Variety
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If high school is a popularity contest — the mistaken-priorities assumption that drives writer-director Amy Wang’s SXSW-winning assimilation satire “Slanted” — then Chinese American senior Joan Huang (Shirley Chen) could be justified in ditching her heritage for a shot at being crowned prom queen. That’s the devil’s bargain Wang entertains in a provocative comedy-cum-thought-experiment that […]
Dan Berk and Robert Olsen grew up obsessed with the golden era of ’80s action movies, worshipping box office hits like “Midnight Run,” “Lethal Weapon” and “Die Hard.” When they came across the script for a high-concept film named “Novocaine” — in which a mild-mannered man named Nate can’t feel pain and has to save […]
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 9 of “Severance,” now streaming on Apple TV+. Does the penultimate episode of “Severance” Season 2 put a bow on the story of Irving and Burt? The star-crossed lovers, played by John Turturro and Christopher Walken, share a dramatic goodbye at a train station. Burt buys […]
“Black Bag,” an elegant, quick-witted new thriller that finds Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender playing married spies, isn’t the pair’s first time together on screen. That honor goes to 2017’s “Song to Song,” one of Terrence Malick’s most intangible and head-scratching offerings — though the two stars can barely recall that experience. “We walked past […]
In an effort to raise money for families of color displaced by the recent Los Angeles wildfires, actor and comedian Milana Vayntrub is going much farther than a GoFundMe. Rising to fame a decade ago as “the AT&T girl” featured prominently in commercials for the telecom giant, Vayntrub recently launched OnlyPhilanthropy – a kind of […]
Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner, the showrunners and executive producers of “The Bachelor,” are leaving the series. They are still at work on Grant Ellis’ current season of “The Bachelor,” which is nearing its end, but are negotiating their exits from the franchise. Representatives for ABC, the network that airs “The Bachelor,” and Warner Bros. […]
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” has been renewed for Season 3 at Disney+ nearly a year before the show’s second season premiere. Disney Branded Television and 20th Television have announced that a third season, based on the Rick Riordan novel “The Titan’s Curse,” is already in the works, with Season 2 of the hit series […]
Jason Isaacs is sick of being asked whether or not he wore a prosthetic penis in “The White Lotus.” It’s all anyone wants to talk to the actor about following the third season’s fourth episode, where Isaac’s character, Timothy Ratliff, had his penis hanging out of his bathrobe while in front of his children. Cast […]
A Los Angeles news station got a dose of star power when Gene Simmons crashed a local weather report. On Thursday, the legendary Kiss vocalist and bassist made an unexpected appearance on Fox 11 Los Angeles, joining meteorologist Adam Kruger to help deliver the week’s forecast. “You look much better in real life than you […]
The 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival, which concludes on Saturday, featured a time-traveling RV, a disemboweling unicorn, a transracial surgery and credible testimony that extra-terrestrials exist. Here’s what rose to the top, and what failed to take flight. Homicidal Unicorns and a Singing Matthew McConaughey Stole the Show SXSW has distinguished itself among the […]
Neill Blomkamp is doing his part. The “District 9” and “Chappie” filmmaker is attached to write and direct a new film adaptation of “Starship Troopers,” the 1959 sci-fi novel by Robert A. Heinlein that was memorably brought to theaters by director Paul Verhoeven with the 1997 satirical spectacle of the same name. The new project […]
Dolby has been associated with surround sound equipment since the introduction of its Pro Logic technology in 1982, which at the time was only available on premium VHS tapes. Its latest audio innovation is called Dolby Atmos, and it offers a significantly more immersive audio experience than ever before. When watching a movie or TV […]
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 9 of “Severance,” now streaming on Apple TV+. It all started off with an urgent phone call to Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), who had been noticeably absent throughout most of “Severance” Season 2. In a season that has focused extensively on the dynamics between the […]
Randall Miller, the director of “Midnight Rider,” completed his probation this week, 10 years after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of crew member Sarah Jones. Jones, a camera assistant, was struck by a freight train in February 2014 while the crew was setting up a shot on a train bridge without authorization. […]
Bill Burr’s press tour for his new Hulu comedy special continued to be an Elon Musk takedown during an interview on “The Breakfast Club” radio show (via The Daily Beast), where the comedian said its baffling how Musk “still has a job” after giving the Nazi salute in public. Musk’s controversial hand gestures at an […]
Comedian Alex Hooper has set a new stand-up special debuting March 18. Distributed by Comedy Dynamics, it will be available to watch on YouTube, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and all other major platforms. In the hour, titled “Brace Yourself,” Hooper gets “brutally honest” about his cancer journey. The special offers a “funny, outrageous and […]
Coachella is almost here, and it isn’t too late to snag tickets to the famed festival. Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, Green Day and Post Malone headline for both weekends of the three-day music festival, which returns to its home at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif. on the weekends of April 11-13 and April […]
What’s going to be this year’s “Anora”? As the Cannes Film Festival rapidly approaches, that’s the question for artistic director Thierry Fremaux and movie buffs around the world. A month before Cannes Film Festival’s press conference, the official selection is still very much a work in progress, with little reliable information filtering through about which […]
Mark Duplass admits that when he got approached about starring in Hulu’s Natalia Grace drama “Good American Family,” he was “very skeptical.” “Look, there’s a documentary, there’s a movie called ‘Orphan’ that has similar themes, it’s been in the press. Why do we need another ripped from the headlines story?” Duplass told Variety Thursday night […]
Samara Weaving is a certified Scream Queen. Although she’s had impactful roles in dramas (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” the series “Nine Perfect Strangers”), comedies (“Bill & Ted Face the Music”), period pieces (“Chevalier”) and even starred in the Aussie soap opera “Home and Away,” she always returns to genre films. From early roles in […]
Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared in Manhattan court today for a pretrial hearing in his federal case, pleading not guilty to a superseding indictment. Earlier this month, prosecutors filed a second superseding indictment against Combs, highlighting new allegations of abusive treatment and the forced labor of his employees. In late January, Combs was hit with an […]
Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman’s dark romantic comedy “Oh, Hi!” has landed at Sony Pictures Classics. The sophomore feature from “The Boy Downstairs” writer-director Sophie Brooks debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January. In “Oh, Hi!,” Iris (Gordon) and Isaac’s (Lerman) first romantic weekend getaway as a couple goes awry. Convinced that he’s just […]
When your film’s supporting cast features the iconic snack mascot Mr. Peanut as a fearless robotic war hero, you’ve got to have a little fun in the marketing. And that’s exactly what Netflix did for their latest sci-fi adventure from the Russo brothers, “The Electric State,” which is now streaming. The retro-futuristic film, set in […]
Miranda Lambert keeps referring to the version of her that was captured on her 2005 debut album, “Kerosene,” as “baby me.” Fortunately, as an artistic toddler, Lambert was a pyromaniac. The flame that began with that fully developed first record for Sony Nashville album turned Lambert into not just a figurehead for women in country […]
Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden, Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen, Paris Jackson and Skeet Ulrich are among the latest to join the ensemble cast of Catherine Hardwicke’s “Street Smart.” Skylar Astin, Sally Struthers and Tyson Ritter have also signed on to the feature, which centers on a group of unhoused young adults in Venice, […]
In a world where mobile service providers seem to get more expensive every year, Mint Mobile has positioned itself as a leading option for affordable wireless. Since its launch in 2016, Mint has been on a mission to provide affordable, premium wireless service without all the hidden fees, confusing contracts, and gimmicks that come with […]
The upcoming DC Studios series “Lanterns” has cast Jason Ritter in a recurring role. Ritter joins a cast that also includes Aaron Pierre, Kyle Chandler, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, and Ulrich Thomsen. Per the official logline, the show follows “new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two […]
The Log Lady was a beloved part of “Twin Peaks.” But Catherine Coulson was much more than that. She was a fan favorite who made time to speak with series enthusiasts and helped perpetuate its lore, as well as a longtime actor with Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a camera assistant who pulled focus for […]
Eric Schultz knows his way around the White House. He served as deputy White House press secretary during the Obama administration from 2014 to 2017. It’s one of the reasons that he now frequently consults on Hollywood projects about Washington. His latest gig was helping the cast and creatives get everything right in “Zero Day,” […]
Elegance Bratton, whose documentary “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House” had its international premiere this week at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, speaks to Variety about the relevance of house music’s history in Trump’s America, and his feelings as he prepares to shoot crime thriller “By Any Means,” starring Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Bratton, […]
Actor, writer and playwright Hamish Linklater has signed with Gersh for representation. Linklater most recently co-starred in the Best Picture Oscar-nominated film “Nickel Boys,” based on the novel that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Linklater also co-starred in the Oscar-winning film “The Big Short.” Additional film credits include “42” with Chadwick Boseman, ”Ithaca” opposite Tom Hanks, Brie Larson’s “Unicorn […]
Responding to a lingering question in the industry, participants in Advanced HDR by Technicolor–the brand behind a collection of HDR technologies aimed at allowing broadcasters and content providers to deliver quality imagery across a variety of display devices and network environments–tell Variety that it was not impacted by Technicolor’s recent shut down. Initial development of […]
Jeremy Glazer and Miles Gaston Villanueva have been cast in recurring roles in the third and final season of Prime Video’s “Bosch: Legacy.” Glazer will play Patrick Currey, a West Hollywood city councilman who uses his power to keep a tight lid on his sexual proclivities. When investigators start poking around his private life, he […]
Mexican rock band Maná has made some of the most influential and globally recognized Spanish-language music of the last 30 years. As true as that may be, the Guadalajara-bred group is experiencing one of its most rewarding chapters yet: Maná — comprised of Fher Olvera, Alex González, Sergio Vallín and Juan Calleros — were recently revealed […]
The trailer for Nisha Ganatra’s “Freakier Friday,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, has been unveiled. The film is a sequel to the 2003 comedy “Freaky Friday,” starring Curtis and Lohan as mother-daughter duo Tess and Anna Coleman. According to a press release from The Walt Disney Company, the sequel features a “multigenerational twist,” with […]
Indie Rights has acquired worldwide distribution rights to “Plight,” an indie-thriller written, directed and produced by MJ Alhabeeb Jr. in his feature film debut. The film will be released theatrically and on digital platforms this June. Set in the gritty heart of Braddock, Penn., known as Steeltown, U.S.A., “Plight” follows a grieving father and a […]
Dead bingers are at the center of David Cronenberg’s new thriller “The Shrouds,” now prepping to launch in North America after debuting at the Cannes Film Festival last summer. Janus Films has released the first full trailer for the film, which stars Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Sandrine Holt and recent Oscar-nominee Guy Pearce. The filmmaker […]
Wendy Williams called into the “The View” on the March 14 episode and told her guardian Sabrina Morrissey and the judge who declared her “legally incapacitated” to “get off my neck.” Williams also declared: “I need a new guardian.” The radio and television icon entered a court-appointed guardianship in 2022. She recently made headlines on […]
The crime drama “Dope Thief” opens with a headfake. Two DEA agents, Ray (Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny (Wagner Moura), plan and execute a bust on a Philadelphia row house. The sequence, directed by executive producer Ridley Scott, is a proper nail-biter; Ray and Manny nearly shoot a suspect they hear walking around upstairs, realizing […]
Amazon is betting big on Japanese anime and Asian content as a cornerstone of Prime Video’s global expansion strategy. With Japan emerging as one of its largest markets outside of the U.S., Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, and Kelly Day, VP of international for Prime Video, outlined their ambitious vision for the streaming […]
It’s often said that one downside of streaming is the lack of traditional album artwork, like you get with vinyl and CD releases — and a side-effect of that is the lack of full credits. It’s crazy, but there is no official source for full album credits. Sure, you can find songwriter and producer credits […]
After starring in last month’s AI thriller “Companion,” Jack Quaid is back at the box office this weekend with “Novocaine,” an action comedy where he plays a man who can’t feel pain. The R-rated film from Paramount has made $1.75 million in previews so far at the box office. It is on track to make […]
Be careful who you add to your lease. That’s the takeaway from 1992’s psychosexual thriller “Single White Female,” a classic of squirmy suspense that featured Bridget Fonda as a freshly single Manhattan-ite who has the misfortune of picking a clingy and awkward woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to be her roommate while she recovers from her […]
Brynn Whitfield, one of the stars of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York City,” is promising raw and unfiltered convos with friends in her new podcast, premiering next week. The video podcast, “Please See Below With Brynn Whitfield,” is being produced and distributed by Spotify’s The Ringer. The weekly show will launch Wednesday, March […]
Well, we can believe again. Apple TV+ has officially renewed “Ted Lasso” for Season 4, with series lead Jason Sudeikis onboard to return as the titular pun-happy, mustachioed football coach. No other castings are officially confirmed at this time, though it had previously been reported that options had been picked up for Hannah Waddingham, Brett […]
Fernando Franco’s “Lorca,” Caru Alves de Souza’s “A City for Christine” and Diana Toucedo’s “To Live in a Shout” look like possible standouts at next week’s 2025 Malaga Festival Fund & Co-Production Event (MAFF), one of Europe’s principal forums for projects from Spain and Latin America seeking new partners and distribution. Also sparking good word […]
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Yellowjackets” Season 3, Episode 6, titled “Thanksgiving (Canada),” streaming now on Paramount+ with Showtime. Goodbye, Coach. After narrowly avoiding death in last week’s episode of “Yellowjackets” because — as Akilah (Nia Sondaya) tells the group after snorting cave fumes and seeing a vision, “He’s our bridge home” — it […]
Italy’s Fandango Film Sales has landed a number of sales on Andrea Segre’s “The Great Ambition,” a biopic of the late Italian political leader Enrico Berlinguer, who was secretary of Western Europe’s largest Communist Party during the 1970s. The surprisingly timely film, which is produced by Rome-based indie Vivo film (“Nico, 1988,” “Le Quattro Volte”), opened the […]
Don’t cry for Rachel Zegler. As has been rumored for some time, the actor will make her West End debut in a revival of “Evita,” Variety has confirmed. “Evita” is being directed by “Sunset Boulevard” helmer Jamie Lloyd and is set to open at the London Palladium on June 14. Zegler has big shoes to […]
It’s been years since Playboi Carti first started teasing his third studio album, but the wait is finally over as the rapper has released the highly anticipated “Music.” Originally thought to be titled “I Am Music,” the 30-song album features heavyweights like Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Skepta, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Ty Dolla […]
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