Ken Berry, a popular TV actor in the 1960s and ’70s who starred in “F-Troop,” “Mama’s Family” and “Mayberry R.F.D.,” died Saturday. His former wife, actress Jackie Joseph-Lawrence posted the news on Facebook. “F-Troop” co-star Larry Storch wrote on Facebook, “We hope you know how much you were loved. Goodnight Captain.” Berry played Captain Parmenter
Alec Baldwin was back on “Saturday Night Live” Dec. 1 and he brought with him Ben Stiller and Fred Armisen. Baldwin, who had to sit out a few episodes of the 44th season of the late night NBC sketch series after he was arrested for assault and harassment in November, returned to portray Donald Trump
Hollywood’s racial diversity triumph, “Crazy Rich Asians” will be lucky to score more than $1 million in its opening weekend at the China box office. Afternoon attendances on Friday had ranked the romantic comedy in fourth position. But by the evening it became apparent that mainstream Chinese audiences’ interest was barely flickering for a U.S.
Hollywood’s racial diversity triumph, “Crazy Rich Asians” will be lucky to score more than $1 million in its opening weekend at the China box office. Afternoon attendances on Friday had ranked the romantic comedy in fourth position. But by the evening it became apparent that mainstream Chinese audiences’ interest was barely flickering for a U.S.
December 1, 2018 4:01PM PT Sony Pictures and Blumhouse have set a Feb. 28, 2020 release date for the upcoming film “Fantasy Island.” The movie stars Michael Pena as Mr. Roarke. Lisa Hale will play one of the guests at a mysterious island where people can live out their fantasies — for a price. Jimmy
Bacon makes everything better, Nick Jonas once sang, and Variety took his advice to heart by celebrating the year’s most influential artists and executives in music at an exclusive brunch on Saturday in West Hollywood. To toast the annual Hitmakers issue, Variety executive editor of music Shirley Halperin welcomed honorees like Bebe Rexha, British pop sensation
Neil deGrasse Tyson Facing Multiple Claims of ‘Creepy’ Sexual Misconduct 12/1/2018 9:34 AM PST Breaking News “Cosmos” host and renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s employers are investigating multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving co-workers and colleagues years ago. FOX and National Geographic, which co-produce “Cosmos”, say they are looking into the allegations which surfaced this
Robert De Niro fought back tears as he accepted his honorary award at Marrakech Film Festival from Martin Scorsese, whom he called his “friend, lifelong collaborator” and “one of the greatest blessings of (his) life.” De Niro went on to draw parallels between his own Tribeca Film Festival and Marrakech Film Festival, both of which
Inimai M. Chettiar, J.D. is the director of the Brennan Center’s justice program, whose priority initiative is ending mass incarceration while keeping the country safe. She conceived and edited “Solutions: American Leaders Speak Out on Criminal Justice,” a collection of policy agendas from 2016 presidential candidates and other national leaders. Chettiar is a graduate of
Colombian filmmaker Ruben Mendoza’s “Wandering Girl” (“Niña Errante) has won the Grand Prix for best film at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, which wrapped Dec. 2. The drama’s composer, Las Anes, also took home the Best Music prize whose score was praised by the jury for its “inspiring musical whispering of magical
Danai Gurira insists that the cast and crew of “Black Panther” were not thinking about Oscar buzz while they were making the Ryan Coogler-directed film. “My mind did not quite get there,” Gurira tells Variety while promoting her World AIDS Day work with Johnson & Johnson (more on that in a second). “We did know
Rudy Valdez is a Michigan-raised, Brooklyn-based filmmaker. He got his start as a camera operator on the Peabody Award-winning Sundance Channel series “Brick City,” and has worked as a cinematographer for such directors and producers as Sebastian Junger, Whoopi Goldberg, Geeta Gandbhir and Sam Pollard. Ten years in the making, Rudy’s directorial debut “The Sentence”
The first season of “Serial,” the explosively popular podcast from investigative reporters Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder, told the story of Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee, the 18-year-old high school student murdered and left in the woods of Maryland. Syed, her ex-boyfriend, was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to life plus 30
Late Friday night Eminem dropped the latest in his recent string of surprise releases, this one a fiery 11-minute freestyle that covers a multitude of topics including the 2017 terrorist bombing after Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester, England, Muslim extremism along with his usual brilliantly juvenile wordplay, insults and celebrity mentions, including Justin Bieber and
Ava DuVernay has directed such films as “Middle of Nowhere,” “Selma” and “A Wrinkle in Time.” She was Oscar-nominated for her 2016 documentary “13th,” a look at the criminal justice system’s violations of the spirit of the 13th Amendment. Her next project is the Netflix miniseries “Central Park Five,” a look at the 1990 conviction
Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” video is a bona fide overnight sensation: It has smashed YouTube’s all-time record for most views in the first 24 hours of release. The video, an homage to female-driven movies from the early 2000s, dropped at 12 p.m. PT on Friday after weeks of buildup — and set the record
December 1, 2018 9:37AM PT A new video app is being utilized by white supremacists to trick celebrities into recording anti-Semitic messages, according to a report by BuzzFeed News. Cameo, which launched in April 2018, was created to allow fans to pay for celebs to record personalized messages. Among those who have been duped are
It’s a weekend of repeats. With just one nationwide debut at the box office, a series of holdovers are set to take the top spots, with the second frame of Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” heading for first place with an estimated $24 million. The sole cross-country rollout, Sony’s “Possession of Hannah Grace,” is likely
When composers and lyricists Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman won the opportunity to create new songs for a “Mary Poppins Returns,” it wasn’t all celebration. “We heard we were up for it, and we were ravenous to do it, and yet petrified at the same time,” Shaiman told Variety‘s Marc Malkin on Thursday at the movie’s red
Tekashi 6ix9ine Dimed Himself Out in Keef Shooting … Cops Say After Seeing Video 12/1/2018 7:46 AM PST EXCLUSIVE Tekashi69 ratted himself out — on video, no less — or at least that’s what police think after seeing a clip of him saying he had a “30 pack” on the head of Chief Keef‘s cousin
WASHINGTON — President Trump praised former President George H.W. Bush as a man whose “accomplishments were great from beginning to end,” even though he has had at times a chilly relationship with Bush’s sons, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “President George H.W. Bush led a long, successful and beautiful
Netflix plans to order original series from Africa next year, on top of the shows it’s already producing in Europe, Asia and Latin America, said Erik Barmack, the streaming giant’s vice president of international originals. Netflix’s Europe team is “in the process of looking at opportunities in Africa. It’s definitely the case that we’ll commission
The lack of women in film has been the talk of festivals around the world for the last couple years. But “Suspiria” star Dakota Johnson, who is a member of James Gray’s jury at Marrakech Film Festival, made it clear she had a different opinion about this topic during the opening press conference on Saturday.
Kid Rock was fired from his role as grand marshal of the Nashville Christmas Parade Friday night, following a morning appearance on “Fox & Friends” in which he called Joy Behar a “b—h.” But associates are insisting he still plans to lead the parade, booted or not. Bryan Lewis, the attorney for Steve Smith, Kid
November 30, 2018 6:45PM PT Fox and the producers of the television series “Cosmos” have opened an investigation into multiple sexual misconduct claims against the show’s host, Neil deGrasse Tyson. The move follows a report on the website Patheos in which two women accused Tyson of inappropriate sexual behavior. “The credo at the heart of
November 30, 2018 6:19PM PT Lindsey Weber is stepping down as head of the film division at J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot. The longtime Abrams collaborator has accepted a TV producing gig at Amazon Studios, multiple individuals familiar with her plans told Variety. The parting of ways between she and Abrams is amicable, and emotional to
NFL’s Kareem Hunt Brutalizes and Kicks Woman … In Hotel Video EXCLUSIVE TMZ Sports has obtained video of Kansas City Chiefs star running back Kareem Hunt shoving, bull-rushing and kicking a woman in a Cleveland hotel back in February. Kareem has not missed a single game this season despite the incident happening MONTHS before the
Kane Brown’s “Heaven” is expected to be named the most-played song of 2018 at country radio when those stats are released shortly. It’s certainly the biggest pure country single of the year — the “pure” in that phrase being meant to indicate that there’s an asterisk, in the form of “Meant to Be.” The latter
In today’s film news roundup, Cybill Shepherd’s “Being Rose” gets acquired, Booboo Steward gets a lead role, ITVS reaches a Sundance milestone, and oilfields drama “The Iron Orchard” gets a release. ACQUISITION Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to Rod McCall’s romance “Being Rose,” starring Cybill Shepherd, James Brolin, and Pam Grier, Variety has
Dramatic diets for the sake of on-screen authenticity are most frequently associated with Western screen stars Christian Bale or Matthew McConaughey. But festival-goers in Macau this month will have a chance to witness an equally amazing transformation wrought by Deng Chao, one of China’s top actors. Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow” has been added as the closing