Sydney Sweeney caught a stray last week when veteran Hollywood producer Carol Baum said at an event that Sweeney is “not pretty” and “can’t act” — and that her hit rom-com “Anyone but You” was “unwatchable.” A representative for Sweeney has now fired back at Baum, saying in a statement shared with Variety: “How sad
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Joseph Quinn is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Johnny Storm/Human Torch in the upcoming tentpole “The Fantastic Four,” starring opposite Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing) and Julia Garner (the Silver Surfer named Shalla-Bal). It’s a pivotal time for the MCU as debates over
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Henry Cavill nodded to his tumultuous history with post-credits scenes during a recent screening of his new Guy Ritchie-directed movie “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” As reported by Insider, Cavill made some introductory remarks before the film and references his other Ritchie films, including his leading turn in the 2015 spy film “The Man from
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Two new cash prizes introduced this year in Swiss film festival Visions du Reel’s industry section, VdR-Industry, were among a flurry of awards handed out as the program wrapped in Nyon, Switzerland, on Wednesday. The Eurimages Co-production Development Award, created to promote the fund’s role in encouraging international co-production from the initial stages of a
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Jerrod Carmichael appeared on a recent episode of “The Breakfast Club” (via Rolling Stone) and said: “I deeply regret saying anything about Dave Chappelle to the press. I want to say that I’m sorry for that.” Carmichael previously gave interviews to Esquire and GQ in which he criticized Chappelle’s legacy of making jokes about transgender people.
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When Ally Lewber joined the cast of “Vanderpump Rules” in Season 10 as James Kennedy’s new girlfriend, the chances for drama could not have been any higher. Kennedy had recently ended an engagement with fellow cast member Rachel Leviss, and the history of exes mingling with new partners on the series has historically not gone
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“Billy Joel: The 100th — Live at Madison Square Garden” reached 5.7 million viewers on Sunday night. Calculated from Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers on CBS and live streaming via Paramount+, this makes the Joel concert the fourth-most-watched special of 2024, ranking only behind the Oscars (19.5 million viewers on ABC), the Grammys (16.9 million
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Donald Trump is keeping his Oscars feud with Jimmy Kimmel alive with a new post on Truth Social in which the former president once again slammed Kimmel for being a “horrendous” Academy Awards host. Trump then mixed up Kimmel with this year’s best picture presenter, Al Pacino. Trump’s diss arrived amid his hush money trial
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Chef and content creator Nick DiGiovanni has signed with WME for representation in all areas, Variety has learned exclusively. He continues to be represented by Align PR and Yorn Levine Barnes. DiGiovanni rose to fame when he became the youngest-ever finalist on the cooking competition series “MasterChef” in 2019 during the show’s tenth season. He
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Documentary “Fixing the War,” about news fixers in Ukraine, was one of 15 projects selected in this week’s edition of VdR-Pitching, Visions du Réel’s international co-production and financing platform. Variety accompanied the team as they pitched to potential partners. The film’s producers Gary Lennon of Plainsong Films and Olga Kravchenko of Moon Man were in
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Lionsgate Television is teaming with Park Chan-wook to develop an English-language TV adaptation of Park’s iconic film “Oldboy.” Park directed and co-wrote the original film, which was itself loosely based on the Japanese manga of the same name. He will produce the new series version along with his producing partner, Syd Lim. Executives Courtney Mock
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Bill Maher welcomed Katie Couric onto his “Club Random” podcast and passionately defended Woody Allen while the two discussed canceled artists in Hollywood. Maher said “I don’t think he committed that crime” in reference to Dylan Farrow’s molestation allegation against Allen, adding: “There was two police investigations that exonerated him.” “There’s these actors who won’t
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The Seattle International Film Festival has revealed its lineup for the 50th edition, which takes place May 9–19 at venues across Seattle and followed by a week of select virtual screenings on the SIFF Channel May 20–27. The program includes 261 films representing 84 countries and regions, including 92 features, 47 documentaries, five archival features,
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Brian Cox has never been one to withhold his true feelings, and at London’s HistFest the “Succession” star unloaded on a variety of topics Sunday night including politics, theater critics and Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon.” “It’s terrible,” Cox said of the Oscar-nominated historical drama, per The Standard. “A truly terrible performance by Joaquin Phoenix. It really is
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For 27 of the last 32 years, Ziffren Brittenham senior partner Clifford Gilbert-Lurie has served as one of the chairs of the Champions for Children’s gala dinner benefiting the Alliance for Children’s Rights, an experience he says is akin to throwing a wedding. “There’s so much that goes into it, and then you’re very concerned
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With France on its highest level of security alert amid geopolitical turmoil in Ukraine and the Middle East, organizers behind the Paris Olympics are still going ahead with ambitious plans to host the opening ceremony along the Seine river on July 26. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, said on Monday in an interview with
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Fremantle is to handle worldwide sales on country music feature documentary “Rebel Country,” which will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film looks at a new breed of stars who are rewriting the rules and challenging the culture of country music. It explores the tensions of race, class, poverty, gender, sexuality
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 Kenya Barris was deeply inspired by “The Cosby Show” when he created “Black-ish” in 2014. The writer and executive producer wanted to create a similarly beloved family sitcom that was expressly Black, not only with the characters, but also in the subject matter the show covered. That mission was achieved, and like “The Cosby Show,”
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Passman: Partner, Music GroupSalomon Jr.: Managing Partner, Music GroupSchiffres: Partner, Music GroupLevin: Partner, Film and TV GroupPassman: Partner, Film and TV GroupSnow: Partner, Film and TV Group Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman The music-focused trio of Donald Passman, Salomon and Levin advised Cher selling music assets to Iconic Artists in August and Paul Simon
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A “Golden Axe” animated series has been greenlit at Comedy Central, Variety has learned. Based on the beloved Sega games of the same name, the show hails from co-creators Mike McMahan and Joe Chandler. Matthew Rhys (“The Americans,” “Perry Mason”), Danny Pudi (“Community,” “Mythic Quest”), Lisa Gilroy (“Jury Duty,” “Interior Chinatown”), Liam McIntyre (“Spartacus,” “The
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Sports icons Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe are getting in the game as TV producers. Bird and Rapinoe’s production banner, A Touch More, has teamed up with independent TV studio Future Shack Entertainment to develop “Cleat Cute,” the bestselling novel from author Meryl Wilsner. “Cleat Cute” is a contemporary queer romance that follows a young soccer
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