After pivoting from their traditional gala format, Women in Film and 53 celebrity supporters made it work to air the organization’s first-ever virtual special Wednesday night on the CW. Eva Longoria, Alfre Woodard, Jane Fonda and Rita Moreno were among the stars who participated in the one-hour televised event, which championed women in all industries,
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
“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
#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
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
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
Amid prison, pregnancy and a pandemic, City Girls have still come out on top. With the release of last year’s “Act Up,” the Miami duo — comprised of Yung Miami and JT — had Summer 2019 on lock. But JT (real name: Jatavia Johnson) watched her star rise from prison — she did more than
Spotify signed a deal with Rickey Thompson and Denzel Dion, best friends and popular fashion and lifestyle influencers, for an exclusive weekly podcast series. The two L.A.-based comedic internet stars, who first rose to fame on the now-defunct Vine app, have sizable followings on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok — a fanbase Spotify is banking on
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
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 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,
London-headquartered entities, the development-focused content creator Grand River Productions, and Anglophone markets and Asia producer The Bridge have teamed to co-produce a television feature adaptation of original stage play “Wireless Operator.” Written by Bob Baldwin (“Grim Tales”) and Max Kinnings (“Alleycats”), the story is a personal look at the experiences of the World War II
108 Media, a Singapore-based content distribution and development company with offices in Toronto, Japan and Europe, has picked up international sales rights to docuseries “Fearless: Rise of the Johor Southern Tigers.” The series spotlights Johor Darul Ta’zim FC (JDT), a soccer team, whose victories have helped build a community, a society, a state and a
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,
Kevin Mayer has stepped down as CEO of TikTok, just months after taking the job and after recent pressure by President Trump over the app’s security, Variety has confirmed. Mayer sent a letter to TikTok and ByteDance employees on Wednesday night, announcing his decision. “In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done
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.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson received immediate backlash on Twitter after saying Kyle Rittenhouse, who was arrested and charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the shootings of two protesters in Kenosha, Wis., “decided to maintain order when no one else would.” “Are we really surprised this looting and arson accelerated to murder? How shocked are
Vice President Mike Pence defended President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday night and warned Americans that they will not be “safe in Joe Biden’s America.” Speaking to a small crowd at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Pence accepted the renomination as Trump’s running mate. He spoke as Hurricane Laura bore down on the
Popular podcast host and cultural commentator Joe Budden said he will leave Spotify after a two-year exclusive run of his “The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory and Mal” on the service, claiming the audio provider is “pillaging” his audience. In his most recent podcast episode on Wednesday, Aug. 26, Budden spent the better part of
The struggles of an undocumented immigrant who is also a trans woman in the Brighton Beach area of New York are given a subtle, delicate and ultimately powerful treatment in “Lingua Franca,” by filmmaker Isabel Sandoval. Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing will virtually debut the film in select theaters and on Netflix Aug. 26. Sandoval, who’s
Independent distributor WellGo USA has secured North American distribution rights for action-packed sci-fi comedy “Max Cloud.” The company plans to give it a digital on-demand release in December. A theatrical release remains a possibility, but will be determined by the state of the coronavirus-strained exhibition sector. Rights are handled by U.K.-based Fae Film & Television,
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Blake Lively, Richard Gere and Diane Keaton are attached to star in the romantic comedy “The Making Of,” with Endeavor Content handling sales at the upcoming Toronto Intl. Film Festival. Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz are producing through their Bedford Falls Company banner with production planned for the spring. The duo is also
The premiere date for season 4 of “The Masked Singer” is a mystery no longer. Fox has announced that its wildly popular guessing game show will debut its fourth season on Sept. 23 in its usual 8 p.m. time slot. Not only that, but the network has decided to fast-track singing competition series “I Can
Lionsgate has extended the contract of longtime chief executive officer Jon Feltheimer three months, now expiring on Aug. 21, 2023, with options to push it into 2024 or 2025. Feltheimer has been CEO of the entertainment conglomerate since 2000, teaming with vice chairman Michael Burns during the subsequent two decades. He will turn 69 in
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix unveiled the trailer for “Julie and the Phantoms,” and Syfy announced six cast members set to star in the upcoming drama series, “The Surrealtor.” CASTING Syfy‘s upcoming drama “The Surrealtor” is set to include Tim Rozon, Sarah Levy, Adam Korson, Maurice Dean Wint, Savannah Basley and Tennille Read as
Face coverings aren’t just worn during a pandemic; they’ve also been a staple of “The Masked Singer” since early 2019. With a new season in development, the show’s Emmy-nominated costume designer Marina Toybina talked creating multiple designs at once, collaborating with artists and executing the burlesque cat in Variety Artisans presented by HBO. Most times,
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson doesn’t think he can be canceled. The rapper and television producer, whose newest project, “Power Book II: Ghost” premieres on Starz Sept. 6, said during Variety‘s Entertainment Marketing Summit presented by Deloitte that he doesn’t care whether people love him or hate him – as long as they care. “I’m an entertainer,
Margaret Qualley has been cast in the lead role of the upcoming Netflix dramedy series “Maid,” Variety has confirmed. The series will be based on Stephanie Land’s “Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive.” It will chronicle a single mother who turns to housekeeping to—barely—make ends meet as she battles against poverty,
Hey there: you’re an all-star super-spreader. Or you might be if you attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota earlier this month, where bands including Smash Mouth performed for socially undistanced thousands at a time over the course of 10 days, at an event attended by hundreds of thousands in total. According to the