January 30, 2020 2:00PM PT Sarah Shahi has been cast in the lead role of the upcoming Netflix dramedy series “Sex/Life,” Variety has learned. The series is described as the story of a love triangle between a woman, her husband, and her past. Shahi will play Billie Connelly, a woman with everything to lose, a suburban
The BBC and other U.K. national broadcasters have been barred from recording Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit Day message. Johnson will issue an “address to the nation” on Friday, Jan. 31, to mark Britain’s exit from the European Union at 11PM. But Johnson intends to break with a long-standing tradition by filming the message internally,
Amazon announced that it now has more than 150 million paid Prime members worldwide. CEO Jeff Bezos disclosed the figure in releasing Amazon’s fourth-quarter 2019 results, which again blew past Wall Street expectations. The company, which rarely releases such metrics, isn’t breaking out the number of Prime members by geography. “We’ve made Prime delivery faster
MADRID — Spain’s two most recognizable cinematic faces, Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz, will co-star in a new film from Madrid’s The Mediapro Studio, titled “Competencia Oficial” (Official Competition), directed by Argentine filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat (“The Distinguished Citizen,” “The Man Next Door”). The pair recently both starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and
Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” continued its run of top critics’ honors this season, scooping the Film of the Year and Director of the Year awards at the London Film Critics’ Circle kudos ceremony this evening. The victory puts extra wind in the sails of the South Korean phenomenon as it heads into the final stretch of
Three aspiring filmmakers couldn’t contain their enthusiasm when Queen Latifah entered Tribeca Studios in lower Manhattan on Wednesday to mark the kickoff of talent development initiative The Queen Collective. When Latifah greeted the trio, they jumped from their seats to give her hugs. Queen Collective is Latifah’s effort to open doors for new talent in
“New Day” has brought new possibilities to CNN. The cable-news network had long run general-news A.M. programs like “American Morning” and “Starting Point.” And indeed, when “New Day” launched in 2013, it was initially billed as something in the tradition of NBC’s “Today.” Then the Trump administration came along. In 2020, CNN executives view “New
“The Young and the Restless” has been renewed for four more years through the 2023-2024 broadcast season, announced CBS and Sony Pictures Television, taking the long-running daytime drama to its 50th year on the air. “Having the #1 show for any length of time in any daypart is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Kelly Kahl, president
January 30, 2020 1:51PM PT WWE is poised for a massive management shakeup as longtime executives George Barrios and Michelle Wilson have been forced out of their roles as co-presidents and from the company’s board of directors. Frank A. Riddick III, who has been a WWE board member for 11 years, has been named interim
Addressing the importance of representation both on screen and in the office, writer-director J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot co-CEO Katie McGrath discussed at the 2020 Upfront Summit in Los Angeles on Thursday the decision to bring more diversity to the “Star Wars” franchise and to their company, Bad Robot Productions. “In the earliest stages, we
Ray J was quick to quash rumors that he’d been “in talks” with members of the Trump administration to potentially pardon Suge Knight, whom he considers his godfather. In 2018, 54-year-old Knight was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 28 years in prison after running over two men at a burger drive-thru three years prior.
January 30, 2020 12:00PM PT ABC has ordered a drama pilot based on the book “Wreckage” by Emily Bleeker. In the project, Lillian Linden looks like a brave survivor of a plane crash on the surface. But she’s been lying to her family, her friends, and the whole world since rescue helicopters scooped her and
Fred Silverman, the executive who became the only person in TV history to have headed programming for each of the Big Three broadcast networks, died on Thursday at his home in the Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 82. Silverman died with his family by his side. During his prolific career, Silverman was credited with helping
Bob Shaw has scored his first Oscar nomination, as production designer for “The Irishman,” one of 10 nominations for the Netflix film. “Irishman” looks at U.S. history through the eyes mafia hitman Frank Sheeran and his relationship with Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. The epic entailed 108 shooting days, with several locations each day. How did
January 30, 2020 12:32PM PT Voltage Pictures unveiled the first look at its political-action drama “Redemption Day,” starring Andy Garcia, Gary Dourdan and Serinda Swan and set in Morocco. In the Moroccan-set film, Dourda portrays a US. Marine Captain on a rescue mission to save his wife (Swan) when she is kidnapped by a terrorist
Paradiso, the recently-launched French podcast studio, is expanding to the U.S. and has tapped the L.A.-based executive Emi Norris to develop a slate of original narrative podcasts, as well as adapt Paradiso’s hit formats for the U.S. and other English-speaking markets. Paradiso is Europe’s first podcast studio to expand to U.S. soil. The company opened
Somewhere in downtown Cleveland, along the shore of Lake Erie, Greg Harris is busy pondering all that led up to the naming of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020… and the inevitable controversies that followed. Inevitably, the inclusion of singer Whitney Houston and rapper the Notorious B.I.G. — voted in along
Shakira and Jennifer Lopez came together for a press conference on Thursday afternoon at the Hilton in Downtown Miami ahead of their upcoming Super Bowl halftime show performance on Feb. 2. The two Latina powerhouses each graced the stage and sat side by side to share slight details on the long awaited moment when two
Amy Schumer, Greg Berlanti, Ben Platt, Rosie O’Donnell, Julianne Moore and Issa Rae are among the A-listers calling out major studios for donating to NRA-backed politicians. Over 100 actors, producers and industry creatives signed an open letter, urging Hollywood companies to end political contributions to candidates who take money from the NRA and vote against
Ever since Universal-DreamWorks’ “1917” debuted, reporters have seemed fascinated with the fact that women played key creative roles in the film. The list included Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who co-wrote it with director Sam Mendes, and producers Pippa Harris and Jayne-Ann Tenggren. The surprise is surprising. Neal Street Prods., which Harris, Mendes and Caro Newling formed in
Sundance Film Festival is a home for premieres of indie films and experimental content, and this year’s fest featured a first look at a forthcoming project from interactive-video company Eko called “Damage Control” presented in partnership with Variety. The comedy’s co-directors and co-creators Alon Benari and Johnny Milord and cast members Emily Pendergast and Rekha
A dark, gritty iteration of a classic fairytale. A woman who will stop at nothing to exact revenge on those who took her family. Will you see ‘Gretel & Hansel’ or ‘The Rhythm Section’ in theaters this weekend? ► Buy Your Tickets Now: https://www.fandango.com?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Tune-in to Weekend Ticket every Thursday to help you decide what
Seventeen or so years ago, as the world was first getting to know the rising underdog Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, it would have been hard to imagine the most controversial man in hip-hop receiving a star on the Walk of Fame. It would have been even harder to imagine that his successes as a beverage
Emma Watts has resigned as president of production at Twentieth Century Studios, ending a two decade-long run at the film company. The move comes after mutterings that Watts was unhappy about not being given more to do at Twentieth after the company was acquired by the Walt Disney Company in 2019. In her resignation letter,
To say Cynthia Erivo’s last few months have been nothing like she has ever experienced before would be an understatement. Let’s just get to the obvious: the British actor and singer is not only a first-time Oscar nominee, but she’s up for two Academy Awards, one for best actress for her portrayal of Harriet Tubman
They’re the scenes that get us talking. They’re the moving moments in which a film comes into focus not only for the audience, but also for the actors. While they may not necessarily be the clips chosen by the Academy to showcase their nominees, these sequences hold something special within. This year’s moments that made
Quibi CEO Meg Whitman, who is 67 days away from the launch of the company’s ambitious new streaming service, claimed that the company doesn’t really see the likes of Netflix, Hulu or Disney Plus as rivals. Whitman, speaking Thursday at the 2020 Upfront Summit in Los Angeles, said that only 10% of viewing on those
Great movies always speak directly to the here and now regardless of their actual settings. Taken together, six of 2019’s best-picture nominees manage to survey still-potent American themes across the span of the past century and a half. “Little Women” is set during the Civil War, and while the adaptation, like Louisa May Alcott’s beloved
January 30, 2020 10:25AM PT A century after World War I ended, “1917” reminds us of the cost of official policies that figure the best conflict resolution calls for young people to slaughter each other. As two angelic-looking, not-yet-cynical Tommies trudge through no-man’s land to deliver a life-or-death warning, the carnage they encounter demands we
Trying to predict the unpredictable is part of the agony and the joy of the Academy Awards. For better or worse, people will always remember when “Crash” was named over “Brokeback Mountain” or when “Moonlight” was revealed as the winner (eventually, after “La La Land” was mistakenly announced). Voting is now open for final balloting