The NBA already has Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. Now it’s ready to work with Issa Rae. The producer and actor isn’t picking up a ball to play against the Nets, the Jazz or the Golden State Warrrior, but she may have to execute a trickier maneuver: luring fans back to a new NBA cycle
Hulu has optioned the rights to Curtis Sittenfeld’s alternative history book “Rodham,” which takes place in a world in which Hillary Rodham never married Bill Clinton. The series is described as telling the story of an ambitious young woman, developing her extraordinary mind in the latter part of the 20th century, moving from idealism to
Jonathan Majors is on — well, a major roll at the moment. Majors has appeared in a string of high-profile features in a matter of a few short years. Those include “Da 5 Bloods” from Spike Lee, Sundance hit “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Hostiles” with Christian Bale and “White Boy Rick” with
The New York Times Company announced that COO Meredith Kopit Levien, who has overseen its digital businesses for the last three years, will succeed Mark Thompson as president and CEO effective Sept. 8. Kopit Levien, 49, will become the youngest chief exec of the media and publishing company. She also will join the New York
In the wake of Kanye West’s behavior in recent days related to his bipolar disorder, his wife Kim Kardashian West posted a long statement Wednesday morning asking for “compassion and empathy” for her husband. “As many of you know, Kanye has bipolar disorder,” she wrote on her Instagram story. “Anyone who has this or has
Even as many of New York City’s homeowners and prospective buyers hightail it to the suburbs, long-married Hollywood couple Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have added to their sprawling real estate portfolio with the $3.5 million purchase of a two bedroom condo — as was first reported in the New York Post — located in
“All I Can Say” filmmakers Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould and Colleen Hennessy struck gold when they decided to make a Blind Melon documentary. The team had no shortage of material. Band frontman Shannon Hoon religiously filmed himself between 1990 to 1995, a five-year period that roughly encompasses Blind Melon’s formation and rise to the top
Two of the only original offerings on broadcast TV dipped to series low ratings last night. Over on NBC, “World of Dance” tripped over its feet, falling almost 30% from last week to a 0.5 rating amogn adults 18-49 and drawing 3.3 million total viewers. That represents a series low rating for the dance competition
Cinematic is the best way to describe Valentino’s haute couture collection for the Fall 2020 season. This morning, via livestream, the Italian label’s creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli, took full advantage of the video format that has become part and parcel in the fashion industry to bring viewers into a realm of fantasy. The mini film,
Marie Curie’s barrier-breaking work as a physicist and chemist has inspired countless movies, plays and books over the years. But Marjane Satrapi, the director of “Radioactive,” a new film about Curie’s life and career, wasn’t interested in telling a conventional story of birth-to-death hagiography. Satrapi, Oscar nominated for her 2007 animated film “Persepolis,” has made a movie
Black makeup artist Denise Tunnell has over 84 credits to her name. Her films include, “Mean Girls 2,” “Stomp the Yard,” “The Notebook,” “Furious 7” and most recently, Netflix’s “Sweet Magnolias.” Despite that body of work, Tunnell is still asked on job interviews, “What White actors have you done?” She would rather be asked, “Can
As a preview to their forthcoming “Goats Heads Soup” deluxe edition, the Rolling Stones have dropped “Scarlet,” a previously unreleased 1974 outtake featuring Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and former Traffic/Blind Faith bassist Ric Grech. Recorded in October of 1974, the song features some distinctive Page soloing over a choppy Keith Richards riff, and according to
“This has been a hell of a year,” Gary Davey, CEO of Sky Studios, the production arm of Comcast-owned European pay-TV operator Sky, said Wednesday, contemplating the carnage caused by COVID. Davey said it was “the most challenging year” he’d had since 1985, the year he launched Sky Channel. Sky Studios, which was set up
Dave Grohl has spoken out in defense of teachers as the Trump administration continues its “daunting and evermore politicized question of reopening our schools in the coronavirus pandemic.” In the first audio version of the Foo Fighters founder’s “Dave’s True Stories” series, Grohl — whose mother (pictured with him above) was a public school teacher
Germany’s ZDF Enterprises, experts in crime and the production and sales outfit behind Nordic Noir original “The Bridge” and Swedish mega-hit crime thriller “Before We Die,” is at it again. This time round, the commercial arm of German public broadcaster ZDF has greenlit “Body of Water,” an eight-part crime drama showrun and written by Brendan
London-based financier and producer Anton has tapped Cecile Gaget, a well-respected French film executive, as president of international production and distribution. Gaget, who will start at Anton on Oct. 1, has been a key executive at Gaumont for over a decade and has been a driving force behind the French studio’s international distribution and acquisitions.
Breaking News Kanye West continued his late-night, alarming rants … again targeting his wife, his mother-in-law and many, many others. Kanye, who is holed up at his Wyoming ranch, attacked Kim and Kris again … he says for trying to get him placed on a 51/50 psychiatric hold. Ye claimed, “I been trying to get
Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer Brandi Carlile and her musical collaborators, twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth, have signed a worldwide administration agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG). Carlile has won five Grammys since releasing her critically acclaimed 2018 album “By The Way, I Forgive You,” which was written by Carlile and the Hanseroths
In the wake of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against several employees and artists associated with Burger Records, the Southern California indie label has confirmed that it will shut down completely, forgoing an earlier plan to rebrand under new management. This follows a statement released earlier on Tuesday evening by the lable’s would-be interim president
Baseball advertising appears to have pivoted from a months-long slump to hitting above average. Fox Corp. has sold more than 90% of its ad inventory in its share of games in Major League Baseball’s pandemic-truncated 2020 season, according to Seth Winter, executive vice president of sports sales for the company, as well as all the
Disney Plus and Disney Channel have swooped for a pair of animated TV movies based on the popular “Miraculous” franchise, produced by L.A.-based banner ZAG and Mediawan-owned “The Little Prince” producer ON Kids & Family. The two film projects, titled “Miraculous World: New York – United HeroeZ” and “Miraculous World: Shanghai – Lady Dragon,” have
Verizon has assembled a lineup of celebs and activists for its inaugural Citizen Verizon Assembly next week, tapping Yara Shahidi, Karamo Brown, Andrew Yang, Ben & Jerry’s CEO Matthew McCarthy and more for a livestreaming event discussing strategies for driving social change. The July 28 event is part of the telco’s corporate-responsibility initiative committing to
British Hollywood director Simon West has been ordered by a Beijing tribunal to return $200,000 in directors fees to Chinese firm Hongmaisui HMS Entertainment in a legal dispute over an unmade 2014 film. HMS filed the case with the Beijing Arbitration Commission back in 2016, after the production was derailed by difficulties in procuring a
Spotify and Universal Music Group, one of the industry’s three biggest music companies, announced a multiyear global music licensing pact. Under the deal, UMG will “deepen its leading role as an early adopter of future products” on Spotify’s platform and “provide valuable feedback to Spotify’s development team,” the companies said. Universal Music also will collaborate
“Trainspotting” creator Irvine Welsh will adapt his novel “Crime” alongside long-standing screenwriting partner Dean Cavanagh (“Wedding Belles”) for BBC and ITV-backed streamer BritBox U.K. The six-episode production is one of four original commissions announced by the platform on Wednesday. Set in Edinburgh and directed by James Strong (“Liar”), “Crime” will star Dougray Scott (“Mission: Impossible
Orange Studio has boarded “Tanzanite,” a female-centric thriller from Swiss-Rwandan filmmaker Kantarama Gahigiri, Variety has learned exclusively. “Tanzanite” takes place in the year 2045 in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, a lawless city where temperatures have become dangerously high and the government has imposed a curfew to tame brewing unrest. One day, a bright and feisty 11-year-old
ViacomCBS Networks U.K. has announced several steps that will actively strengthen its diversity and inclusion drive. The company is implementing a ‘no diversity, no commission’ content policy for its suppliers, and will extend the Creative Diversity Network’s Diamond diversity data monitoring across all its pay TV brands, in addition to ViacomCBS-backed public service broadcaster Channel
Beijing is set to reopen cinemas again in its “low-risk areas” on Friday, July 24, officials said, but attendance will be capped at 30% and no concessions sold. As of Tuesday afternoon, there had been no new local confirmed cases in the capital for 15 consecutive days, meaning that all parts of the capital are
When you look at the photographs of Helmut Newton, with their spectacularly cold and severe Amazon-women-on-the-moon erotic shock value, and you try to imagine the man behind the camera (it’s sort of hard not to), you tend to picture him as a figure every bit as kinky and forbidding as the outrageous things he’s photographing.
Members of the Writers Guild of America West saw their earnings grow a healthy 3.1% to $1.68 billion last year, thanks to gains in television and digital platforms. The guild’s newly released annual report notes that the number of writers working in feature films rose 4% last year compared to 2017, while the level of