TOM SCHIRMACHER/TRUNK ARCHIVE Dorothy Parker pinch-hit writing lingerie captions, and Joan Didion tried her hand at fashion-magazine display copy, but few literary heavyweights have ever found themselves moved to weigh in on a handbag. Colette might be the exception. In 1942, Hermès’s creations inspired her to write that “the beauty of the material calls for
PREMIERE This year’s 74th Edinburgh International Film Festival will host the European premiere of Nicolas Cage’s latest flick “Pig,” the debut directorial feature from award-winning editor Michael Sarnoski (“The Testimony”). Edinburgh Festival and Cage have a long and amicable relationship. In 2014 the festival hosted the well-received “Joe,” in which he starred alongside Tye Sheridan,
The hype over NFTs — non-fungible tokens — isn’t over yet. Autograph, an NFT platform co-founded by NFL pro quarterback Tom Brady, announced deals with Lionsgate, which will create digital-collectible content based on its flagship entertainment properties, and sports-wagering company DraftKings, which will launch a marketplace for Autograph’s NFTs. In addition, Autograph announced exclusive multiyear
Glastonbury has scrapped plans for its mini-concert in September. Emily Eavis, co-organizer of the iconic U.K. music festival, confirmed in an Instagram post on Tuesday that a planned fall event called “Equinox,” which was set to run mid-September, has been called off due to “a number of reasons.” “We’re putting all of our energy into
Multiple Oscar-winning Chinese-American director Chloé Zhao, whose “Nomadland” launched from the Venice Film Festival last year, is set to return to the Lido as a member of the upcoming fest’s main jury, which will comprise four women and three men. As previously announced, “Parasite” director Bong Joon Ho, another recent multiple Oscar winner, will preside
Australia is set to host the Olympics for the third time, after Brisbane was confirmed as winning the bid to host the 2032 Olympic Games and Paralympics. Melbourne hosted the Games in 1956 and Sydney in 2000. The Games will be held in Brisbane and across Queensland, the Australian state of which Brisbane is the
Ben Crump says the huge stash of cash Jeff Bezos just donated to Van Jones could go a long way for a cause they both care about deeply — helping Black people learn the law. The civil rights attorney tells TMZ … he plans to talk to his good friend Van about using some of
The scandal over sexual misconduct allegations against multi-hyphenate superstar Kris Wu has grown beyond the scope of mere celebrity gossip to become a significant incident with public-interest implications, Chinese state media declared Tuesday. The rebukes from the country’s top official news outlets, whose stances align with that of the ruling Communist Party, likely indicate trouble
Kanye West has confirmed that his new album, “Donda,” drops on Friday. The release date was established during Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday within a Beats by Dre ad featuring track star Sha’Carri Richardson, which West scored and edited. The commercial previews the track “No Child Left Behind” from the album, an
Elvis Costello and the Imposters, who had to interrupt a spring 2020 U.K. tour when the pandemic kicked in, will be picking up where they didn’t leave off — as kings of America, hitting the U.S. for a month-long theater tour in October and November. It may be no accident that the tour kickoff gig
Despite being sued by Jay-Z and despite a court order placing limits on what he’s allowed to sell, Damon Dash did what he said he was going to do during an interview with Variety: He’s officially started an auction for his third of Roc-A-Fella Inc. — and its sole asset, Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt” album —
Keith Raneire, convicted sex-trafficker and leader of the NXIVM cult, has been ordered to pay $3.4 million to his victims. The New York Times reported that 21 victims will receive portions of the money, part of which will go towards procedures allowing women to remove Raniere’s branded initials from their skin. These women were members
The message from Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos was crystal clear: Don’t expect Netflix to jump into the media M&A frenzy just because everyone else is. Netflix’s co-CEOs exhibited their usual cool confidence on Tuesday during a 41-minute video interview to discuss the company’s second-quarter earnings results. The numbers showed that Netflix lost 430,000 subscribers
“American Horror Story” Season 10 production has been temporarily halted due to a positive COVID-19 case and potential exposure to the illness, Variety has learned. The positive case was in what’s been termed “Zone A” in COVID-production protocol, and was an actor on the show. Originally scheduled to premiere on FX in late 2020, production on
Kate Beckinsale and Jai Courtney held court on Monday night at the San Vicente Bungalows at the premiere of their new action thriller “Jolt.” But COVID protocols came first. After checking in with a door person outside, guests were asked to take rapid tests in the library of the West Hollywood members-only club and not
Stepping into the director’s chair for the first time is always a challenge, but for veteran TV and movie producer Randall Emmett that challenge was amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. What was planned as an 18-day shoot, ultimately took a year thanks to shutdowns in various filming locales. But launching the true crime thriller “Midnight
Imagine Entertainment, the production banner run by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, has been the subject of renewed acquisition talks in recent weeks, multiple sources told Variety. Investors and potential buyers include an undisclosed sovereign wealth fund from the Middle East, which has been quietly exploring American media investments of late. Also kicking the tires
What impact does the Palme d’Or really have on a film’s awards chances? In the 73 years of Cannes, there have only been three winners of the Palme d’Or and the Oscar for best picture – “The Lost Weekend” (1945), “Marty” (1955) and “Parasite” (2019), the latter two were unanimous wins among the jury. With
A television series based on the life of Malcolm X is in the works at Sony Pictures Television’s TriStar, Variety has learned exclusively. The series will be based on the novels “X: A Novel” and “The Awakening of Malcolm X,” both of which were co-written by Malcolm’s daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz. “X: A Novel” was also
Tom Barrack, the chair of President Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017, was arrested Tuesday on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent who sought to influence policy on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, federal prosecutors announced. Barrack and two other men — Matthew Grimes of Colorado and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi
Netflix, coming off a pandemic-fueled bumper crop of subscribers in 2020, added just 1.5 million customers worldwide for the second quarter of 2021 — a significant slowdown from its previous torrid pace of growth. The company also officially unveiled its plans to enter the video game market, staring with mobile games, eyeing it as a
For all those hoping that the in-person 2021 edition of the Cannes Film Festival would mark a return to “normal,” the winner of this year’s Palme d’Or must have been a shocker — not the choice by Spike Lee’s jury (the choice was solid) so much as the movie itself: “Titane,” a radical queer take
Netflix, as has been its custom the last several quarters, boasted about huge viewership numbers for its original films and TV series as part of announcing its second quarter results. The numbers it cited, though, are calculated using a Netflix-proprietary metric. Among the “impactful” film titles it released in Q2, according to Netflix, was Zack
A so-called “Britney bill” has been introduced in Congress, with bipartisan backers, designed to crack down on conservatorship abuse in the wake of heightened public attention to the issue due to Britney Spears’ headline-making court case. But the “Free Britney” movement is not welcoming it with universally open arms. Florida Democrat Charlie Crist and South
“We have so much coming your way that you might tell us, ‘Okay, take a break now!’” said Victoria Alonso, executive VP of film production at Marvel Studios, during a conversation with Marc Malkin, Variety Senior Editor of Culture and Events, at this year’s NALIP Media Summit. As an executive producer on Marvel’s “WandaVision” and
The major studios and entertainment unions confirmed Monday that they have agreed to relax the COVID protocols that have governed physical production for the last 10 months. But with COVID cases again on the rise, the changes are not as sweeping as was once expected. Especially in the Los Angeles area — where the spike
H.E.R.’s Lights On Festival is going bicoastal. A New York edition of her previously Bay-area-only festival has just been added, set to take place Oct. 21-22 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn with Maxwell as a co-headliner and a dozen support acts announced. The New York expansion follows a near-instantaneous sellout for the second annual west
“The L Word: Generation Q” showrunner, executive producer, director and writer Marja-Lewis Ryan has inked an exclusive overall development deal with Showtime, Variety has learned. Gary Levine, president of entertainment with Jana Winograde at the premium cable outfit, praised “the energy, the perspective and the fun” Ryan brings to “The L Word: Generation Q,” calling her
Longtime Disney film studio publicist Darrell Borquez has joined Shelter PR as the agency’s VP of publicity. Borquez, who spent 15 years at Disney, will work closely with Shelter’s personal representation and film and television departments. The Los Angeles-based hire was announced on Tuesday by Shelter co-founders Marla Farrell, Cara Tripicchio and Christine Tripicchio. “I
When filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan was giving notes to singer-songwriter Saleka Shyamalan — his daughter — one song he played for her was the U2 hit “With or Without You.” The director had recruited Saleka, no stranger to collaborating with her father, to write a track for his latest film “Old,” which opens in theaters