“If the audience didn’t believe in the tattoos, we were dead before we even began,” says director Guy Nattiv of “Skin,” a reality-based drama about white supremacist Bryon Widner, who renounced those beliefs and his body-covering markings. So Nattiv tapped Emmy-winning makeup maestro Stephen Bettles for the job — a massive project that Bettles says
In Quentin Tarantino‘s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Leonardo DiCaprio plays a fading Hollywood star in the 1960s who has been reduced to guest spots on television shows and spaghetti westerns in Italy. While the Oscar winning actor doesn’t have to worry about fading anytime soon, he did tell Variety’s Marc Malkin on Monday
Pete Buttigieg is not quite a top-tier candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. But in Hollywood, the 37-year-old gay mayor of South Bend, Ind., has already become the campaign’s breakout star. Buttigieg raised $24.8 million in the second quarter, leading the Democratic field. Among his contributors were David Geffen, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Barbra Streisand. He
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July 24, 2019 9:35AM PT Music producer Dr. Luke testified Tuesday in Katy Perry’s copyright infringement case for her 2013 hit “Dark Horse.” Christian rapper Marcus Gray (aka Flame) accused Perry and her team of copyright infringement for his song “Joyful Noise,” alleging that the two songs are significantly similar. Dr. Luke produced the song
“Younger” has been renewed for a seventh season at TV Land, the cabler announced Wednesday. This marks the show as the longest-running original series for the cabler. “Season after season, ‘Younger’ has continued to reach new heights and build an incredibly loyal fan base,” Keith Cox, president of development and production, Paramount Network and TV
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) will not be kickstarting a new chapter in the Monday Night Wars. WarnerMedia announced Wednesday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that AEW will begin airing live weekly shows on TNT beginning Wednesday, Oct. 2 from 8-10 p.m. ET. However, the debut comes just two days before WWE will
Jon Steinberg, founder and CEO of Cheddar and president of Altice News, likens the process of developing digital media companies to “the drug discovery business.” Steinberg tells Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast that developing Cheddar as a startup digital TV service offering business and entertainment news aimed at a millennial audience was similar to how pharmaceutical
Asia-based streamer iflix is pulling out of the Middle East after entering the region with some fanfare two years ago in a partnership with Kuwait-based mobile and data services operator Zain. Shuttering the streamer’s Iflix Arabia joint venture is taking place as disgruntled distributors with whom it has content deals complain about missing payments and
AT&T and CBS are already locked in a battle over whether or not the telecom giant will be able to carry programming from local CBS stations. Now they are fighting about the fight. Speaking during a call with investors Wednesday, AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson suggested the two companies are not that far apart
Barely a page into the book “Spotify Untold,” Swedish authors Jonas Leijonhufvud (pictured at left) and Sven Carlsson paint an odd scene. The year is 2010 and Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek is facing a succession of obstacles gaining entry into the U.S. market — or, more specifically, infiltrating the tightly-networked and often nepotistic
Robert MarquardtGetty Images Forever 21 customers who ordered clothes online this week were furious to find something extra in their packages: Atkins bars. The fast fashion retailer has come under fire for sending the diet bars to its customers—most of whom were shopping the brand’s plus-size offerings—as a “special promotion.” Unimpressed customers took to Twitter
Dominique Boutonnat, a film executive who was an associate producer of “Two Days in Paris,” “Polisse” and “The Intouchables,” has been appointed president of France’s National Film Board, or CNC. The government-backed organization plays a key role in the allocation of film and TV subsidies, as well as establishing rules applying to the local industry.
Spotify has made no secret of wanting to be the world’s biggest audio platform, but it wasn’t all that long ago that the Swedish streamer was eyeing video. From 2011 to 2015, CEO Daniel Ek was engaging in ambitious, top-secret plans to challenge Netflix, Hulu and Apple TV in one fell swoop, the new book
July 24, 2019 7:00AM PT Music video streaming company Vevo has hired Scott Anderson as its new senior vice president of engineering and product, the company announced Wednesday morning. Anderson is joining the company from healthcare startup Conversa Health, where he served as chief technology officer. Prior to that, Anderson worked as director of engineering
July 24, 2019 6:33AM PT Veteran Hong Kong actor Simon Yam was released from the hospital Wednesday after being stabbed five days earlier at a promotional event in mainland China. Yam, 64, whose vast body of work includes a significant role in “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – Cradle of Life,” left the private Adventist Hospital
Robert Mueller, the special counsel who spent two years digging into Russian interference in the 2016 election, gave testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, saying that President Donald Trump had not been exonerated by his report. “Did you totally exonerate the president?” asked Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the committee. “No,” Mueller
Facebook, under a 20-year settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over privacy violations, will pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine and submit to new oversight by the commission. The settlement promises to strengthen the obligations Facebook has to provide transparency to the FTC about its business practices — with requirements that are over and above
July 24, 2019 6:07AM PT Veteran actress Piper Perabo is running as an independent candidate for a SAG-AFTRA national board seat representing New York members, Variety has learned. She’s supporting Matthew Modine for president, who is challenging incumbent Gabrielle Carteris through the Membership First slate. Perabo is best known for ABC’s “Notorious” and her role
Eric Névé, a prominent French producer whose credits include Ziad Doueiri’s Oscar-nominated “The Insult,” has died. Névé, 57, was the founder of the Paris-based production banner La Chauve-Souris and co-founder of the international sales company Indie Sales and its sister outfit Indie Prod. He died Sunday. Through La Chauve-Souris, which he launched in 1995, Névé
AT&T chief Randall Stephenson told investors Wednesday that the HBO Max streaming service set to launch next spring will eventually include live sports and news programming. Stephenson talked up his enthusiasm for WarnerMedia’s nascent direct-to-consumer platform during the telco giant’s second-quarter earnings conference call with Wall Street analysts. “You should assume that ultimately HBO Max
Jay-Z and Meek Mill are partnering to bring Meek’s Dream Chasers label into the Roc Nation fold. The two signed papers Tuesday in New York City in front of a small media gathering at Roc Nation’s midtown headquarters. Holding the title of president of Dream Chasers, a joint venture with Roc Nation, Meek will oversee
MADRID — Spain’s premier soccer organization, La Liga, held a high-profile presentation in Madrid on Tuesday evening for a new anthem as part of its “Latidos del futuro” (Heartbeats of the Future) program, which will be used for years to come as a soundtrack at each of its fixtures and during league TV programming, similar
WarnerMedia was AT&T’s fastest-growing division in the second quarter of 2019. But the telco showed ongoing signs of trouble in its pay-TV business, with DirecTV and DirecTV Now again posting subscriber losses — and HBO dropping U.S. customers in the period. Revenue for WarnerMedia was $8.35 billion, up 5.5% year over year primarily driven by
DURBAN–The 10th edition of the Durban FilmMart, the industry program of the Durban Intl. Film Festival, was perhaps its biggest yet, and the popularity of new strands such as the Durban Does Docs forum and the Engage @ DFM diversity program highlighted how the market continues to grow from strength to strength. “We wanted to ensure
DURBAN–“Les Misérables,” French director Ladj Ly’s riveting portrayal of racial division and unrest in the banlieues of Paris, won best picture at the 40th Durban Intl. Film Festival Tuesday night. The jury described the film, which shared the jury prize in Cannes this year, as “a searing portrait of modern France which takes on issues of police brutality,
July 24, 2019 3:17AM PT Streaming giant Netflix revealed its long-awaited mobile-only subscription plan for India on Wednesday. The plan, which will be available imminently, will cost INR199 ($2.88) per month and will be available on one mobile or tablet screen, per user, in standard definition. While downloads will be supported, casting to televisions will
July 24, 2019 3:01AM PT A crowdfunding campaign launched by U.S. animation distributor Sentai Filmworks to assist Kyoto Animation has passed the $2 million mark. The Japanese studio was the victim of an arson attack last Thursday that killed 34 people and injured 34 more. Among the contributors is software giant Adobe, which anonymously donated
Specialty film sales agent Asian Shadows has picked up international rights to “Coming Home Again,” by Wayne Wang, one of Asia’s most celebrated directors. The film, which tackles food, family and mortality, will premiere as a special presentation at the Toronto festival in September. Based on a short story of the same name, published in
July 23, 2019 11:25PM PT ITV’s revenues and profits slid into negative territory in the first half of the year, but CEO Carolyn McCall said the results were better than expected. The boss of Britain’s largest commercial broadcaster had previously warned that 2019 would partly be about mitigating losses for the company, as major advertisers