been nominated in that category after winning for Netflix’s “Homecoming” and getting nominations for “Lemonade”

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. Variety selects the film, TV, music and video game tie-in items worthy of the pop culture fan in

30West, the investment and advisory firm with deep ties to the movie business, is backing Special, a new streaming service geared towards independent moviemakers and content creators. The platform, which had its beta launch last week, was co-founded by Sam Lucas and Paul Burton, who previously built custom video on-demand platforms through their former business,

“Crip Camp,” “MLK/FBI,” “Time,” “The Reason I Jump” and “The Truffle Hunters” have received dual nominations for best feature and best director, in addition to other nominations, for the International Documentary Association’s ​36th awards​. “The nominees present an inspiring and urgent range of stories from around the globe,” said Simon Kilmurry, executive director of the

In today’s bulletin, “Line of Duty” wraps filming; ViacomCBS and Morena team on “The Kellys”; Netflix is set to change its Spanish billing system; Woodcut and Spark merge; DAZN buys key soccer rights; and Berlin sets Shooting Stars jury. Jed Mercurio‘s hit police procedural “Line of Duty” has completed shooting its sixth season, complying with

Firouzeh Khosrovani’s “Radiograph of a Family,” the story of an Iranian family divided by secularism and religion, Western culture and Islamic revolution, found an ideal co-producer in Zurich-based company Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion. The film, which premieres in the feature-length competition of the documentary festival IDFA, focuses on the filmmaker’s parents, a secular progressive father and

U.K.-based documentary specialist Dogwoof has announced a string of deals for their slate, which includes a topical tale about the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak, three titles in the Best of Fest section at documentary festival IDFA, which runs Nov. 18-Dec. 6, and an Oscar contender. “76 Days” (pictured), a powerful verité study of

Zhang Yimou’s “One Second” has been pulled from China’s Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, where it had been given pride of place as the opening film. Political sensitivity over historical events, once again, appears to have led to the decision. This is the second time that “One Second” has been yanked by Chinese

Italy has selected Gianfranco Rosi’s observational documentary ‘Notturno’ as its candidate for the Oscar in the international feature film category. “Notturno,” which launched from the Venice Film Festival and has since played at a slew of other top international fests, including Toronto and New York, was selected out of a roster of 25 titles by

Pixar’s “Soul” and video game adaptation “Monster Hunter” are set to hit the big screen in China in December. The hotly anticipated “Soul” may have decided to skip cinemas in the COVID-19-ravaged U.S. for Disney Plus, but it will screen in Chinese theaters from Christmas Day, Dec. 25. Disney currently has no plans to launch