“Grace and Frankie” production designer Devorah Herbert recalls times in her career when she would walk into tech scout meetings and be the only woman in the room. She couldn’t say anything about it at then because “if you asked for equality in the workplace, you were seen as someone who was bitchy,” she says.
Tom Hanks shows what a commanding actor he can be from the first taut combat sequence of “Greyhound,” when the title warship, leading a convoy through the North Atlantic in the early months of World War II, spies a U-boat speeding toward it from a dozen miles away. As the German sub approaches, we hear
Ennio Morricone, who died Monday at the age of 91, wrote more than 400 original film scores, many of which have entered the classic movie-music pantheon. While trying to narrow them down to the 10 best is an impossible task, here, in chronological order, are an essential 10: “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
Modern-day cowboys, cable-news magnates, corrupt school administrators and England’s Royal Family: Over the past year they’ve all been portrayed on cable and streaming services, and they all needed music. Brian Tyler, who is usually busy with feature films like “Crazy Rich Asians,” took on scoring the entire 10-episode second season of Paramount’s “Yellowstone,” which stars
Singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Charlie Daniels, whose fusion of traditional country and Southern rock made him a popular cross-genre artist during the ‘70s and ‘80s, died Monday of a hemorrhagic stroke in Hermitage, Tenn. He was 83. After establishing himself on the Nashville studio scene with session and touring work behind such performers as Bob
In 1852 Emily Dickinson published her first poem anonymously. She was still just a teenager, but the reason for keeping her name off the verses ran deeper: In the 1800s, a woman’s place was in the home, with few attending school, let alone pursuing public positions. But Dickinson was determined to “make sure her work
When Olivia Colman needs to demonstrate Queen Elizabeth II’s authority on “The Crown,” there’s a lot of pomp and circumstance that producers can turn to, not to mention having her wear the titular headgear. But most female characters in contemporary drama series don’t have a crown handy when they need to project power in business
When Liz Feldman and her writers’ room were working on the second season of “Dead to Me,” child separation at the border was dominating news headlines. Given that the majority of her room is made up of mothers, the writer and executive producer says such news was “weighing really heavily” and “almost subconsciously one of
Looking back at some of my favorite new characters from the past year of television, I realized with a burst of pleasant surprise that many of them are, in fact, teenage girls. For as much as TV has been fascinated by them, it has been rarely good at portraying them with anything approaching nuance. On-screen,
This Emmy season, Angelica Ross made history as the first female transgender performer to be a series regular in two series — FX’s “American Horror Story: 1984” and “Pose.” In the latter, she portrayed Candy Ferocity, a ballroom performer who started her own house but was still struggling to get by. Her story showed the
Had “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” been pitched in the era it depicts (the 1950s), creator Amy Sherman-Palladino suspects network executives would have loved the idea of a character that, when their marriage falls apart, finds a voice within standup comedy — save for one small detail: “They would say, ‘No one would believe that —
When adapting the story of Madam C.J. Walker, America’s first Black female self-made millionaire, into Netflix’s limited series “Self Made,” co-showrunner Elle Johnson knew that there was one thing the team must get right — the hair. “This was something that myself, the other co-showrunner Janine [Sherman Barrois] and Nicole [Jefferson Asher, series writer] were
Antonio Banderas, Edgar Wright, Jean Michel Jarre, Chance the Rapper and even the Italian prime minister were among the people paying to legendary film composer Ennio Morricone early Monday, who died following complications from a fall. He was 91. Over seven decades, Morricone contributed to over 520 scores including, “The Good, the Bad and the
Singer and “This Is Us” star Mandy Moore — one of several women who accused her ex-husband, singer-songwriter Ryan Adams, of sexual misconduct or abusive behavior — spoke about the public apology he issued over the weekend, in which he said in part, “There are no words to express how bad I feel about the
Hollywood screenwriter and author Bettina Gilois died Sunday night in her sleep after battling cancer, her friend Joshua Plant confirmed to Variety. She was 58. Gilois wrote the HBO film “Bessie” starring Queen Latifah, and numerous other films and books. Before her death, Gilois had several projects in the works, including the drama “Shutter Spy,”
Before Bess (Brittany O’Grady) gets up the nerve to play her own songs for an audience, she anticipates the confused feedback she might get. As she explains in the first episode of “Little Voice” with a half-apologetic shrug, her music is “very…earnest.” At another point, forced to put herself in terms the music industry might
Eye-popping action steals the show in “Lupin III: The First,” the first computer-animated feature entry in the classic franchise about the French gentleman thief and master of disguise. Casting the hero as an Indiana Jones-like adventurer tussling with Nazis to unearth an ancient scientific invention, visual effects wizard Takashi Yamazaki has pulled off another hit
Danish writer Karen Blixen, whose memoir “Out of Africa” and short story “Babette’s Feast” were both turned into Academy Award-winning films, is now the subject of another big-screen makeover with an adaptation of her short story “The Immortal Story” set to be penned by Argentina’s Daniel Rosenfeld and Lucía Puenzo. Argentine-French actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart
Austrian broadcaster ORF and Germany’s ZDF have commissioned a three-episode season two for period crime drama “Vienna Blood,” produced by Endor Productions — a Red Arrow Studios company — and MR Film. After successful season one runs in the U.S. and U.K., both PBS and BBC Two are on board as well. Screenwriter Steve Thompson
“Star Wars” actor John Boyega will star alongside Jodie Turner-Smith (“Queen & Slim”), Felicity Jones (“The Theory of Everything”) and Jack Reynor (“Midsommar”) in thriller “Borderland,” to be directed by the Guard Brothers (“The Uninvited’). The film will follow an Irish paramilitary soldier who witnesses the shooting of his wife by an SAS sergeant and
“Hamilton” delivered for Disney Plus — with the musical movie of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s reimagining of the founding father’s life spurring a spike in app downloads over its July 4th weekend debut. The movie premiered on the Disney Plus streaming service on Friday, July 3. From Friday through Sunday, the Disney Plus app was downloaded 513,323
Popular exercise platform Peloton Interactive has named a new head of music, promoting Gwen Bethel Riley, previously vice president of music partnerships, to senior vp. She replaces current svp and music head Paul DeGooyer, who will transition to consultancy next month after three years at the position and nearly five with the company. Riley joined
AT&T’s WarnerMedia has promoted Priya Dogra to president for WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific. Dogra replaces Giorgio Stock, who stepped down at the end of June. Dogra will report into Gerhard Zeiler, chief revenue officer for WarnerMedia and president for WarnerMedia International Networks. She will continue her existing
“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling is back in the spotlight after stating on Twitter that young people are being “shunted towards” hormones and surgery that may not be in their best interests, and comparing the measures to “conversion therapy.” “Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay
Terrence Malick-produced English-language costume drama “The Book of Vision,” directed by Italy’s Carlo Hintermann, will open the Venice Film Festival’s independently-run Critics’ Week section on Sept. 2. (Watch an exclusive clip from the film above.) Venice, barring complications, is set to be the first major international film event to hold a physical edition after the
Australia is to formally close the state border between New South Wales and Victoria in response to a growing resurgence of the coronavirus. The move shuts down all travel between Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest hubs of the Australian film and TV industry. The move was announced Monday afternoon and will take effect from
Exclusive The war between Antonio Brown and his rape accuser is raging on … The former NFL All-Pro now claims Britney Taylor is “hiding” from giving a live deposition — and he’s asking a judge to force her to show up in person for the depo … or, if not, throw out the lawsuit. But,
Oscar winner Ennio Morricone, composer of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “The Mission” and among the most prolific and admired composers in film history, has died. He was 91. Morricone died early Monday in a Rome clinic, where he was taken shortly after suffering a fall that caused a hip fracture, his
Banijay has unveiled its rebranded identity following the completion of its takeover of Endemol Shine Group last week. The combined group, which is headed by Marco Bassetti, CEO, will be entitled Banijay. The Endemol Shine brand is effectively being retired from the new brand. Banijay’s $2.2 billion deal for Endemol Shine was cleared by the
Derek Tsang’s youth drama “Better Days” was awarded the top prize, a Golden Mulberry, at the Festival of Far East Film in Udine, northern Italy. The festival was largely online, and the prizes selected by an audience which both viewed the films and voted electronically. Some 25,000 votes were cast for the audience award, by