Johnny Depp has been denied permission to appeal his U.K. libel case against tabloid The Sun. In a ruling last week that was made public on Wednesday, Judge Andrew Nicol dismissed the actor’s application for appeal, noting that he didn’t believe it had a “reasonable prospect of success.” Earlier this month, the same judge ruled
Although Netflix agreed to Dave Chappelle’s request to remove his self-titled sketch series from the service, “Chappelle’s Show” is still available to stream on multiple platforms. One such place is WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, which Chappelle called out alongside Netflix in a recent performance he posted to social media earlier this week. Chappelle revealed that he
The Weeknd, who began sounding off on social media on Tuesday night over his being shockingly shut out of Grammy nominations in a year he dominated, kept up his criticism on Wednesday afternoon, posting a statement on Instagram that reads: “Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not being invited? In my opinion zero nominations
The world took to social media on Wednesday to mourn the death of Argentine soccer player Diego Armando Maradona, among the greatest soccer players of all time, whose career skyrocketed in Italy where he played for A.C. Napoli starting in the mid-1980s. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeted, “The entire world mourns the loss of
The U.K. government has set up a pilot Global Screen Fund of £7 million ($9.3 million) to partially replace funds disbursed from Creative Europe’s MEDIA program, which will cease once Brexit comes into effect at the end of the year. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced the fund on Wednesday as part of
Romania’s official Oscar entry for international feature, “Collective,” marks the first time the country has submitted a documentary to the Oscars. Alexander Nanau’s story follows the 2015 fire at the Colectiv nightclub which killed 64 people and injured hundreds. Released on-demand Nov. 20 and in select theaters, Nanau’s trail takes him from the deadly fire
UPDATED: Local government officials have decided against pulling the plug on overnight location filming in Los Angeles and instead urged producers to avoid doing so for the next month due to the surge in COVID-19 cases. Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles had issued the ban earlier Wednesday but then backtracked a few
Faizon Love filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing Universal of race discrimination when it cut him out of the poster for the 2009 film “Couples Retreat.” The film featured four couples who go to a resort to repair their relationships. Love and his co-star, Kali Hawk, played the only non-white couple, and they were removed
Married musicians Paul Simon and Edie Brickell are so eager to get rid of their country estate in bucolic (and posh) New Canaan, Conn., they’re willing to endure a bank account-brutalizing multimillion-dollar loss. First listed in the spring of 2019 with a too-rosy price of $13.9 million, the sprawling 32-acre spread has been relisted at a hugely discounted $11.9
When Darcy C. Scanlin was hired as the production designer of “Uncle Frank,” she had a very good idea of what writer and director Alan Ball wanted. All she had to do was read the script. Scanlin tells Variety that the pages were full of notes describing every location in exacting detail. “It actually gives
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Saved by the Bell,” streaming now on Peacock. School is officially back in session at Bayside High and while a few things may have changed — the man behind the principal’s desk, for one — Peacock’s “Saved by the Bell” sequel series proves a
With COVID-19 percolating across the United States and much of the country on lockdown, there’s never been a better time to hunker down at home and partake of TV series befitting the entire family — whether that involves kids, parents or even pets. The following shows have a little something for everyone, whether it’s food
I didn’t think I could love and admire Rachel Maddow any more than I already did. That is, until last Thursday night. At the top of her cable-news hour, the MSNBC star anchor took the highly unusual step of getting extremely personal with her viewers as she revealed the hell that she had been living
“Saturday Night Live” is giving country singer Morgan Wallen a second chance. The sketch comedy show has slated Wallen as the musical guest for Dec. 5, with host Jason Bateman, following the cancellation of a scheduled October appearance after videos surfaced of Wallen partying and kissing fans without a mask, an apparent breach of “SNL”
Hal Ketchum, a mainstay of the country music chart in the 1990s and a Grand Ole Opry member, died Monday at age 67. “With great sadness and grief we announce that Hal passed away peacefully last night at home due to complications of Dementia,” his wife, Andrea, wrote on Ketchum’s Facebook page. “May his music
On Oct. 24, Donald Mustard, worldwide creative director at “Fortnite” developer Epic Games, sat down on a Zoom call with The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley and hundreds of his closest fans for a relaxed Sunday afternoon conversation. Answering questions from both Keighley and the fans, Mustard touched on everything from his career path, the
It was a call that took Diane Keaton by surprise. Three decades after “Godfather Part III” opened to middling reviews and box office grosses, Francis Ford Coppola returned to the editing bay to tinker with a film that was largely dismissed as a disappointment. Coppola shuffled scenes around, changed music cues, and affixed a new
Jamie Dornan was in lockdown with his family when he received a fan letter that was more than a little creepy. The star of the “Fifty Shades of Grey” movies was sent “a collage of photographs of a kid,” with a note about his most famous role. “Someone saying that it was my kid, and
Everlane is about to kick off its massive Black Friday sale. From November 27 through November 30, the brand is taking 20 to 40 percent off select merchandise. Though the retailer has remained tight-lipped about what exactly will be on sale, you can expect great deals on cashmere sweaters, leather boots, and outerwear. That’s only
Isabella Gomez is set to lead the “Head of the Class” reboot pilot currently in the works at HBO Max, Variety has confirmed. News of Gomez’s casting comes just one day after it was announced that “One Day at a Time” had been canceled for a second time. Gomez has starred on the show throughout its
Getting to play Selena, one of the most popular Mexican American entertainers in modern times, was reason enough for Christian Serratos to take the titular role in Netflix’s new bio series “Selena.” But more than that, Serratos wanted her 3-year-old daughter, Wolfgang, to see her portray the late singer. “I grew up loving Selena so
CAA partner and music division head Rob Light spoke with Variety as part of the cover story on the 25th anniversary of the changeover at the top of the agency. Light was there when those seismic shifts of the mid-‘90s happened; his tenure with CAA goes back 36 years. But his mind is very much
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not seen the Season 11 finale of “Great British Bake Off,” which debuted on Channel 4 on Tuesday and will stream on Netflix on Friday. The season 11 finale of U.K. broadcaster Channel 4’s popular baking competition “The Great British Bake Off” has set viewing records for
The Transgender Film Center, a new nonprofit organization established to support transgender filmmakers with resources and opportunities for their projects, announced its first initiative, the Transgender Film Center’s Trailblazer Grant. The grant will provide start-up and completion funds to qualifying narrative or documentary projects written, directed or produced by trans creators. The grant is open
Disneyland shut down, production has been halted worldwide and “Succession” Season 3 is extremely delayed. But even in this dumpster fire of a year, the Variety staff manages to find ways to be grateful. Below, read what the writers, editors and reporters at Variety are thankful for in entertainment this Thanksgiving. Carey Mulligan in “Promising
“The Truffle Hunters” is a stark contrast to many of this year’s acclaimed documentaries. Pandemics, wars and political failures are far away from the film’s secretive, enveloping look at the elderly men and their dogs who track down the rare, delicious and staggeringly expensive white fungi in the forests of Northern Italy. Environmental stresses and
Prentice Penny wants to see life imitate art — imitating life — in joining the effort to inspire people to buy from Black-owned businesses this holiday shopping season. The showrunner and executive producer of “Insecure,” the HBO comedy created by and starring Issa Rae, is among the guests on Friday’s finale of Facebook’s “#BuyBlack Friday,”
This is the winter of discontent for Hollywood workers, as no level of seniority has been spared from the wave of mass layoffs. Warner Bros. has been shaken by two rounds of layoffs and a wholesale restructuring that have ushered out veterans with decades of service to the Hollywood studio. NBCUniversal has rewired the structure of its
The Weeknd‘s Grammys snub had nothing to do with him playing the Super Bowl … at least according to the Recording Academy Chief. Harvey Mason Jr. — interim President and CEO of the Academy — says, “We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated. I was surprised and can empathize with what
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