When “Framing Britney Spears” was released earlier this year, the pop star’s world was much different. Before the New York Times-produced documentary launched on FX and Hulu this past February, Britney Spears had not yet testified publicly in court. Her father, Jamie Spears, appeared to have complete confidence in his role as conservator of her
Rob Zombie’s Munster Mansion is almost complete. The filmmaker and musician recently posted an update on his Instagram sharing a series of photos of Mockingbird Lane. Captioning the photo collection “Mockingbird Lane Lives Again,” Zombie wrote, “It’s a beautiful day in Budapest and good old Mockingbird Lane is coming along perfectly. Who wouldn’t want to
A “game of chicken” is commonly known as a conflict between two parties where neither wants to yield, but both are hoping to avoid embarrassment and failure. That seems to be the pervading psychological dynamic right now at Paramount Pictures, as it continues to topple its legacy leadership structure in favor of a streaming-first future under new studio chief
When shall we three meet again? After taking a year off from indoor screenings due to COVID-19, the New York Film Festival returned to Alice Tully Hall on Friday night with the world premiere of “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, who play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the adaptation of the
Academy Award-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins will receive the Visionary Award at the 2021 VIEW Conference, which runs from Oct. 17 to Oct. 22 in Turin, Italy, with both in-person and virtual events. “Roger Deakins is one of the true living legends of filmmaking,” says conference director Maria Elena Gutierrez. “Throughout his career, he has captured
Start your engines. Hollywood players are falling over themselves in the hopes of landing a new movie package featuring the “Ocean’s 11” team of George Clooney and Brad Pitt, who will reunite under the watchful eye of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” director Jon Watts. According to the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news, the package has drawn
As the Tony Awards return for the first time in more than two years, CBS and White Cherry Entertainment’s Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss faced a challenging task: How to hand out awards, celebrate the best in recent theater and — perhaps most crucially — hammer home the fact that Broadway is back and open
A number of Hollywood celebrities have taken to social media this week to show solidarity with the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees ahead of a strike vote. Talks between IATSE and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have broken down as the workers who support productions seek improvements on meal and rest
Atlanta rapper 21 Savage, the British born-artist who was arrested by ICE in 2019 for overstaying his visa, turned himself in to authorities on Thursday night on drug and weapons possession charges stemming from his earlier arrest. He was released on bond, his attorney confirmed to Variety. Savage (real name: She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) was taken
When it comes to music, the podcast sector remains in a grey area of licensing, waffling between being editorial or educational products (allowing for short snippets of songs or score) and pure commercial entities. But Jared Gutstadt, founder of production company Audio Up (home to pods by Michael Cohen, Rosanna Arquette, Machine Gun Kelly, Tommy
Catherine Davis has landed a leading role in the upcoming action thriller “Banshee.” She joins a cast that includes Jaime King (“Sin City”), Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”) and Tommy Flanagan (“Sons of Anarchy”). The film follows a freelance assassin, codenamed Banshee (King), who is ambushed by Anthony Greene (Flanagan), a powerful mercenary who killed
At Thursday night’s 20th anniversary celebration of Eric Eisner’s scholarship program YES for disadvantaged and underserved youth, David Geffen made a surprise $1 million donation, as did Mellody Hobson. Christina Aguilera performed in a sparkly pink dress and former “Bachelorette” star Rachel Lindsay passed out red roses (natch!) to guests gifting $10,000 donations. The event
September marks the dawn of fall and the urge to reinvent one’s wardrobe. Plush sweaters, trim coats, and boots of all kinds are seasonal pillars worthy of a refresh. But how to anchor it all with sharp day-to-day sophistication? You can’t go wrong with a poised handbag like the Coach Rogue. It’s one of executive
Sarah Jessica Parker paid tribute to her “Sex and the City” co-star Willie Garson, whose death on Sept. 21 at the age of 57 shocked Hollywood, in a touching Instagram post. Garson played Stanford, the stylish, gay best friend of Parker’s main character Carrie Bradshaw, in the “Sex and the City” TV show, films and
Inspired by the 1988 comedy of the same name, “The Wonder Years” rewinds to 1968 for a coming-of-age series starring Elisha “EJ” Williams as Dean Williams and Saycon Sengbloh as Lillian Williams. Music plays a major role in show, seeing as the character of Dean’s dad is a working musician, and co-composers Jacob Yoffee and
Jessica Chastain knew she wanted to make a movie about Tammy Faye Bakker’s life when she was watching the documentary “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and saw the late televangelist’s 1985 interview on “The PTL Club” with Steve Pieters, a gay minister who was diagnosed with HIV. “I was just like, whoa, we were in
After a long delay between its first two seasons, and shifting from Comedy Central to HBO Max, “The Other Two” is has found a happy home: HBO Max has renewed the comedy for a third season. “The Other Two” premiered on Comedy Central in January 2019, and was renewed the next month. But when the
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” which entered its 23rd season this fall, and “Organized Crime’s” sophomore season with Christopher Meloni won primetime for NBC last night during their season debuts at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., respectively. Per Nielsen Live+Same Day overnight fast nationals, the three-hour block dedicated to the Dick Wolf franchise altogether
Netflix announced “The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea” will premiere Oct. 22. The three-part docuseries follows Yoo Young-chul, a notorious serial killer who came to light as a psychopath to the Korean public in 2004. From 2003-2004, Young-chul killed a total of 20 people in various parts of Seoul, targeting wealthy elderly people
Michael K. Williams, the iconic actor who was found dead on Sept. 6 in his Brooklyn residence, died of an overdose of fluorofentanyl, heroin and cocaine. Variety confirmed the news with a spokesperson for New York City’s chief medical examiner’s office. Williams, who brought quiet intensity to series such as “The Wire” and “Boardwalk Empire,”
When former “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” writer Elisabeth Kiernan Averick joined the staff of “The Simpsons” a few years ago, she knew eventually she’d be called upon to write a musical episode. That episode is Sunday’s Season 33 premiere, “Star of the Backstage,” in which Marge stages a revival of her high school musical, “Y2K: The Millennium
“Notting Hill” director Roger Michell’s last film — a documentary about Queen Elizabeth II — was completed before he died on Wednesday. “Roger’s feature documentary about The Queen — ‘Elizabeth’ — will be out in the first half of 2022,” the film’s producer, Kevin Loader, told Variety. “We have a few technical processes to complete,
Blessed by largely clement weather, San Sebastian fairly hummed, as hundreds of industry execs sat down to talk face to face – some, especially from Latin America, for the first time since February 2020. As at Venice, Latin American producers could talk on-site and with some degree of confidence about putting movies long in development
Filmmakers have been puncturing the myths — and celebrating the legacies — of Hollywood’s Dream Factory for decades. Documentarians have chronicled the history of the studio system, the stories of industry trailblazers, and reflections on the art of creating with shadows and light. Thanks to the growth of streaming, many obscure and rarely seen titles
The major entertainment unions issued a joint statement of solidarity with the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees on Friday, as the craft union looks towards a strike authorization vote next week. The statement was signed by the heads of SAG-AFTRA, the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America, East, and the Teamsters.
There has been no better time than now for TV leaders and content creators to establish new trends. After the pandemic, many consumers were looking for entertainment that catered to them to take over their ample free time. At Variety’s Entertainment and Technology Summit, entertainment executives, leaders and public figures spoke about the new wave
Courtesy of the designers; Crutchley: Eamonn McCormack/BFC; Maximilian: Chris Yates Style Points is a weekly column about how fashion intersects with the wider world. By the looks of the recently concluded London Fashion Week, designers spent their lockdown downtime either delving deep into fashion history or craving the lights and EDM drops of clubland. While
Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump, who, in representing the family of George Floyd, became a household name and among the most powerful voices in the Black Lives Matter movement, urged guests at the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) Music in Action Awards gala to “raise your voices in beautiful harmony and continue to give voice
Among many other reasons to applaud Mickey Guyton for her long-in-the-works debut album, give her extra credit for being the millionth country artist to sing about “Daisy Dukes” — and the first to immediately follow that with a mention of “dookie braids.” Juxtaposing a white-girl cutoffs cliché with a Black-girl hair reference figures into a
Colcoa, the L.A.-based French film and series festival, has unveiled the television section of its upcoming 25th anniversary edition. “In Treatment,” Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s French adaptation of the original Israeli series “BeTipul”; Julie Delpy’s series debut “On The Verge”; and “Germinal,” the 19th century-set ambitious period series adapted from Emile Zola’s masterpiece created