It took four movies before Lee Isaac Chung was ready to tell the kind of story first-timers so often rush to share straight out of the gate. Not a coming-of-age movie so much as a deeply personal and lovingly poetic rendering of his Korean American childhood — specifically, how it felt for his immigrant family
Nine months since JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass almost broke the internet with their show-stopping Coachella performance, a new year is bringing new anticipation for an NSYNC reunion. There’d be a strong hook for it: 2020 is an anniversary year for “No Strings Attached,” the album that set a first-week record
Flatiron Books, the publisher of Jeanine Cummins’ novel “American Dirt,” has decided to cancel the scheduled tour for the book’s launch citing safety concerns and “specific threats” made towards booksellers and the author. The novel centers around a Mexican woman and her son who flee to the United States to escape from drug cartel violence.
“The Last Shift,” a fast-food tragedy written and directed by Andrew Cohn, is a gut punch with a side of anguish. In this wonderfully sad small-town drama, the ever-empathetic Richard Jenkins plays Stan, a former high school athlete who took the graveyard shift at local chain Oscar’s Chicken and Fish in 1971 and never left.
There is a Robert Frost poem called “Escapist – Never” which provides a frequent refrain in Greg Barker’s deeply admiring but drawn-out biopic of Brazilian diplomat and U.N. leading light Sergio Vieira de Mello. “It is the future that creates his present,” runs the penultimate line, and the handsome, heroic, charismatic de Mello (played with
In today’s film news roundup, Jodie Foster is directing a Mona Lisa movie, Sony buys a sci-fi script for Jake Kasdan, Lionsgate signs a deal with Kristin Burr and “The Color Purple” is returning to theaters. PROJECT LAUNCH Jodie Foster has come on board to direct an untitled drama about the 1911 theft of the
After two days of quiet on the Recording Academy vs. Deborah Dugan front, the organization’s ousted CEO has asked to be released from the arbitration agreement she signed when she joined the Academy. The contract she signed upon joining the Academy last year requires her to arbitrate any disputes confidentially. “The Academy intentionally brought this
January 29, 2020 4:09PM PT “The Mel Robbins Show” is set to end its run this spring after one season in first-run syndication. The production on the syndicated talk show strip will continue through the spring to finish out the season order. The Sony Pictures Television talker bowed in September to weak overall ratings. Robbins
“Days of our Lives” has been formally renewed for a record 56th season at NBC. It was previously reported in November that the show was near a deal for a renewal, though it was not official at that time. The news will no doubt come as a relief to fans, who feared the show had
January 29, 2020 3:19PM PT The iconic Japanese manga “One Piece” is being adapted by Netflix into a live-action series. Netflix has issued a 10-episode order for the project, teaming with Tomorrow Studios, which is also producing the streamer’s other forthcoming manga-based series “Cowboy Bebop,” and the original series’ publisher Shueisha. The series was first
In today’s TV News round-up, AMC released the first full length trailer for the fifth season of “Better Call Saul” and Quibi announced two hosts for the doghouse construction reality show “Barkitecture.” CASTING Quibi announced that Tyler Cameron and Delia Kanza will host the reality show “Barkitecture” on the mobile streaming platform. The new show
No tribute to an artist of Prince’s majesty can be perfect, but at first glance the lineup for “Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince” — which taped Tuesday night and will air on CBS on April 21 — did not make one’s heart skip a beat. While the show’s musical foundation could not
For any awards pundits reading the BAFTA nominations as tea leaves for the impending Oscar race, 2020’s nomination slate held relatively few surprises. Unlike in certain years when BAFTA has piled nominations upon wildcard contenders (“Drive” in 2012, for example), this year’s top selections in the major categories more or less align with their perceived
#BAFTAsSoWhite was not the hashtag that BAFTA brass was hoping would trend on Twitter within minutes of nominations being announced. Yet there it was: an incensed public response to a slate that, for the fourth time in a decade, yielded all-white nominees in the four top acting categories, including two apiece for actresses Margot Robbie
Apple TV Plus is preparing to give a series order to a dramedy starring Rose Byrne, Variety has learned. Titled “Physical,” the series is set in a 1980s Southern California beach community. It follows a woman (Byrne) struggling in her life as a quietly tortured housewife who finds an unconventional path to power through an
Carmi Zlotnik has signed an exclusive producer deal at Apple TV Plus, Variety has confirmed. The news comes days after it was announced that he would be stepping down president of programming at Starz. Zlotnik’s deal with Apple will begin next month, as he transitions from his post at the premium cabler. Zlotnik has been
January 29, 2020 2:12PM PT Fresh off her five Grammy wins, Billie Eilish will take the stage at the Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 9. She’ll perform during the Oscars’ ‘In Memoriam’ segment during which the Academy honors those in the film industry who died in the previous year. The Oscars will take place at
Television exec Kate Fenske has been named chief creative executive of Sister, the independent production and development company founded by Elisabeth Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Jane Featherstone. Fenske, who was previously president of production for Entertainment 360, will be boarding Sister in the coming months. She will be based in Los Angeles and report to
January 29, 2020 2:00PM PT NBC has given a formal pilot pickup to a drama centered on Robert Langdon, the character made famous through the books of Dan Brown. The broadcaster had previously given the project a production commitment back in June. Titled “Langdon,” it is based on Brown’s book “The Lost Symbol” and follows
At the Jan. 3 AFI Awards, Mel Brooks interrupted his speech about the American Film Institute’s women directors program to praise Taika Waititi for Searchlight’s “Jojo Rabbit.” However, he joked, the filmmaker “did not ask my permission to use Hitler!” It got a big laugh (as Brooks usually does) for the reference to his 1968
Norway’s Sara Johnsen has won the 2020 Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize for her writing on NRK’s “22 July,” a six-part painstaking – and often inevitably pained – reconstruction using fictional composite characters but often meticulously recreated scenes of how Norway reacted to its 2011 terror attacks. The award, for outstanding screenwriting, was presented
“Charm City Kings,” directed by Angel Manuel Soto and written by Sherman Payne, is an earnest coming-of-age story about a Baltimore 14-year-old named Mouse (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) torn between joining the Midnight Clique, an extreme dirt bike crime gang in stormtrooper-esque shiny white breastplates, or becoming a veterinarian. While that setup might make eyes roll,
Facebook turned in another massive quarter — reporting a quarterly record $21.08 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2019, and announcing that its core app now reaches 2.5 billion users each month. Still, while it Facebook beat Wall Street expectations on revenue (vs. analyst forecasts of $20.89 billion) and earnings per share of
Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil have many years of experience behind them, And yet, in the world of morning TV, they are the new kids on the block. In TV-news circles, this story is getting a little worn: CBS News retooled its morning program as King began gaining new traction with important newsmaker
Leaders of the Writers Guild of America are asking their 15,000 members to endorse a negotiating proposal that requires studios to bar non-franchised talent agents from representing WGA members. The proposal was included In a message sent Wednesday by WGA West President David A. Goodman and WGA East President Beau Willimon as part of disclosing
January 29, 2020 1:52PM PT Get ready to see some of the most insanely creative costumes yet, from a banana to a robot, on this season of “The Masked Singer” on Fox. The reality singing competition just teased 13 costumes for Season 3, which premieres Feb. 2 right after the Super Bowl. The new season
January 29, 2020 12:06PM PT Apple has tapped nine-year Netflix veteran Ruslan Meshenberg as an engineering leader on its streaming-video team. Meshenberg tweeted news of his joining Apple on Monday, posting a photo of the tech company’s HQ at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, Calif., and the caption, “New adventure!” According to his updated LinkedIn
Members of the European Parliament approved the terms of the U.K.’s departure from the European Union today, paving the way for the country to leave the bloc on Friday. E.U. lawmakers ratified the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement by 621 votes to 49. The U.K. is due to leave the bloc, which it joined in 1973, at
Amazon is set to explore the strange phenomenon of Los Angeles hypebeast culture. The streamer has issued a two-season order for “Fairfax,” an animated series which follows four middle school best friends on a never-ending quest for clout on L.A.’s titular Fairfax Avenue: the “pulsing heart of hypebeast culture.” The series hails from creators Matt Hausfater,
January 29, 2020 12:01PM PT Iron Ocean Productions, the production company of Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple, has inked a two-year first-look deal with Paramount Television Studios. The deal covers scripted television projects. Iron Ocean’s previous shows include the critically-acclaimed drama “The Sinner” for USA Network, in which Biel also starred in the show’s first