“Cowboys” taps directly into the myth of the American male, with his leather boots and blue jeans, square jaw and wide stance, as immortalized in the collective imagination by painter Frederick Remington, director John Ford and decades of Marlboro tobacco advertising. But it does so with a twist: This debut feature from Anna Kerrigan explores
Movies
Tylor Norwood’s documentary, “Robin’s Wish,” which releases on demand Sept. 1, documents the last days of Robin Williams’ life. Close friends, neighbors and his wife, Susan Schneider Williams, tell a story of a man and his struggles before the death that took the world by surprise. The documentary is led by Schneider Williams, who wants
With moviegoing slowly returning to life after five months, a quartet of new titles are arriving amid the serious challenge of attracting customers worried about the COVID-19 pandemic — and Hurricane Laura. Disney’s “X-Men” spinoff “The New Mutants” opens at 2,412 North American locations and should lead the weekend in the $7 million to $10
Once loaded with connotations of exoticism and movie-star glamor, Ava now ranks annually among the most popular girls’ names in America, and it seems its ubiquity is extending to the film world: Tate Taylor’s female-starring shoot-’em-up “Ava” is the third film bearing that title to crop up in as many years. It, too, has the
“Bill & Ted Face the Music” has a high-fluff effervescence. It’s about how Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves), those chuckle-brained metal heads who speak like Jeff Spicoli with a thesaurus, have just 77 minutes to travel through time and get the song — from themselves! Because they wrote it already! Whoa!! — that
Keira Knightley is the latest actor to take on narrating duties for an animated short film relaunched by environmental activists Extinction Rebellion. Titled “Climate Crisis, and Why We Should Panic,” the film, translated into 14 different languages, is the second of a two-part explainer video series for Extinction Rebellion, focusing on the climate and ecological
Lionsgate, Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen are developing the horror film “Mother Land,” based on the spec script by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby. Lionsgate bought the project in a competitive situation. Levy and Cohen will produce through their 21 Laps banner. The duo are executive producers on Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” Levy directed and produced
Max Evans, whose New Mexico cowboy novels “The Rounders” and “Hi-Lo Country” were made into movies, died on Wednesday in hospice care at the VA Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M. He was 95. His widow, Pat Evans, told the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that her husband rode off to the “great mystery in the
Federal prosecutors charged three men for their alleged involvement in an international piracy operation. In a release that includes the Manhattan federal court filing, Jonatan Correa, Umar Ahmad and George Bridi were indicted on charges of copyright infringement conspiracy, with Bridi also being charged for wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate.
Executive Shakira Gagnier has been named vice president of diversity and inclusion at Paradigm Talent Agency, CEO Sam Gores announced Thursday. In her new role, Gagnier will oversee the development and execution of D&I strategies that fulfill agency commitments to improving the diversity and development of its employees worldwide. Gagnier will work with senior leadership,
Before making her mark as a visual effects supervisor on “Stranger Things” and “Tales from the Loop,” Andrea Knoll was a multi-faceted actress, director, producer and writer whose credits include “The Boss Baby” and “Monsters vs. Aliens.” Knoll spoke with Variety about her start in the world of VFX and addressed the issues and barriers women within
Sofia Coppola’s “On the Rocks,” centered on a father/daughter duo played by Rashida Jones and Bill Murray, will world premiere at the New York Film Festival as part of its new spotlight section. “On the Rocks” will be released in October by A24 and Apple TV Plus. Coppola and Murray last collaborated on 2003’s “Lost
Justin Lin, director of five of the “Fast & Furious” movies, has signed multi-year production deals with Universal Pictures and Universal Studio Group for feature films and television through his Perfect Storm Entertainment. “Universal gave me my shot when they offered me the ‘Fast’ franchise a decade and a half ago,” Lin said. “Over the
Kelly Marie Tran will voice the main character in Disney’s animated adventure “Raya and the Last Dragon,” replacing the voice role previously held by Cassie Steele. “Raya and the Last Dragon,” set in a fictional fantasy land called Kumandra, follows a fearless warrior as she seeks to save the realm from evil forces. As previously
In 1952, Warner Bros. released a version of “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima” that boasted, “To the best of human knowledge, and according to the testimony of 100,000 witnesses … This Is A True Story!” That film, hokey in some ways, inspirational in others, purported to be a fact-based account of a faith-based
Mark Lanza, president of the Motion Picture Sound Editors, has been working from home since the coronavirus shut everything down. That’s the new norm for Lanza and many other sound editors as they learn to adapt to the pandemic. As president of the organization, which presents the Golden Reel Awards each year, Lanza’s concerns include
“The King’s Man,” a prequel in the “Kingsman” spy series, has pushed back its theatrical debut. The movie was expected to hit theaters on Sept. 18, and will now be unveiled five months later on Feb. 26, 2021. Though Disney is still moving ahead with big-screen releases for other titles, such as “The New Mutants”
As the U.S. opening date for “Tenet” nears, Warner Brothers is dipping back into the time-honored practice of running ads for the film on TV. But not too deeply. “What our traditional campaign would look like is not what this campaign looks like,” says Blair Rich, president of worldwide marketing, theatrical and home entertainment at
Middle East exhibitor Vox Cinemas has reopened around 71%, or 391, of its 550 screens amid the coronavirus crisis. “Tenet,” which bowed on Aug. 26 in the region, is currently playing on 209 of those screens, six of which are IMAX. On some of Vox’s multiplexes in Saudi Arabia, the Christopher Nolan blockbuster and other
This week, French actor Juliette Binoche wins Zurich’s Icon Award, Grasshopper takes “The American Sector” for North America, “Killing Eve” writer Rob Williams creates “Screw” for the U.K.’s Channel 4, and the World Economic Forum at Davos is postponed. The 16th annual Zurich Film Festival, running from Sept. 24 to Oct. 4, will award its
Award-winning Spanish producer Agustín Almodóvar, brother of Oscar-winning filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, has tweeted the first clip of the latter’s upcoming short film “The Human Voice,” starring Academy Award-winning actor Tilda Swinton and produced by the siblings’ El Deseo banner. The almost one-minute clip is dialogue-free, but shows Swinton in a brilliant red dress walking out
#GoldOpen — the movement created by nonprofit collective Gold House to ensure the opening weekend success of multicultural films — has announced #GoldOpen Premier Access for the release of “Mulan” on Disney Plus on Sept. 4. “Mulan” will be the first film to debut on the streaming platform with Premier Access, making it possible to
“I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” the new movie written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, opens with an extended road-trip sequence in which a young woman (Jessie Buckley) — she’s identified in the credits simply as the Young Woman — drives through a country snowstorm with Jake (Jesse Plemons), her boyfriend of six weeks, to meet
After eight seasons as Arya Stark on “Game of Thrones,” Maisie Williams is no stranger to blood, violence, guts and gore. In her latest role, as a vengeful girlfriend in the gruesome thriller “The Owners,” Williams isn’t afraid to get down and dirty in the name of survival. The ’90s-set movie — directed by Julius
After gathering a strike team of experienced Hollywood agents for his new management venture, CAA and Entertainment One alum Pete Micelli plans to take aim at the industry’s top talent and top talent agencies. The unnamed venture had been christened Moxie Media in materials circulated to prospective investors (insiders say the company name has since
When the Venice Film Festival unveiled its official selection in late July, the unprecedented inclusion of eight female-directed titles within the 18-film roster was heralded as welcome progress for an event that has come under fire in recent years for scarce representation of female filmmakers. Cate Blanchett was selected to head the jury in January,
Terence Blanchard, Oscar and BAFTA-nominated for Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” and a Grammy winner for the “Blood and Soil” track from the film’s original soundtrack, will receive the Venice Film Festival’s Campari “Passion for Film” award this year. Blanchard also composed the score for Lee’s Netflix film “Da 5 Bloods” and Regina King’s “One Night in
When Quentin Dupieux’s “Mandibles,” a buddy comedy about two bumbling dolts and a giant CGI bug, premieres out of competition at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 5, the screening could mark a mainstream breakout moment for the idiosyncratic director, and reaffirm French genre filmmaking as a market draw. Beginning with 2010’s “Rubber,” Dupieux’s absurdist,
Starlight Media, the Hollywood-focused Chinese film financier behind “Crazy Rich Asians,” is to go further in its promotion of filmmaking diversity. It has unveiled details of a $100 million film and talent development fund. The company’s Stars Collective initiative will support aspiring female and BIPOC filmmakers and creative storytellers. The fund is to be headed
London’s Leicester Square, a bustling area best known for its glitzy film premieres, was eerily quiet on Wednesday morning. Flashy billboards for Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” lit up the adjacent Odeon and Cineworld venues, but audience members were in short supply. Cineworld claimed one of the earliest London showings of the film with a 10 a.m.