SANTA FE, N.M. — A crew member on “Rust” gave jurors a tearful account Monday of the fatal shooting on set, and laid much of the blame on Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the film’s armorer. Ross Addiego, the dolly grip, became choked up and cried at several points as he recalled the events surrounding the death
Kim Kardashian does great work in criminal justice reform — but in trying to shed light on one important case … she mistakenly highlighted a guy who’s got nothing to do with this. The reality star flubbed Monday when she posted the wrong photo of death row inmate Ivan Cantu — accidentally uploading an image
Randy Spendlove, president of worldwide music and publishing at Paramount Pictures, is no stranger to musical biopics. His roster includes “Dreamgirls” and “Rocketman.” When it came time to bring reggae icon Bob Marley’s story to the big screen, his challenge remained the same as always: “How do you tell the story about a legendary figure?
The Writers Guild of America East has tapped Sam Wheeler as the union’s new executive director. Chosen by the WGA East council as successor to longtime WGA East leader Lowell Peterson, who exited his post last October after the conclusion of the writers strike, Wheeler enters the role after serving as the national executive director
Disney executive Sean Bailey is exiting after 15 years as the motion picture group’s president of production. He’ll be replaced by Searchlight’s chief David Greenbaum, who has been named to the newly created role of president of Live Action and 20th Century Studios. In his new post, effective immediately, Greenbaum will report to Disney Entertainment
Amazon Prime Video has ordered a drama series based on the comic book “El Gato Negro” by Richard Dominguez, Variety has learned. The series, currently titled “El Gato,” will be shot in both English and Spanish. Diego Boneta is attached to star, with Eric Carrasco adapting the comic book for the screen. “Sharing ‘El Gato’
E. Duke Vincent, an Emmy-winning TV producer, died on Feb. 10 in Montecito, Calif. He was 91. With Aaron Spelling, the duo worked on 43 TV series, such as “Dynasty,” “Hotel,” “Vegas,” “Matt Houston,” “The Colbys,” “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Melrose Place,” in addition to seven miniseries including Jackie Collins’ “Hollywood Wives” and James Micheners’
J.K. Rowling criticized Sky News on X (formerly Twitter) after the British television news channel posted a story about a 26-year-old being jailed for murder and referred to her as a “woman” and not a transgender woman. Scarlet Blake was found guilty last week of murdering a man four months after she live-streamed a video
Looks like the internet won’t have Che Diaz to kick around anymore. According to multiple sources, Sara Ramírez won’t be returning to “And Just Like That” for its third season, which starts production later this year for a 2025 premiere on Max. Ramírez has played nonbinary standup comedian Che Diaz since Season 1, during which
As expected, Atlantic Music Group announced on Monday that it will be laying off around two dozen people, with the majority coming from the radio and video departments. In an internal memo to the company’s staff obtained by Variety, chairman-CEO Julie Greenwald said Atlantic will be “bringing on new and additional skill sets in social
Milo Ventimiglia was just 19 years old and starting out in Hollywood when he was cast as a gay teen in the 1996 short, “Must Be the Music.” You’d think his team would have advised him not to play queer, but Ventimiglia says he received nothing but support to sign on. “I played a gay
Christopher Nolan seems primed for the sort of coronation the Oscars bestow now and again — his film “Oppenheimer’s” sweep of precursor awards has had a sort of lumbering majesty to it, a sense that the grandest spectacle of the year is about to get a commensurate celebration from the Dolby Theatre stage. There’s a
A joke referencing the term “fire crotch” has been removed from the digital version of 2024’s “Mean Girls” after Lindsay Lohan publicly took issue with it. “Fire crotch” was infamously associated with Lohan after socialite Brandon Davis made crude comments about the actor’s body in a 2006 paparazzi video that also featured Paris Hilton. Lohan,
Jennifer Yale has joined the untitled Peacock espionage thriller series starring Simu Liu as co-showrunner, Variety has learned. The show was announced with a straight-to-series order earlier in February. Thomas Brandon created the series and will also serve as co-showrunner alongside Yale. The official description of the series states, “Five minutes in the future, a
Netflix has acquired the independently produced sitcom “Tires” from stand-up comedian Shane Gillis, who stars and serves as an exec producer. The six-episode scripted comedy, which was self-financed, will premiere on May 23. As part of the deal with Gillis, Netflix will also produce a new stand-up special with the comedian — his second for
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the creation of two separate branches, dividing the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch into two distinct entities: the Animation Branch and the Short Films Branch. The Animation Branch will represent approximately 700 Academy members working in the animation industry. This
Charithra Chandran is not in Season 3 of “Bridgerton,” the British star has confirmed, but she has a range of other projects coming up. Chandran, who is of Indian heritage, will produce a reality TV series based on ancient Sanskrit-language text the “Kama Sutra.” While the text was primarily designed as an art of living
Nippon powerhouse Toho has thrown its weight behind directors Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita’s “Ghost Cat Anzu,” overseeing the Japanese release and marking the occasion with a brand-new teaser. As previously announced, specialty distributor Gkids has already picked up the film for North America, while Charades continues to roll out international sales. Bringing together Japan’s
One year after launching with an ambitious aim to become the premier industry confab for dealmakers on the African continent, the JBX Content Market returns to Johannesburg with an expanded, three-day event that will touch on some of the key trends in the fast-growing African market. Running parallel to the Joburg Film Festival, whose sixth
“First-Time Buyer’s Club,” the unscripted series where teacher-turned-realtor Amina Stevens supports clients intimidated by buying a home for the first time, has been renewed for a second season by the Oprah Winfrey Network. Production on the next season will kick off later this year, with an air date scheduled for 2024, according to the network.
Gemma Garcia has been named the new head of Noticias Telemundo, Telemundo’s news division, a move that puts an executive with deep experience in digital content and distribution in charge of the company’s news operations She will report directly to Luis Fernández, chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. Garcia will oversee Noticias Telemundo’s news programming, editorial
Just one week after Beyoncé became the first Black woman to lead Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with her twangy “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the single now reigns over the publication’s all-genre-inclusive Hot 100 songs list. “Texas Hold ‘Em,” along with the single “16 Carriages,” was released during the Super Bowl and later debuted on the Hot
Zendaya, Michelle Pfeiffer and Oscar winners Nicolas Cage and Al Pacino are among the first group of presenters for this year’s 96th Oscars ceremony. Also presenting are last year’s four acting winners — Brendan Fraser from “The Whale” and Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis from the best picture winner “Everything Everywhere
Emmy and BAFTA nominee Dominique Fishback is set to receive the Culture Certified award at The Creative Collective’s inaugural Creative Class celebration. The Culture Certified award will honor both established and emerging Black talent and seeks to recognize individuals whose contributions “significantly impact, influence, and shape cultural landscapes at large.” The special award is presented
In Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” Margot Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie’s perfectly pink world is rocked to the core when she has an existential crisis during a dance party. What follows is a sequence of events that propel her into an emotional journey as she begins to grow closer to the real world. “It was important that her
After months of speculation, Ryan Gosling will officially perform “I’m Just Ken” live at the Oscars. Sources tell Variety that the actor will sing the Academy Award-nominated song from “Barbie” during the 96th annual ceremony on March 10. The Academy declined to comment. Whether he would agree to show off his singing chops on the
The trial of Alec Baldwin on involuntary manslaughter in the accidental shooting on the set of “Rust” will begin on July 9, a judge in Santa Fe, N.M., ruled on Monday. Jury selection is scheduled to begin that day. Testimony will begin July 10, and the trial is scheduled to last eight days, concluding on
Drake is throwing more support to his fellow Canadian Tory Lanez as he serves out his 10-year sentence in the Megan Thee Stallion case … but Champagne Papi wants him out ASAP!!! Following the Cleveland show of his, “It’s All a Blur – Big As the What?” tour, Drake tossed up a black-and-white photo of
The “Outlander” prequel series at Starz has cast four actors as younger versions of key characters from the original show. “Outlander: Blood of My Blood” has added Rory Alexander (“Inland,” “Pistol”), Sam Retford (“Hoard,” “Ackley Bridge”), Séamus McLean Ross (“Rebus,” “Payback”), and Conor MacNeill (“The Tourist,” “Industry”) to its cast. Alexander will play a young
Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind docuseries “The Staircase,” has once again struck a chord with “Samber,” a limited series about a French serial rapist that explores the damages of sexual violence against women and children. “Samber,” a six-part thriller series directed by de Lestrade, charts the true case of Dino Scala, a seemingly