One week after exploding genitalia in its Season 3 premiere and increasing viewership by 17% from Season 2’s debut, “The Boys” has been renewed for a fourth season at Amazon. While “The Boys” star Karl Urban previously spilled the fourth-season beans when he said at Variety‘s SXSW Studio on March 12 that he was “shooting
Jeff Bridges is back in action after a life-threatening battle with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and COVID-19. At the Wednesday night premiere of his FX thriller “The Old Man”, the Oscar winner described the surreal experience of returning to set after a year-long hiatus due to his health struggles. “I was sick for a year and then
When “Grey’s Anatomy” premiered in 2005, it catapulted the ensemble of actors playing the Seattle Grace Hospital staff to fame. For Sandra Oh, who played Cristina Yang on the series for 10 years, that spotlight came with downsides for her own health. The acclaimed actor opened up about the effects that her sudden “Grey’s Anatomy”
When it came time to film the death of Jung Ho-yeon’s “Squid Game” character Kang Sae-byeok, Ho-yeon found herself to be strangely happy. “Maybe it’s weird to say it, but while I’m shooting my death scene, I was so happy,” Ho-yeon told Sandra Oh during their Variety “Actors on Actors” conversation, presented by Apple TV+.
Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez’s Peacock series “Mrs. Davis” has cast Margo Martindale, Andy McQueen, and Ben Chaplin. The trio join previously announced series leads Betty Gilpin and Jake McDorman in the series. Exact plot details are being kept under wraps, aside from the fact the show is described as an exploration of faith versus
For those who don’t know, the late, legendary, longtime BBC Radio DJ John Peel was one of the most influential and important people in British music from the 1960s through his death in 2004. He arose in the mid-1960s as the BBC was forced to modernize its programming, and for the next four decades, he
Anthology film “Quareer,” by five young female Saudi directors, has emerged as the big winner at the eighth edition of the Saudi Film Festival, which is the country’s oldest film event. “Quareer” consists of five segments depicting women taking risks to carve out their own spaces, and explores themes of abandonment, neglect, control, abuse and
Despite teasing his retirement in 2017, “Le Havre” director Aki Kaurismäki will follow his Berlin Silver Bear winner “The Other Side of Hope” with a new feature film under the working title of “Dead Leaves” (“Kuolleet lehdet” in Finnish). The new project was announced on Friday by Helsinki-based company B-Plan Distribution. The film will star
“Jurassic World Dominion” features the long-awaited return of Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill, appearing on screen for the first time together since 1993’s “Jurassic Park,” but there’s another franchise O.G. who’s part of the mix — BD Wong. Wong’s Dr. Henry Wu has also been a central player in the dinosaur film franchise
Universal’s “Jurassic World Dominion” roared to $18 million in Thursday previews. The sixth film in the dino-saga is expected to loom large at the domestic box office this weekend, but it could be blistered by bad reviews and the continued popularity of “Top Gun: Maverick,” which is still soaring in its third week of release.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic New Zealand was preparing a series of measures to expand on its reputation as one of the world’s top-flight filming locations. Generous subsidies, Oscar-winning crafts teams and stunning locations had made it the destination of choice for “Mulan,” “Lord of the Rings” “Mission Impossible: Fallout” and “The Power of the Dog.”
In today’s podcast roundup, Luminary drops a three-part interview with the late Bob Saget; “Too Hot to Handle” and “The Circle” star Chloe Veitch is launching a sex and dating podcast; USG Audio’s first scripted podcast, thriller “The End Up” from executive producer Sam Esmail, is premiering at the Tribeca Festival; and more. DATES Luminary,
Game giant Activision Blizzard said Friday it will commence talks with Communications Workers of America union representatives to negotiate a contract on behalf of 27 quality-assurance employees at Raven Software, the studio that is the primary developer for the “Call of Duty” series. The reversal comes amid Microsoft’s $69 billion pending bid for Activision Blizzard,
Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” described by Variety as “a fizzy, delirious, impishly energized, compulsively watchable 2-hour-and-39-minute fever dream,” is set to open the 37th Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (FICG) on June 10. The biopic starring Austin Butler as Elvis opposite Tom Hanks as his controversial manager, received a rousing 12-minute standing ovation at Cannes, the longest
Nine projects have been selected for the CineLink Co-Production Market and seven for the CineLink Drama at the upcoming edition of CineLink Industry Days within the Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug. 12-19), according to Film New Europe. The CineLink Co-Production Market includes projects from North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, while projects from Cyprus, Bosnia
Before Rina Sawayama was a pop star, she was a gamer. With her hands on a controller, clambering around a virtual world, she could get out of her head and “be that character for the 50 hours or whatever the game’s going to take.” Video games were also a huge influence on her songwriting (and
SND has closed a flurry of sales across its slate, including the animated feature “The Jungle Bunch: World Tour,” the French comedy “Ooh La la,” and the international melodrama “The Braid.” Produced by leading animation studio TAT Productions, “The Jungle Bunch: World Tour” is the sequel to the animated feature hit “The Jungle Bunch –
Los Angeles-based Dark Star Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights to Colombia-based Spanish director Ruth Caudeli’s Tribeca title “Petit Mal” from Italian sales company The Open Reel. “Petit Mal,” in which Caudeli also stars, is centered around three young women, Martina, Laia, and Anto, who are in a passionate, playful three-way relationship — the dynamic
Julee Cruise, whose gorgeous collaborations with David Lynch elevated projects such as “Blue Velvet” and “Twin Peaks,” has died at 65 years old. Her husband, Edward Grinnant, revealed the news on a B-52’s Facebook page, as first reported by The Guardian. Cruise was an occasional touring member of the band, acting as Cindy Wilson’s stand-in
Factwire, an independent news agency and publication in Hong Kong, said Friday that it will cease operations with immediate effect. It is the fourth closure in the last year of a significant news organization that is not aligned with the city establishment’s pro-Beijing camp. The injection by Beijing in July 2020 of a National Security
Outdoor adventurer Bear Grylls has teamed up with Bollywood star Ranveer Singh for interactive adventure reality special “Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls.” Singh takes off on a date with nature, fending for himself and learning new survival skills as he ventures into the depths of the wild to find a rare flower for his
“Demi leaves rehab again/ When is this shit gonna end?” These are the brutally honest opening lines to Demi Lovato’s new single, “Skin of My Teeth,” which sees the Grammy-nominated singer embracing a pop-punk sound and opening up about their struggle with addiction. The guitar-heavy track, which bears some sonic resemblance to Hole’s “Celebrity Skin,”
Britney Spears and longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari officially tied the knot on Thursday night. Asghari’s rep, Brandon Cohen, confirmed the news to Variety, writing in a statement that he is “very ecstatic” about their nuptials. “I know he wanted this for so long. He is so caring and supportive every step of the way,” Cohen
In “Mad Men,” Jon Hamm had his corner office: the room with a view, overlooking Madison Avenue, where Don Draper could work, drink and brainstorm in peace. Maybe that’s why the actor was drawn to playing a lowly paper-pusher with a bad mustache and big dreams of occupying such a space in “Corner Office,” a
After being ousted from his post as Disney’s head of TV content, Peter Rice sent a final memo to staffers. The news came Thursday morning as a shock to the industry, including many at Disney. Rice is being replaced by his top lieutenant, Dana Walden, who continues forward as one of Hollywood’s most powerful executives.
Doing press for “Fire Island” has been quite an emotional experience for James Scully, who plays Bowen Yang’s love interest in director Andrew Ahn’s new queer rom-com written by and starring Joel Kim Booster. “I have had these out of body moments where I’m like, remember when you thought you were going to have to
Antonio Campos’ depiction of documentary filmmakers Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and Sophie Brunet in HBO Max’s “The Staircase” has led to a public dispute over their portrayal in the miniseries adaptation. But now, the real-life main subject of both series – Michael Peterson – is speaking out in an exclusive series of emails to Variety. Peterson’s
In an industry where many executives are quick to tout their own accomplishments, Peter Rice was known for turning down opportunities to take a public victory lap. The soft-spoken British executive, who was ousted on Wednesday from the top TV job at Disney, has a reputation for quietly cultivating relationships with producers and directors such
Though the term “Islamophobia” may seem of relatively recent vernacular vintage, such sentiments have been aggressively popularized — and politicized — for over three decades in the American consciousness. Nausheen Dadabhoy’s “An Act of Worship” chronicles that trend and its impact on Muslims in the U.S., while focusing on several individual activists combatting related discrimination,
In “The Integrity of Joseph Chambers,” Clayne Crawford plays a middle-class insurance salesman who wakes up, shaves his mustache into something from the Chuck Norris/Burt Reynolds catalog of masculinity, kisses his wife Tess (Jordana Brewster) goodbye and sets out for an early morning hunting expedition. Say what you will about the Second Amendment, but Joseph