A U.K. Public Accounts Committee report has highlighted that the BBC does not currently have a plan in place for delivering its services in the digital future it envisions.
The corporation must work with the government and other stakeholders, including on the rollout of broadband across the U.K., to develop a detailed plan, including scenarios for how it could switch to an internet-only future, the report states. It adds that the BBC must take steps to ensure that nobody is left behind as it moves towards a fully digital future, due to a lack of confidence in adopting the necessary technologies, access to them, or affordability.
The report raises the topic of BBC Three, noting that it was started as a linear channel, then moved online, but then went back to being linear six years later, as “an example of where it moved too soon, and audiences did not follow.”
In addition, the report states that the BBC must overcome the challenges it faces in recruiting and retaining the skilled staff it needs to develop its offer, as it currently has a 23% turnover rate among staff in its digital section. The report also suggests that the BBC is being held back by regulatory and funding uncertainties, making it less competitive in a rapidly changing global marketplace.
The BBC has estimated that it will have a nearly £400 million ($498 million) funding gap by 2027-28, due to licence fee changes and inflation, as revealed in its annual plan. The report notes that the BBC may not currently know the detail of the resources needed to achieve its digital plans or whether the £500 million it intends to invest annually by 2025 will be sufficient to also allow it to plan for an internet-only future.
The report recommends that the BBC should write to the committee within two months, and once its budget is finalized for the financial year, with reassurance that it has developed the necessary detail in support of its digital investment plan. The report also suggests that the BBC should set out how it will achieve all the required savings and what will happen to its digital plans if it is unable to achieve its savings target.
The BBC’s approach to how it will develop personalized services for audiences is not yet well developed, the report notes and urges that the corporation “should move more quickly on the development of a personalization strategy that serves its public sector purposes while fulfilling its ambitions for a more tailored experience for its audiences.”
The report concludes that the BBC must move more quickly to develop its data security policies to ensure they are fit for purpose, as the BBC collects more user data.
Meg Hillier, chair of the committee, said, “The BBC has a careful and difficult balance to strike here – it has committed to an internet-only future by the 2030s but knows it is essential that there are ways for people, especially children and others who cannot or do not easily access the internet, to access its services. Licence fee payers must be able to keep our options open.”
Teton, a drama from The Wilds showrunner Amy B. Harris, Jason Reilly, Grammy-nominated country musician Cameron Duddy from the band Midland and Temple Hill Entertainment, is in fast-track development at Amazon Studios, Deadline has learned.
Co-created and written by Harris and Reilly, based on an original idea by Duddy, Teton is an upstairs-downstairs drama set amongst the stunning peaks of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It follows Kick Taylor – a ski racing phenom – who returns to her hometown to contend with the emotional meltdown she had on tour, the ramifications of her mother’s death, and the family and friends she left behind in her pursuit of gold. As Kick struggles to find her footing, she and her tight knit mountain community – made up of a group of eccentric but lovable locals and powder hounds – fight to hold on to what makes this the most special place on earth all while catering to the wealthiest people in the world. There will be epic skiing, envy-inducing real estate, apres ski cocktails, cozy nights around a fire, a moose encounter or two, and high stakes drama as Kick reckons with whether it is possible to “go big AND go home.”
The honorees include two documentary specials, one documentary/nonfiction series, two scripted series and one reality series from 2022.
Each year, Television Academy Honors celebrates programs that raise awareness about complex issues facing society. This year’s honorees produced compelling programs that address neurodiversity; civil rights; LGBTQ+ rights; equal rights for women; the experience of immigrants and refugees; and racism, xenophobia and antisemitism.
“These exceptional programs and producers have used television to adeptly address some of the most significant and challenging issues facing communities across the globe,” said Television Academy Chairman and CEO Frank Scherma. “Our medium is incredibly powerful, and these six programs have leveraged it to inspire transformational change.”
The Honors recipients will be celebrated during a recognition ceremony slated for May 31.
The recipients are:
37 Words(ESPN Films, Industrial Media and Trilogy Films): The full story of Title IX—the hard-fought battle to push for equal rights in education and athletics, the decades-spanning effort to nullify its impact, and the rippling impacts of the landmark civil rights law that continue to resonate today. This four-part documentary charts the spectacular transformation that 37 words have inspired in American culture and the lives of women as well as the many ways in which the spirit of this bold law has yet to be fully realized. (ESPN)
As We See It(True Jack Productions; Yes Studios; Universal Television; Amazon Studios): This empathetic comedy series follows 20-something roommates with Autism as they strive to get a job, keep a job, make friends, fall in love and navigate a world that eludes them. With the help of their families, aides and sometimes each other, these roommates experience setbacks and celebrate triumphs on their own unique journeys toward independence and acceptance. (Prime Video)
Mo(A24): The heartfelt comedy that follows Palestinian refugee Mo Najjar as he straddles the line between two cultures and three languages while constantly living one step away from asylum on the path to U.S. citizenship. Mo brilliantly captures the experience of immigrants and refugees navigating institutional systems. (Netflix)
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks(A Peacock Original, SO’B Productions): This comprehensive feature delves deep into the life of civil rights icon Rosa Parks, her historic work and her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Through interviews with those who knew her, powerful archival footage and her own words, this documentary tells the story of Parks’ extensive organizing, radical politics and lifelong dedication to activism. (Peacock)
The U.S. and the Holocaust (Florentine Films and WETA, Washington, D.C.): Inspired in part by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition and supported by its historical resources, this documentary examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States and race laws in the American South. (PBS)
We’re Here (HBO Max): This Emmy Award-winning series follows renowned drag queens Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela on a journey to find deeper truths in small-town America, spreading love and connection through the art of drag. The queens recruit a diverse group of local residents to share their stories, increase awareness and promote acceptance in their communities by participating in one-night-only drag shows, at times facing increased opposition and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation laws. (HBO Max)
In addition to this year’s honorees, the Honors selection committee is giving special recognition to the documentary series Profiled: The Black Man (Discovery+) produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions. The program will receive a certificate acknowledging its social justice content.
Bryan Leder, Governor for the Professional Representatives Peer Group, chaired this year’s Television Academy Honors selection committee with Kim Taylor-Coleman, C.S.A., Governor for the Casting Director Peer Group, serving as vice chair.
Adapting well-known and much-beloved animated features and making them look and feel refreshed for a whole new generation is a tall order. Many have attempted it, but only a handful have truly understood how to do it properly. Director David Lowery’s live-action iteration of Pete’s Dragon did the seemingly impossible feat of turning a lesser-known property into a genuinely compelling, charming “boy and his dog” story, revolving around a feral child and his furry dragon finding a family. Lowery innately knew what the practically patented Disney Magic entailed, and he delivered in spades.
Unfortunately, that same sense of wonder and spectacle has not completely carried over to Lowery’s second offering for the studio, Peter Pan & Wendy, which has been sent straight to their streaming service, Disney+. This adaptation combines the fundamental building blocks from J.M. Barrie’s 1911 novel (and its preceding play) and Disney’s 1953 animated film to both greater and lesser effects. By changing elements—for legitimate reasons—it becomes a diverse coming-of-age tale, but it also loses a lot of what made its predecessors memorable and magical. While it’s assuredly not one of the worst (Robert Zemeckis’ Pinocchio earns that title), nor one of the best live-action remakes from Disney’s vault (Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella is up there with Pete’s Dragon), it’s a lackluster letdown whose potential for greatness goes unrealized.
It’s the night before big sister Wendy Darling (Ever Anderson) is being shipped off to boarding school, and her little brothers John (Joshua Pickering) and Michael (Jacobi Jupe) are determined to make it a fun time. Their vivid imaginations are running wild as they play swashbuckling pirates on a fantastical adventure—until a mirror breaks, which catches the ire of their parents (Alan Tudyk and Molly Parker). Mom would rather her daughter start acting her age, but Wendy isn’t quite ready to say goodbye to adolescent whimsy.
As the siblings drift off to sleep, they awaken to a clatter and catch the winged fairy Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi from Freeform’s Grown-ish) rustling in their bureau. Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) soon bursts in looking for his missing shadow. Turns out Peter has been stalking Wendy, waiting for her to wish to never grow up. Now he’s there, ready to whisk her and her brothers away to Neverland. After getting showered with pixie dust, they fly over London and use a mystical portal to transport into the fantasyland. There, the young Darlings find themselves instantly caught in an escalating war between Peter’s sworn enemy Captain Hook (Jude Law) and his crew of vengeful pirates, and Peter’s pals, badass warrior Tiger Lily (Alyssa Wapanatâhk) andThe Lost Boys, a band of like-minded orphans which also includes girls.
Lowery and frequent collaborator Toby Halbrooks update the story with clever modifications that give characters a refurbished sense of autonomy. Not only does Wendy have a stronger arc than in previous incarnations, her journey holds greater emotional weight than Peter’s, whose turn from self-centered to selfless is entirely unearned and stretches credulity. She’s courageous and witty while facing down obstacles and figuring out that growing up is an important step towards her happiness. Anderson digs into these deep layers with bravura. Tiger Lily and her tribe are no longer Native American caricatures as offensively portrayed in cartoon form, but authentic people speaking Cree and not being mocked by a bunch of bigoted white kids. The Lost Boys are a diverse diaspora of different personalities, rabble-rousing free spirits who value friendship first and foremost.
That said, the filmmakers do a disservice to their source materials when it comes to other characters. There’s a fine line between arrogant and smarmy and this Peter Pan is the latter. His rude attitude grates rather than ingratiates him to us. There’s a way to make a character full of himself and have it be entertaining and funny, but these filmmakers fail to do this time and again, detrimentally affecting Molony’s performance as he demonstrates no charisma. Shahidi is a capable presence, trapped in an underutilized and underserviced role. Tinker Bell is jettisoned to the background, given little to do—and certainly nothing delightfully irascible—beyond working up to predictably speaking at the end. Her multi-dimensional personality is missing and made worse by the fact she’s given two poses the entire time: hopeful and frightened.
Peter Pan & Wendy | Teaser Trailer | Disney+
Even the spectacle-driven sections disappoint and underwhelm. Bland fight choreography that mimics kids’ basic pretend play is repeated during every action scene, from those that take place inside Skull Rock to the big climax on Hook’s ship with its simultaneous mini-battles. The Darlings’ pixie-dusted flight through London’s murky midnight skies is bogged down by distractingly ropey CGI. The sequence featuring the giant crocodile—who pops out of the water to rescue the kids from Hook’s wrath and expose him as a bit of a buffoon—doesn’t feel, look, or sound immersive. We’re always keenly aware of the artifice involved.
It’s a shame that no adaptation has ever been able to capture the full cleverness, wit, or creative perspective on childhood and imagination of Barrie’s original material. But this film is geared toward those most familiar with the Disney animated film, perhaps understandably so. Not unlike other studios’ Peter Pan interpretations, like Steven Spielberg’s Hook, P.J. Hogan’s Peter Pan, Joe Wright’s Pan, and Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy, Lowery’s version does just enough to make it his own. However, with no real laughs, no genuine thrills, and no memorable scenes, its legacy will soon be forgotten.
What if your homeland collapses? What if the stores go empty, the medical supplies are cut off, the living standards fall to their lowest, and everyone’s future and life become incomprehensible? Each country and society has its flaws and struggles, but how many of us can say that our existence has become vague? Venezuela feels that way.
It’s the graveness of this notion that Simón navigates in a story that speaks of a whole nation’s misery through one man’s struggles. For almost a decade, Venezuela has fought for democratic freedom. With the opposition dissolved and a totalitarian regime by decree in charge, the nation’s wealth is lost, the poverty is beyond 96%, the bare necessities’ supplies are null, and the countrywide protests have unfortunately died.
“A Venezuelan student activist seeks asylum in the US while struggling with the trauma and guilt of abandoning his homeland.“
Amidst the nation’s downfall, millions have fled to nearing borders, seeking refuge and permanent asylum. But is it easy to leave everything behind, begin from the bottom, and forsake the place you’ve always called home? Diego Vicentini’s Simón depicts widespread chaos, its experiential mental impact, and the guilt of failure to bring substantial change. Based on the short film of the same name, Simón follows the titular immigrant, played by Christian McGaggney, who has fled Venezuela to Miami and is contemplating applying for asylum in the States. Haunted by the firsthand experiences of his nation’s struggle, worried about his identity in the new unknown place, and overwhelmed with the guilt of stranding his peers and friends back home, how could anything be simple for our protagonist?
Similar to the short film the feature adapts from, Simón focuses predominantly on the titular protagonist and his struggle with the loneliness and anxiety-ridden memories he has of home. We are initially made aware of a dreaded past through fading flashbacks of Simón leading a wide student protest against the violent military and police. We are also told of his proactive approach toward democracy and freedom and his strong wish for a better future for students who want to accomplish their dreams.
But even though Simón, the movie, resonates with the visceral struggle and dying hope of all Venezuelans and their endangered activism against the regime. In Vincentini’s showcase of a political drama, he embeds a psychological thriller to convey the actual effects of a nationwide conflict on its citizens and the subsequent jolt to their way of life. Through one man’s struggle to choose between his life and that of his morals and his outspokenly contrasting and blunt beliefs against political dictatorship, VIncentini’s Simón speaks of every Venezuelan enduring a similar squabble within themselves. Going into the extremities of mental and physical violation of one man’s integrity, Vicentini argues whether it’s possible to keep up with one’s moral predicaments under such duress.
Vladimir Putin unleashed a barrage of missiles on Ukraine in the early hours of this morning, killing at least five people after the rockets struck residential buildings across the country.
More than 20 cruise missiles and two drones were fired at cities and towns across the country, blowing up people’s homes as they slept.
At least two cruise missiles smashed into a nine-storey residential building in the central town of Uman, killing three people – including a 75-year-old woman – and wounding eight.
Missiles also rained down on the central city of Dnipro, with one striking a house where a 31-year-old mother and her two-year-old daughter were sleeping. They both died in the barbaric attack.
Kyiv was also rocked by explosions in the first attack against the capital in nearly two months, with air raid sirens beginning at 4am. Ukraine’s air force managed to intercept 11 cruise missiles and two drones that had been launched at the city in a move that will have saved scores of lives.
Pictured: Fire and smoke rise up in the night sky after a residential building was hit by a Russian missile in the town of Uman, Cherkasy region, Ukraine
Pictured: A heavily damaged residential building hit by a Russian missile is set on fire, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Uman, Cherkasy region, Ukraine, on Friday
Dramatic footage shows the horror of a Russian attack on the town of Uman, part of an overnight blitzkrieg in Ukraine.
Three people were killed and eight wounded when a missile hit a high-rise residential building, said head of the Cherkasy regional administration, Ihor Taburets.
The partially destroyed building was seen engulfed in flames.
A rescue operation was underway. A haunting video shows a distraught Ukrainian woman with blood on her hands and face after the attack as she shows the wreckage of her flat.
She told how her children had narrowly escaped death in the terrifying bombardment.
Three people have been killed, including women and children as a result of a Russian missile attack on Uman, central Ukraine, which was burning last night
A terrified Ukrainian woman surveys the damage and her own injuries as Russians bombarded the town of Uman
Vladimir Putin unleashed a barrage of missiles on Ukraine in the early hours of this morning, killing at least five people after the rockets struck residential buildings across the country. Pictured: A map showing where the Russian missile strikes have hit across Ukraine
‘A missile hit our block of flats,’ she said, showing the damage. ‘We are all covered in blood. All windows were shattered. Children were sleeping here.
‘They are all alive. We are all covered in blood. I got so scared. I hate you, bloody [Russians], I hate you.’
‘This morning the occupiers attacked Cherkasy region,’ said Taburets, adding: ‘There are two cruise missile hits in Uman – a residential house and warehouse buildings.’
Separately a young woman, 31, and a two year old child were killed when a private house was hit, said Borys Filatov, mayor of the central city of Dnipro, said on Telegram.
Rockets destroyed the building of a private enterprise.
A 70-year-old woman was injured.
The carnage was part of an overnight onslaught by Russian forces on Ukraine.
Ukrainian sources suggested some of the attacks were conventional missiles launched by Russia’s Tu-95 strategic nuclear aircraft from the Caspian Sea region.
The Ukrainian air force claimed to have destroyed 21 out of 23 incoming Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles, as well as two military drones.
Russia immediately claimed that the hits on residential buildings were from ‘cack-handed’ Ukrainian air defences.
Propagandist Vladimir Solovyov alleged: ‘In Uman, the valiant defenders laid down almost the entire entrance of a nine-story building while Russian missiles reached the [targeted] storage facilities without hindrance.’
A firefighter works at thee site of storage facilities hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine, on Friday
Firefighters work to stem a fire at a heavily damaged apartment building in Uman, Cherkasy region, on Friday
The moment one of the missiles explodes after a new Russian bombardment
Kyiv was rocked by explosions and air raid sirens and explosions were reported across the country, reported Interfax Ukraine.
Kremenchuk and Poltava in central Ukraine were hit, and Mykolaiv in the south.
The strike came a day after the Kremlin had welcomed anything that could bring an end to the conflict.
This referred to a lengthy telephone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday.
Next chapter! Meghan Markle is making professional moves following her and Prince Harry‘s step back from the royal spotlight.
“We are honored to announce that WME now represents Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex in all areas,” read a tweet shared via the talent agency’s account on Thursday, April 27, alongside a photo of the 41-year-old Suits alum.
Variety reported on Thursday that Meghan signed a deal with WME. Her team includes Jill Smoller, the longtime agent of the duchess’ close friend Serena Williams.
WME will reportedly take over representation for Meghan and Harry’s company Archewell Productions, which they founded in 2020 “to produce programming that informs, elevates, and inspires.” The pair have worked with Netflix to develop both scripted and unscripted projects, including their 2022 docuseries, Harry & Meghan.
While film and television production will be one area of Meghan’s WME partnership, fans likely won’t see her returning to her TV roots. Acting will not be a focus, according to Variety.
Meghan reflected on her Hollywood career in a Variety cover story published in October 2022, hinting that she’s “done” acting for now. “I guess never say never, but my intention is to absolutely not [again],” she said at the time, confessing that she “didn’t think [she’d] ever be in the entertainment industry again” before starting Archewell.
Despite her own hesitations toward getting back on camera, Meghan said she wouldn’t be opposed if Archie or Lili ever caught the acting bug. “I would say, ‘Great!’” she told the outlet. “When you become a parent, you genuinely want your kids to find the things that bring them complete joy. They’re our kids, obviously, and they’re part of a legacy and a tradition and a family that will have other expectations. But I want them to be able to carve out their own path. If it’s the entertainment industry, great. And also, good luck.”
Moviestore/Shutterstock
She continued: “There are so many people that will talk about what opened the door for my children. But it still takes talent and a lot of grit. We’re creating multidimensional, interesting, kind, creative people. That’s who our kids are.”
“He’s focusing on making documentaries connected to good causes — not just on the production side of things,” the insider exclusively revealed in August 2020, adding that the Spare author was “determined to make it” on his own. “We’ll also be seeing him in front of the camera, more as a spokesperson than anything else.”
The former military pilot “always had a creative streak,” per the source, but his wife “inspired him to take it to the next level.”
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The insider told Us: “Working in the entertainment industry isn’t something he particularly thought about doing as royal, but since separating from the royals, he now has the opportunity to explore new, exciting opportunities and can’t wait to get his upcoming projects off the ground.”
Dylan Mulvaney is addressing the online hate she received following a brand deal with Bud Light that prompted backlash from conservatives.
After a several-week break from social media, the influencer — who has been documenting her transition via TikTok since March 2022 in a series called “Days of Girlhood” — posted a video on the app Thursday to her 10.8 million followers. Though she didn’t mention Bud Light by name, Mulvaney’s message was clear: “dehumanization has never fixed anything in history, ever.”
On April 1, Mulvaney promoted a Bud Light March Madness contest on her Instagram account, in which she shared that the company had sent her a can of beer with her face on it. The video sparked backlash from conservative politicians and celebrities, including musicians Kid Rock and Travis Tritt, who called for a boycott of the beer. As a result, sales slumped and Brendan Whitworth, the CEO of Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch, put out a statement saying the company “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.” On April 25, it was announced that two Anheuser-Busch marketing executives were on a leave of absence.
“What I’m struggling with most is that I grew up in a conservative family, and I’m extremely privileged because they still love me very much. And I grew up in the church, and I still have my faith, which I am really trying to hold onto right now,” Mulvaney said. “But I’ve always tried to love everyone, you know, even the people who make it really, really hard. And I think it’s okay to be frustrated with someone or confused, but what I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I just, I don’t think that’s right. Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history, ever.”
Mulvaney continued, “I’m embarrassed to even tell you this, but I was nervous that you were going to start believing those things that they were saying about me, since it is so loud. But I’m just going to go ahead and trust that the people who know me and my heart won’t listen to that noise. What I’m interested in is getting back to making people laugh and to never stop learning. And going forward, I wanna share parts of me on here that have nothing to do with my identity. And I’m hoping those parts will still be exciting to you and will be enough. And to those of you who support me and choose to see my humanity even if you don’t fully understand or relate to me, thank you.”
Anheuser-Busch did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
The controversy arose as Republican lawmakers continue to propose anti-trans laws across the country that seek to restrict the rights of transgender people, including access to bathrooms, banning gender-affirming healthcare, forcing teachers to out transgender students and restricting drag shows. According to the ACLU, there are currently 469 anti-LGBTQ bills throughout the U.S.
In an interview with Varietyin March, Mulvaney shared what she would say to young trans kids in states like Tennessee, where anti-trans bills are especially pervasive.
“I would say you are the bravest person I know of already, and now you are even braver,” she said. “And God forbid you can’t get what you need at this moment, please, I beg of you, whatever that guiding light is that brought you to your true self and your identity, please keep following it.”
After a sabbatical from social media for a couple of weeks following the transphobic uproar over her partnership with Bud Light, trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney returned to Instagram on Thursday with a new video.
In the clip, Mulvaney didn’t specifically address the situation or refer by name to Bud Light or its parent company, Anheuser-Busch. Instead she focused on telling her millions of followers that she’s doing okay and appreciates their support during these turbulent times.
“It’s day 9,610 of being a human, and I’m gonna try to leave gender out of this since that’s how we found ourselves here,” Mulvaney said. “I’ve been offline for a few weeks, and a lot has been said about me, some of which is so far from my truth, that I was like hearing my name, and I didn’t even know who they were talking about sometimes.”
Mulvaney continued, “It’s a very dissociative feeling, and it was so loud that I didn’t even feel part of the conversation. So, I decided to take the backseat and just let them tucker themselves out. But then I remembered that nearly 13 million people at some point enjoyed me enough to hit the follow button on these apps. And I was like, wait, wait, wait. I wanna talk to those people. So, hi, long time no talk. How are you? You might wanna grab a beverage. This is gonna be a longer one.”
“I’m doing okay and I’m trying this new thing where I don’t pressure myself to share anything before I’m ready. And I’m actually sitting with my emotions, you know, not reacting, waiting to respond,” Mulvaney said. “And shockingly, I can’t recommend it more like therapy is paying off here people.”
Mulvaney added, “But I do have some thoughts to share with you. So I’ve been having crazy deja vu because I’m an adult. I’m 26, and throughout childhood I was called too feminine and over the top. And here I am now being called all those same things, but this time it’s from other adults. And if they’re gonna accuse me of anything, it should be that I’m a theater person and that I’m camp. But this is just my personality and it always has been.
“What I’m struggling with most is that I grew up in a conservative family, and I’m extremely privileged because they still love me very much, and I grew up in the church, and I still have my faith, which I am really trying to hold onto right now. But I’ve always tried to love everyone. You know, even the people that make it really, really hard. And I think it’s okay to be frustrated with someone or confused, but what I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I just, I don’t think that’s right. You know, dehumanization has never fixed anything in history, ever,” Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney continued, “And you know, I’m embarrassed to even tell you this, but I was nervous that you were going to start believing those things that they were saying about me since it is so loud. But I’m just gonna go ahead and trust that the people who know me and my heart won’t listen to that noise. What I’m interested in is getting back to making people laugh and to never stop learning and going forward.”
“I wanna share parts of myself on here that have nothing to do with my identity, and I’m hoping those parts will still be exciting to you and will be enough. And to those of you who support me and choose to see my humanity, even if you don’t fully understand or relate to me, thank you,” Mulvaney said.
“And I don’t know if reincarnation is a thing, but in my next life I would love to be someone non-confrontational and uncontroversial. God, that sounds nice. The good news is that the people pleaser in me has nearly died because there’s clearly no way of winning over everyone. But if you’re still around, I am too. And I love ya, and I hope you’re having a great week and I missed you. Okay, talk soon. Love you. Bye.”
In early April, during the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, Bud Light and Mulvaney unveiled a branding partnership that among other things featured a special can with her face on it. In response, conservative pop culture, media and political figures stoked an outrage campaign that included boycott calls, endless Fox News segments complaining about it, and musicians like Kid Rock and Travis Tritt angrily denouncing the beer.
The 33rd annual Gotham Awards are set to take place on Monday, November 27th, The Gotham Film & Media Institute revealed on Thursday.
Recognized as one of the leading honors for independent film and television, The Gotham Awards provide early acknowledgement to groundbreaking indie films and series as they move through awards season, with statuettes handed out in New York City.
During last year’s edition of the show, which took place at Cipriani Wall Street, Everything Everywhere All at Once kicked off its massive award season by winning Best Feature, also seeing star Ke Huy Quan claim the Outstanding Supporting Performance Award on his way to a Supporting Actor Oscar. Charlotte Wells accepted the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director award for her acclaimed feature debut Aftersun, and W. Kamau Bell earned the Breakthrough Nonfiction Series Award for his much-discussed, four-part Showtime series, We Need to Talk About Cosby.
The Gotham Film & Media Institute is an organization that looks to celebrate and nurture independent film and media creators, providing career-building resources, access to industry influencers, and pathways to wider recognition. Leading the organization, as Executive Director, is award-winning producer Jeffrey Sharp.
What’s 420 divided by 90? While you ponder that, take in the news that, on the eve of Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday, he and Billy Strings have released their own birthday present to the world — a surprise collaboration called “California Sober,” which, as you might be able to guess from the title, celebrates weed as its own form of moderation.
It’s the first song to come out under Strings’ new deal with Reprise Records, after a long run with Rounder.
The music video portrays the two collaborators and band members recording their parts individually, although a framing device has Strings getting on a bus — presumably Nelson’s — that is emitting a prolific amount of smoke by the time he exits at the end. Strings, a young neo-bluegrass picker who now sells out shows across the country, is seen with a joint hanging out of his mouth as he pulls off one of the acoustic solos he’s famous for, while wearing a shirt that rhymes “doobie” with “Scooby.” Nelson is not so demonstrative in his choice of cannabis, having reportedly given up smoking for edibles and other lung-protecting variations some years back.
The song, written by William Apostol, Aaron Allen and Jon Weisberger, is from the point of view of someone who’s grown into a mature adulthood and given up just about all vices in life — except for cannabis, which doesn’t count, rated against less mellowing drugs or alcohol.
“Well I used to like to ramble with my good-time friends and neighbors / Now I find I’d rather lie awake in bed,” sings Strings at the outset. “And I don’t get to acting mean when I keep my buzzes clean / And keep the hard stuff and the whiskey from my head… / I can’t stay out and party like I did back in the day / So I’m California sober as they say.”
Though Nelson did not co-write the song, these words would fit with what he’s said about marijuana in the past, and how in his view taking it up saved him from becoming a mean drunk.
Nelson fans will instantly recognize longtime band member Mickey Raphael joining in on harmonica. Other players include Billy Failing on banjo, Royal Masat on bass, Jarrod Walker on mandolin, Alex Hargreaves on fiddle, Shannon Forest on snare and Doug Jerrigan on pedal steel.
Fans of either artist may be hoping to hear the song premiered live this weekend, as Strings is on the bill for the two-night birthday celebration of Nelson at the Hollywood Bowl Saturday and Sunday.
The Bowl appearance in L.A. is Strings’ last stop before he picks up touring with a sold-out two-night stand at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre May 11-12. His touring dance card is on the full side all the way through a three-night stand scheduled for New Orleans Dec. 29-31. He soon will return to L.A. with a sold-out night at the Greek May 19.
One of the most surprising turn of events in the MCU’s Phase 4, was the dark turn that Wanda Maximoff took.
While the Scarlet Witch lost her imaginary family at the end WandaVision, there was little indication that the character would turn into a full-fledged villain
Well, it was not only viewers who were surprised that Wanda went to such a dark place. In a recent interview with Buzzfeed, Elizabeth Olsen admitted that she was “shocked” to learn that her character would be the main antagonist in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
“I was shocked the moment they told me what it was about. I was shocked at the moment they said, ‘You’re the villain.’ No one told me until right before we shot it, so that was shocking.”
Photo: Marvel
A New Side of Wanda
As it turns out, however, Olsen didn’t have a hard time portraying Wanda as a villain. She did however want to make sure that she showed a new side of the character. When asked if it was hard playing a villain, she was blunt in her answer.
“No, but I think my goal is to make sure that nothing seems like a repeated arc. I try really hard now to make it repetitive because I think that might not be fun for fans.”
Will Wanda Return?
While Wanda’s fate was left ambiguous at the end of Multiverse of Madness, Elizabeth Olsen has remained steadfast that she doesn’t know what the future’s character holds.
Image Credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+
While she has previously stated that she would love to return to the role, the actress has also admitted that after three straight years of work, it has been nice to get away from the MCU.
“I don’t miss it,” she said.
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With the announcement of the soft-reboot of cinematic and television projects in the DCU, fans have anxiously awaited any news on who the new Superman actor who will replace Cavill will be.
Gunn has been teasing that there are names in the works, though no specifics have been released yet.
Now, the co-CEO has revealed some of the traits he’s seeking out in the soon-to-be Superman.
What Is James Gunn Looking For in Superman?
DC
In an interview with Variety, James Gunn discussed the traits he’s looking for in the next Superman for his DCU reboot, also confirming that “it’s not Chris Pratt” playing the role.
Gunn explained that they “actually have some really great choices” in the works and that they are “looking” for the right actor to replace Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel:
“It’s hard but we’re looking. And we actually have some really great choices, which I’m excited about.”
He then broke down the three main traits he’s looking for in whoever is cast. First, the actor cast needs “all the humanity that Superman has:”
“It has to be somebody who has all the humanity that Superman has, but he’s also an alien.”
Gunn then said that the new Superman must have Superman’s “kindness and compassion:”
“It’s gotta be somebody who has the kindness and compassion that Superman has.”
Finally, in some vivid imagery, Gunn explained that Superman should be someone you want to receive “a hug” from:
“And it has to be somebody that you’d want to give you a hug.”
Gunn added that he is hoping to “add to” the canon of “all the Supermen:”
“You know, all the Supermen have been good, so we just have to add to that story.”
A Comics-Accurate Superman For New DCU
These key characteristics — “humanity,”“compassion” and the comfort that comes with a “hug” — are all critical to the character of Superman in the comics.
This is good news for DC fans who felt that Henry Cavill’s stories deviated far from the source material, or who are looking for a Superman that speaks to the hope and optimism that his comics counterpart does.
This also indicates an overall light-heartedness and breath-of-fresh-air attitude from Gunn about these characters, especially when compared to the dark and gritty SnyderVerse.
The snow was polar white in the Montreal winter of 1994. I was eleven years old, sitting on the school bus when a kid hands the driver a mixtape. What I heard next would turn my freezing butt on fire: Wu-Tang Clan’s Ain’t Nothin’ To F**k With!I knew instantly that what I was hearing was special.
I also recognized that my mother would disapprove of me listening to it. Too late. I became hooked on the sounds coming from a faraway land named Shaolin.
Cut to thirty years later when I landed my dream job editing the third and final season of Wu-Tang: An American Saga, a biopic TV show co-created by Wu-Tang founding member RZA about the rise of one of the most popular musical groups in history.
How does one live up to the vision and hype of a celebrated TV series based on real people? You do your homework.
‘Wu-Tang: An American Saga’Credit: Hulu
Exploring Shaolin
Before starting work on the final season, I consumed all the Wu-Tang content I could find.
I studied the series, taking note of all the editing techniques they employed. I read both of RZA’s books, The Wu-Tang Manualand The Tao of Wu. I watched Showtime’s immersive four-part documentary, Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men. Finally, I scoured the web for articles, interviews, music videos, and anything that would help me understand these very different artists and how they came together to form a “Voltron” supergroup.
The first two seasons of Wu-Tang: An American Saga follow the development of the group as they figured out their sound and struggle to survive in the streets of New York City. What set Season 3 apart are the allegorical “films” that capture the creative process and spiritual essence of the group and their music.
Marc WiltshireCredit: Tyler Miles
This shift drastically changed the tone, conflict, and stakes from previous seasons. One of my challenges as an editor was maintaining the show’s DNA while elevating the story and characters into this new world.
Unlike many TV shows, there was no cookie-cutter format to draw from. The scripts were rich and detailed in their storytelling, without dictating how it should look or feel. It was both liberating and terrifying.
Digging Through the Pop Culture Crates
The soul of the series is Hip-Hop, so sampling played a pivotal role in how we approached the editing. While many musical biopics can turn into a visual Wikipedia entry, Wu-Tang: An American Saga thrives by excavating the bones the music is built from, boldly showcasing its influences and at times telling the story through a fantastical lens rather than being grounded in reality.
Liquid Swords (episode 308) is the first-ever episode written & directed by series co-creator and founding Wu-Tang member, RZA. An allegorical “film” that pays homage to Hip-Hop culture via a pastiche of influences ranging from Akira Kurosawa to 90’s Music Videos, as well as a variety of films including The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Shogun Assassin, Mad Max, The Warriors, West Side Story, and classic Kung Fu movies. Every scene in this episode references a different movie or genre, so the editing style changed from scene to scene.
I approached each episode by first breaking down the script, underlining dialogue or scene descriptions that referenced pop culture or an important event that occurred around the time the story takes place. We were encouraged to make bold choices in the editing.
My brilliant assistant editor, Alex Wills, and I experimented with sound effects and music placements that would connect the audience to the ideas laid out in the script. We sampled sounds from movies and even created new ones, weaving a tapestry of references into our narrative.
In the Liquid Swords episode, I managed to sprinkle in a lot of sound elements that were inspired by the movies we were paying homage to. I recall our sound designer pleading with us not to use the Wilhelm Screamthat I had slotted in the edit during a musical battle scene, but RZA told us to keep it in, and I’m forever grateful.
‘Wu-Tang: An American Saga’Credit: Hulu
Editing Music Videos Within a Narrative Story
The series had the added challenge of incorporating musical performances. The Liquid Swords episode alone contains five music videos within the larger story. Those are messier and are assembled less linearly than traditional dialogue scenes, requiring a different approach in the editorial.
The final battle sequence is a recreation of the music video for GZA 4th Chamber. You could watch them side by side, and they’d line up pretty closely. That was a trip to edit because I had to capture the essence of that music video, with its kinetic cuts and non-linear structure, while keeping the story on track.
We had a ton of battle footage to sort through, so we did several passes on that sequence due to the sheer amount of possibilities. I got to make a huge mess of the footage, editing from my gut rather than being surgical. It was wild, liberating, and the most fun I’ve ever had editing.
‘Wu-Tang: An American Saga’Credit: Hulu
Editing is Exactly Like a Samurai’s Journey
OK, maybe this is a stretch, but we do tend to work alone a lot of the time. Often, we run into seemingly insurmountable challenges along the way. I watched a lot of samurai movies to prepare for Liquid Swords, and, after a while, I related to chopping heads off to protect the village.
Our duty as editors is to ensure we’re protecting the story at all costs, and sometimes this means cutting a scene or an entire plot point if that elevates the overall story we’re telling.
RZA had a lot of ideas he wanted to express through this film, and a few of those ideas had to go in order to keep our story on track. RZA is a fantastic collaborator, always willing to try anything if it means telling a better story. Sometimes we would cut out a moment or a line of dialogue, and it worked. Other times, we would cut an entire chunk, only to decide several cuts later to bring it all back.
‘Wu-Tang: An American Saga’Credit: Hulu
My favorite instance of this was when we were getting a repeated note to trim down a particularly long scene that consisted of a monologue. We trimmed it down several times, and ultimately RZA requested that we revert it back to the original uncut version.
Crafting a film or TV show is a delicate balancing act, and sometimes you need to go down a rabbit hole to discover the best way to present an idea. Recognizing when a scene needs to breathe and play in silence or when it’s better served with a kinetic MTV style of cutting is how we sculpt the stone into a polished piece.
Editors also need to know when to let go. After the initial Editor’s Cut, it’s no longer ours, and we must be capable of honoring someone else’s vision while protecting the integrity of the cut.
I am immensely proud to have been a part of shaping this final season and have a profound respect for all the artisans that collaborated in making it.
What is your dream project, and how would you approach it?
As Deadline has reported, the incentives would raise the tax credit for film and television production back to 30% from 25% and boost the annual cap from $420 million to $700 million in a new package that runs through 2034.
The credit had been lowered by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to 25% in 2020, just as other states were increasing their tax incentive programs.
New York would also make above-the-line wage costs eligible, with some restrictions.
It wasn’t immediately clear if other provisions, like an additional 5% bump to incentivize relocation of TV series that are filming elsewhere, or terms for faster payment are also still in there. NY remains a big production destination but other states have been ramping up incentives, including neighboring New Jersey.
Gov. Hochul announced today that she and state lawmakers had agreed on a tentative $229 billion state budget. Several contentious issues — bail law, funding for charter schools, raising the minimum wage — had delayed the passage by more than a month — making this the latest budget in over a decade.
The incentive package had not included any change a measure requiring a film to have a budget of $1 million in NYC to be eligible for tax credit. Filmmakers have called that a high bar in a city with deep ties to independent film, which has been going elsewhere. However, the minimum budget is only $250k north of Westchester County.
The main cast of Bob Hearts Abishola, plus 11 other peoplePhoto: CBS
A few weeks back, we reported on a strange wrinkle facing the upcoming seasons of Law & Order and its variouis spin-offs, as NBC and Dick Wolf Productions attempted to find a way to keep the shows going despite budgets dropping all over the place in Hollywood at the moment. Their solution seemed pretty damn drastic: Cutting back individual season orders for almost all of the performers across the shows, meaning that none of them (except possibly major leads) would be in every episode of a season.
Why Christian Bale just can’t quit David O. Rusell
But there’s “drastic,” and then there’s “demote 84 percent of your main cast” drastic, which is the route CBS has apparently gone with its fifth-season sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola. Per Deadline, the series has made the dramatic decision to remove 11 out of its 13 leads from its main cast, leaving only titular stars Billy Gardell and Folake Olowofoyeku as its actual “cast.” The other 11 performers, including Christine Ebersole, Matt Jones, and The Good Place favorite Maribeth Monroe, will now be listed as “recurring,” with a guarantee of appearing in just five episodes of the show’s 13-episode fifth season, and with exclusivity waived so that they can pursue other projects while still being “on” the show.
In case it wasn’t clear: This is wild, not least of which because it’ll mean a huge cut in pay for all involved. (Fun fact: The cast already took a paycut apparently just to get a fifth season picked up in the first place.) Bob Hearts Abishola is in the unfavorable position of not being produced by CBS—it’s a Warner Bros. TV show—which means the network is paying out a pretty hefty license fee to air it. But the idea of these kinds of cast cuts being normalized has got to be hugely terrifying for any working actor in the TV business at the moment.
It’s good to have Mama Stabler back, even if she has deteriorated.
Something’s been missing since Stabler’s family was written out, especially his spitfire of a mother.
On Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3 Episode 19, she returned, but Stabler struggled to deal with her worsening dementia while trying to catch the person responsible for attacking a diplomat.
Stabler’s case was different than his usual assignments. Rather than trying to topple a crime family’s empire, he had to deal with the type of political intrigue that made me miss Madam Secretary.
Global relations were at stake as India prepared to take a stand one way or the other rather than remaining neutral in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. So narrowing down a suspect could have been difficult if Stabler didn’t have Jet’s computer expertise and access to AI tools to help.
But the best lead came from Stabler’s mother. She might have lost the capacity to go on a walk without getting lost, but she still remembered a boyfriend from half a century ago — and the type of cigarettes he smoked.
Don’t be mad. I went for a walk and now I don’t know where I am.
Mama Stabler
That lead helped the team zero in on Ivan. Without it, they might not have gotten anywhere.
The mystery’s solution was somewhat on the convoluted side. The diplomat and her bodyguard purchased stolen semi-conductors and smuggled them back to India so that they could build their own weapons and not rely on Russia for defense.
I didn’t think Veer was involved in anything illegal; I bought that his dislike of Stabler came from distrusting non-Indians. From the beginning, Veer seemed to view Stabler as competition, so I was surprised when he turned out to have a more nefarious motive for wanting to eject Stabler from the premises.
Once Veer had been caught, and Diya focused on packing her case with super-secret contents, I figured she had the semi-conductors. It was somewhat obvious; they were missing, and she suddenly wanted to leave and wouldn’t divulge the contents of that case.
Sure enough, Stabler got a confession out of her. His diplomatic solution was elegant and allowed her to return to her own country.
But as he pointed out, she didn’t get off scot-free. Presumably, organized crime groups in India wanted those semi-conductors, and we all know how people like that deal with their associates’ failures.
Bell: I have that court date today. Can’t miss it. Stabler: Jack’s custody hearing? Bell: If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.
Meanwhile, we got glimpses into Bell and Stabler’s personal lives, and neither was happy.
Mama Stabler’s deterioration was heartbreaking. She forgot that she’d put the tea kettle on and got lost going for a walk. But the worst part was how upset she seemed that Stabler didn’t want her to stay alone.
She got sarcastic and snippy when he asked her if she’d be all right for a few hours, and she tried to tell Jet that she didn’t need a babysitter.
Her comment that she was being put out to pasture said it all. She doesn’t want to face her loss of independence or mental deterioration.
Thankfully, she seemed to have made her peace with it, asking only for an assisted living facility that has walking trails so that she can continue going on her daily walks.
Bensler shippers might have appreciated her comment that she wants Stabler to be happy. That can easily be interpreted as her hoping he and Benson get together before she’s too out of it to share in their joy.
That final scene was sweet, but I hope her transition to assisted living doesn’t occur entirely off-screen. This is an emotional arc that should feature all the Stablers.
Kathleen will forever be indebted to her grandmother for convincing her to get on medication for bipolar disorder, and Eli is close with her, so it would be a shame if these two didn’t get a goodbye scene with her.
It’s bad enough that Bell’s custody hearing was off-screen. A character who is so rooted in Law & Order: SVU’s history (Mama Stabler made her first appearance on Law & Order: SVU Season 10 Episode 3) should get an on-screen send-off!
Besides, Ellen Burstyn adds so much. More Mama Stabler is always a good thing!
It was weird that Bell’s custody hearing was off-screen. Maybe the writers didn’t have room for it with everything else going on, but Bell’s stress level would have made more sense if we had any clue what was happening.
There were a couple of other tidbits sprinkled through the hour. Did we know that Reyes was an alcoholic or addict before now?
I’d like to know more about his history and why his contact thinks he must attend meetings!
I also was confused as to why he didn’t like wearing Whalen’s pants.
He kept complaining that he felt weird wearing pants that weren’t his, but he works undercover regularly!
So he is always wearing clothes that he’s not used to.
Your turn, Organized Crime fanatics.
Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts about this episode.
Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
2023 Emmy Predictions: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Janelle James for Variety
JD Barnes for Variety
Weekly Commentary: Jessica Williams the lovable therapist and scene-stealing Gaby on Apple TV’s “Shrinking,” and completely steals the show.
Her beautiful creation of the character provides the dramedy, which also stars contenders Jason Segel and Harrison Ford, the lifeblood and emotional backbone needed to navigate the series successfully. Imagining a supporting comedy actress lineup without her would be criminal. Going from a correspondent on “The Daily Show” to delivering one of the best performances of any actor this year is a wonderful journey to witness.
In addition, her two co-stars — Christa Miller as the nosey neighbor Liz and Lukita Maxwell as Jimmy’s grief-stricken daughter — are also magnetic in their roles. Depending on how much the TV Academy goes for the show, perhaps there’s room for more than one woman from the Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein-created comedy.
As always, it won’t be easy with heavy hitters such as former winners Hannah Waddingham from her Apple counterpart “Ted Lasso” and last year’s winner Sheryl Lee Ralph from “Abbott Elementary.”
However, in regards to “Abbott,” much like “Modern Family” executed a few times throughout its Emmy run, the TV Academy may feel inclined to reward someone new in such an incredible ensemble of actors. That could give Janelle James, who plays the sometimes incompetent but always funny principal Ava, her chance to walk up onto the Emmy stage. Gracing the cover of Variety recently, she’s undoubtedly in the hunt for her first major piece of recognition (and it would be warranted).
I also wouldn’t count out any of the sketch comedy performers such as Ego Nwodim and Cecily Strong from “Saturday Night Live” and Gabrielle Dennis and Skye Townsend, both impeccably funny and talented on HBO’s “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” a show that’s due for acting recognition.
Emmy Nominations voting runs from June 15-26. The Primetime Emmy nominations will be announced on July 12. Check back every Thursday for the latest updates. All information is preliminary and is subject to change.
GUEST ACTING, VOICE-OVER | SHORT FORM | DOCUMENTARY | MUSIC | ANIMATED |
About the Primetime Emmy Awards
The Primetime Emmy Awards, better known as the Emmys, are given out by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). Since 1949, the awards have recognized excellence in American primetime television programming. They are divided into three classes – Primetime Emmy Awards, the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards (honors artisan achievements), and the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards (recognizes significant engineering and technological contributions). The typical eligibility period is between June 1 and May 31 of any given year. The Television Academy comprises over 25,000 members, representing 30 professional peer groups, including performers, directors, producers, art directors, artisans, and executives.
Billy Strings sings an ode to the high life in “California Sober,” a new duet featuring the great Willie Nelson. The song is Strings’ first release under his new deal with Reprise Records and arrives just in time for Nelson’s 90th birthday.
“California Sober” is an up-tempo bluegrass tune that’s about (mostly) clean living. “I’ve had years I don’t recall, but I’m told I had a ball,” Strings sings in the first verse, confessing that he left drink and the harder stuff behind for his favorite crop. “I’m California sober as they say,” he sings in the chorus, a hook that’s appropriately aided by noted weed advocate Nelson. The country legend gets his own turn at the mic later, singing about pills, liquor, and cocaine all having their points of diminishing returns. There are fast, blazing solos from the talented instrumentalists in Strings’ band.
In the video, Strings is seen embracing Nelson in the studio as the group of musicians, including Nelson’s longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael, lays down the track. And, oh yeah, there’s also lots and lots of weed — joints are rolled and lit up, and in one particularly impressive scene, Strings rips through a guitar solo while contentedly puffing away at his spliff.
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Strings is one of many artists who will join Nelson at the singer’s all-star “Long Story Short” 90th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on April 29 and 30. Other performers at the concerts will include Neil Young, Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, Orville Peck, Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Margo Price, and Sheryl Crow.
Up ahead, Strings will bring his thrilling live show to sold-out venues including Colorado’s Red Rocks, Denver’s Mission Ballroom, and Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre, along with a stretch of dates that’ll keep him on the road through the end of 2023. His latest full-length release is 2022’s Me/And/Dad, a collaborative project with his father, Terry Barber.
The growing amount of homeless, independently made documentaries has made film festivals like Hot Docs, arguably more important than ever before. Many docus that premiered at Sundance 2023 but have yet to find distribution are part of the Toronto-based documentary festival’s lineup, which in turn allows those titles to stay on buyers’ radars.
But corporate consolidation, along with streamers’ current mandate for nonfiction content that fits into one of three boxes – celebrity, true crime, or sports – means that many docu filmmakers will eventually have to turn to non-traditional distribution to get their films seen outside the fest circuit.
Tracy Droz Tragos’ docu “Plan C” follows a grassroots organization fighting to expand access to abortion pills across the United States. The timely film premiered at Sundance in January, but despite good reviews, Tragos hasn’t found distribution for “Plan C.”
“We are hearing things from the big buyers like, ‘The subject matter is hugely important, and it needs to get out there ASAP, but we don’t have the space,” says Tragos. “Or, ‘We’re blown away by the film, but we’re so rarely acquiring docs.’ Or, ‘Unfortunately, this is a bit of a tough topic for us.”
After attending several festivals, including SXSW, Tragos decided to “listen to our enthusiastic audiences clamoring to share this film with their communities” by starting a Kickstarter campaign. The money raised will help various non-profits and organizers promote the screening of the docu at locations throughout the country.
“I’m still hopeful that we will have some measure of a theatrical distribution, whether we four-wall it ourselves or work with a distributor,” says Tragos. “We’ve been told to be patient and that we might find a streamer, but we will for sure carve out this educational, nonprofit festival space where we honestly think we can reach the most people.”
Tragos is one of many independent voices hoping a distributor will come along. But for those directors who don’t find a home for their docu on a streamer or with a theatrical distributor, there are other, less profitable options. They include self-distribution, selling territory by territory, as well as Gravitas Ventures – an all-rights distributor that acquires and distributes narrative films and documentaries across all TVOD platforms and select films theatrically. The company also seeks out licensing deals with SVOD platforms. After the SVOD window, Gravitas releases the project on AVOD services.
“We are in talks with pretty much all of the larger agencies representing films that were at Sundance, South by Southwest, and the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival,” says Guentzler. “We have been able to increase the quality of the overall films that we are releasing because some distributors pulled back and some distributors are no longer with us.”
Gravitas acquires films on all levels, either by offering minimum guarantees of different ranges and through a revenue share model. Most recently, Gravitas garnered North American rights to two documentaries: Ashley Avis’ “Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West” and Julian Rubinstein’s “The Holly.” Last year Gravitas released Sundance grand jury prize documentary winner “The Exiles.” Most filmmakers releasing a docu via Gravitas hire their own publicity team.
In addition to 70 world premieres, this year’s 30th edition of Hot Docs also includes numerous docus that have already had buzzy premieres at not only Sundance but South by Southwest, Berlin, and CPH:DOX. They include: “The Disappearance of Shere Hite,” “Joan Baez I Am a Noise,” “Praying for Armageddon,” “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” “Invisible Beauty,” “It’s Only Life After All” and “A Still Small Voice.” Each film is seeking distribution.
“The tyranny of some of the bigger players really can create a seismic impact across the board,” admits Hot Docs’ programming director Shane Smith. “We believe in amplifying and showcasing every film in the lineup because we want to try and help build a future for each doc through the platform and the profile that the festival can offer.”
Impact Partners, a documentary film funding company that has provided millions of dollars in equity money to over 100 documentaries, including the Academy Award-winning “Icarus” and “The Cove,” helped finance Alexandria Bombach’s “It’s Only Life After All,” about the Indigo Girls, and Penny Lane’s “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” about kidney donation.
Just last year, Impact Partners sold two of their films, “Aftershock,” about America’s maternal health care crisis, and “Mija,” about two daughters of undocumented immigrants to Disney. At Sundance 2023 Disney was nowhere to be found. Neither was Netflix, Amazon, Hulu nor Apple. Thus far, only three Sundance 2023 docs have sold: “Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV” (Greenwich Entertainment), “The Eternal Memory” (MTV Documentary Films), and “Little Richard: I Am Everything” (Magnolia).
Jenny Raskin, Impact Partners executive director, says the current market has come as a “shock” to doc filmmakers, who, in recent years, became accustomed to streaming services spending millions on politically bent, commercially unviable docus like “Knock Down the House,” which Netflix bought for $10 million in 2019, and “Boys State,” which Apple and A24 acquired for $12 million in 2020.
“Currently, there’s a push towards more commercial, more common denominator fare,” Raskin says. “There’s a patience for that for a while, but eventually, companies will look for the new thing, and often that is coming from the artists. Everyone’s biggest concern is less about the financial and more about the reach.”
The sudden shift from the golden age of docus to the commercial age of docus means that filmmakers and nonfiction production companies that want to stay afloat will need to shift toward what streamers want. If Sundance 2023 is any indication, they want celebrities.
Docs that came with distribution to Park City included Amazon’s “Judy Blume Forever,” Apple’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” and Hulu’s “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” and Netflix’s “The Deepest Breath” will be at Hot Docs.
John Battsek produced “The Deepest Breath,” an A24 documentary about high-risk freediving that Netflix acquired before its Sundance debut. Currently, he is at work on Apple TV+ Boris Becker documentary and Disney’s Elton John doc “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”
“Sometimes you make films, and they’re harder to sell than others,” Battsek says. “But if you’ve got a really strong story, buyers want those. Everyone wants those.”
The 2023 Streamy Awards, which recognizes the internet’s top creators, is moving up its awards ceremony from its traditional December date to Aug. 27.
Like past years, this year’s Streamys will take place in Los Angeles. Nominations for the show have now opened and will include the new category of Rolling Stone Sound of the Year, which seeks to honor the song that dominated social media. Nominees will be announced in July.
Heading into this year’s awards ceremony, Jimmy Donaldson (best known as “MrBeast”) will be the creator to beat, given that he has clinched the top creator of the year prize for three years in a row. Past winners for the category have included Bob the Drag Queen, Bretman Rock, Charli D’Amelio, Jay Shetty and Rhett & Link.
Last year’s ceremony also recognized YouTube creator Ryan Trahan as the breakout creator of the year — a category whose previous winners have included D’Amelio, MrBeast, Emma Chamberlain, Liza Koshy and Bella Poarch.
The Streamy Awards are produced by Tubefilter and Dick Clark Productions, the latter of which is run by Penske Media Eldridge, a subsidiary of The Hollywood Reporter parent company PMC.
The ceremony, now entering its 13th year, has averaged 6.4 million views since 2020, according to DCP and Tubefilter.
One unpredictable part of making any documentary about a person is showing them a cut.
While the five documentary filmmakers taking part in the session “HBO Doc Panel: Portraits” as part of the Deadline FYC House + HBO Max screening and panel series had tackled a wide range of subjects with various approaches, they agreed on that nerve-wracking final step.
Sam Jones, director-producer of Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed, said he deliberately put a key interview segment toward the top of the film, knowing Isbell would register it when he watched. In that moment, “Jason says, ‘I have to come to terms with things that don’t make me look cool as an artist’ because that’s the opposite of making art is worrying about your self-image,” Jones said about his fly-on-the-wall look at Isbell’s creative process. He added with a chuckle, “I wanted to remind him that he wasn’t gonna look cool.”
Alexandra Pelosi, a veteran filmmaker who decided to make her mother, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the subject of Pelosi in the House, said feedback started coming in even based just on the film’s trailer. “I showed it to her and she said, ‘You should take out this, this, this.’ I said, ‘Mom, it’s a little late for that. It’s on YouTube.”
The attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, helped influence her decision to make the film. On a broader level, Pelosi said, “I had to make this movie because I’ve been following my mother for 30 years with a camera.”
Ed Perkins was a unique case among the quintet onstage because The Princess, which he directed, uses archival material rather than talking heads to portray Princess Diana. Even without a living subject’s opinion to worry about, Perkins said the sheer scale of the undertaking was intimidating. “She probably had more footage of herself than anyone else alive and the story we were trying to tell spanned 17 or 18 years,” Perkins said. “My job was in part to watch everything. It’s very dangerous when you start these projects to have too much of a preconceived notion about the story you’re trying to tell.”
After spending up to 12 hours a day poring over each frame of available footage, he said, the subtlest gesture would start to stand out. “It was almost like being a drama director and you’re looking for body language … She’s like a silent movie star.”
Edward “Buck’ Buckles, Jr., director-producer-writer of Katrina Babies, said he didn’t feel the film was truly finished until the people of New Orleans saw it last year. The responses from the community included heartfelt comments like “we needed this” and “I’m healing from this,” which eased his self-described survivor’s guilt. Buckles, who was 22 when he started the film, was able to safely evacuate as Hurricane Katrina ravaged his native city in 2005. He wanted to examine the effect on children in the city, a dimension of the disaster as yet unexplored.
“It was supposed to be a nine-month project,” he said, but many of the early interviews turned intensely emotional. As the tears flowed and emotions surfaced, “that added years into this project but it also gave me validation that this story needed to be told.”
Chris Smith. director of the four-part Branson, said the depiction of the multi-faceted billionaire fell into place once it was clear that Branson’s trip into space would provide a narrative framework. “Oh, this has a reason to exist now,” Smith recalled thinking once the space mission was confirmed. “It clicked for me that we could tell the story of him looking back at everything,” with the implicit notion being it could serve as a thoughtful reflection on his life in the event of an interstellar event. And Branson’s reaction? “There were some things he didn’t love,” Smith shrugged, “but he thought it was fair.”
Click on the video above to watch the conversation.
To watch more videos from the Deadline FYC House + HBO Max event series, click here.
Elizabeth Olsen calls herself an “unemployed” actor — even after playing Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and her latest role as Candy Montgomery in the HBO miniseries “Love & Death.”
“I don’t want to work for work’s sake,” she tells Variety. “I don’t know how to half-ass stuff, so I have to love something a lot. And there are things I love, and it’s tough to raise money for them.”
Olsen, 34, has multiple projects she wants to make with some unnamed first-time narrative directors but is finding it difficult to secure the financing that would allow them to have creative control. So, while she continues navigating Hollywood’s grounds during an unsteady economic time and a possible writer’s strike, she says she’s enjoying this break after working three years straight with Marvel (including two years of shooting and one year of promotion). “I don’t miss it,” she says.
However, she may or may not have given a sign that something could be coming with her in the future of the MCU. The “signal” comes after being asked to “blink twice” if she had anything with the superhero franchise on her docket. You can watch the video and judge for yourself.
On this video episode of the award-winning Variety Awards Circuit Podcast (listen or watch above, or subscribe wherever you download podcasts), Emmy-nominee Elizabeth Olsen discusses her new role in HBO’s limited series “Love & Death.” She shares the hunger she had to take on the murderous and feminine part of Candy Montgomery while sharing her experience in the industry on the heels of a possible writers strike.
Also on this episode, “Succession” star Kieran Culkin, who plays the sarcastic Roman Roy on the HBO hit series, talks about the show’s surprising twists and turns this final season — and why he has decided to compete in the Emmy best drama actor category. And finally, the Awards Circuit Roundtable returns, talking about the recent firing of Jeff Shell at NBCUniversal, as well as this year’s competitive slate of television contenders hoping to nab themselves a coveted Emmy nomination.
HBO Max
“Love & Death,” from creator and Emmy winner David E. Kelley (“Big Little Lies”), tells the true-life story of Texas housewife Candy Montgomery, following a chance collision on a volleyball court with fellow church choir member Allan (Plemons), orchestrates an affair between the two married adults. Unfortunately, the encounters (which took place in 1980) lead to Candy being accused of murdering Allan’s wife, Betty (played by Lily Rabe). The series also stars Patrick Fugit, Keir Gilchrist, Elizabeth Marvel, Tom Pelphrey and Krysten Ritter.
Here are some of the highlights from the conversation with Olsen.
The scene that depicts the first time Candy and Allan sleep together highlights the importance of intimacy coordinators on set, which has become a weirdly debated topic. How do you feel about their roles on set?
I didn’t have them when I first started, and I was definitely in some wild scenes when I first started. I actually thought it helped tell the story, not because anyone ever made me do something I didn’t agree to do. I was a dancer, so I think of any intimate scene as choreography. The most important thing for intimacy coordinators is to support [everyone], not just the production’s main characters. I think it’s important for extras and day players, because you’re not already comfortable in that environment. You’re in a place of trying to make other people happy.
With this project, we get to watch this woman choose to be liberated and free in her sexual life, and then we find her in the most vulnerable moments later in the show. There’s even a story about how much you reveal of her body in this show and when. I liked seeing her physical body in her most vulnerable moments, which has nothing to do with sex. So that’s the creative conversation with the director.
I think this is the best performance of your career. Did you ever think you would reach this point in your career where you could deliver work as strong as this? What characters are piquing your interest?
I want to work with directors who have strong points of view on how they tell stories. Whether it’s tonally or visually — people who have had an opportunity to do narrative features, or not. It’s an awkward time to get projects going because of the state of the industry. But I feel we will have an interesting life in film again. We’re already seeing that. I just saw “Beau is Afraid” in theaters, and I feel like you see projects like that made in Europe but not in the States. I felt pretty tuned up.
What directors are you dying to work with?
I love Ruben Östlund’s films and have for a long time. I love Yorgos Lanthimos’ films; Ari Aster makes great movies. I would love to work with [Quentin] Tarantino before he retires.
What is your take on the possible writer’s strike in Hollywood, and what do the studios need to change so people of all disciplines in this industry can be paid fairly?
We need to reimagine structurally how people can of all levels can continue to make a living now that we have these streaming services. Actors who used to be able to live off residuals and can’t anymore because they get paid for one day. And it goes on a streaming service, and they don’t see a penny after.
We need to figure that out. There’s that (new media) agreement that we were all participating in. And Netflix, who has tons of money, overtime wasn’t the same, which was weird. I had that experience working with Facebook. I was like, “Hey, this isn’t how TV works. I’ve done this before. You’re supposed to pay me after hours.”
I have cast members that are who are No. 32 on the call sheet explaining they can’t live in the outer ring of Austin because that’s where we filmed. So a huge amount of our cast were local hires, and it was interesting to learn how expensive that city is. Through them, I understood there are still crazy contracts where they don’t get any residuals because of this new media deal.
The whole thing is new media now. We have to figure it out because it’s not like we will go backward. We will continue to stream, and whether streaming becomes ad-based doesn’t make a difference with how people work on films and TV. Hopefully, it will start a trend of people being protected so that people can continue to earn the way they used to.
Do you miss Marvel, and should we expect you in “Agatha All Along?”
I think I answered a question wrong. Someone asked me if I would be “returning,” and they said, for instance, “are we going to see you in ‘this thing.’” And I said, “Well, I hope I’m returning.”
I’m not “returning” to anything right now. I’m not doing anything for Marvel. Nothing, and it’s not that I’m trying to be cheeky. They’ll let me know when they’ll let me know.
And do I miss it? I don’t miss it. I just did two years straight of it. I think the break’s been good for me. I need to build other characters. It’s important for me. I’m grateful for this show [“Love & Death”] because it came at a great time — after playing Wanda for two years straight, and then I had to talk about it for another year. So it’s nice having something else to focus on and highlight.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, produced by Michael Schneider, is your one-stop listen for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each week “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives; discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines; and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post weekly.
Malti Marie was born a trimester before the due date. (credits: Instagram/
priyankachopra)
Malti Marie spent around 100 days in the NICU before Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas could finally bring her home.
Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas were thrilled to become parents when they welcomed their daughter, Malti Marie Chopra Jonas, via surrogacy in January 2022. However, the couple experienced a whirlwind of emotions as Malti was born prematurely. The unexpected turn of events left them shaken.
Despite the challenges, Priyanka and Nick remained steadfast in their love and commitment to their little one. They were dedicated to ensuring their child received the best care possible, and slowly but surely, their tiny bundle of joy began to grow stronger. Malti Marie spent 100 days in the NICU before Priyanka and Nick could finally bring her home.
For Priyanka, the experience was a mix of emotions, with moments of joy, fear, and uncertainty. In a recent interaction with Elle Magazine, Priyanka expressed her love for Malti, sharing that her daughter has her wrapped around her little finger. Priyanka also joked that she doesn’t know how she’ll ever discipline her. “She’s got me wrapped around her finger. I don’t even know how I’ll ever discipline her because I just don’t have it in me. I was so close to losing her so many times that she can get away with anything and I just want to see her happy. I want her to be the happiest. She’s a super smiley, happy baby, and that’s all my goal is—to see her joyous. Every time she smiles, it lights up my world, and that’s all I want to do,” said Priyanka.
Despite facing tough times, the couple feels grateful and cherishes every moment with their daughter. Priyanka Chopra also said that becoming a mother has led her to realise the depth of love she has for her daughter and how fiercely she will protect her. She reflected on her own mother’s protective instincts and how she never quite understood it before becoming a mom herself. She said her mother Madhu Chopra “rip apart” people when they hurt her, and she never understood it. “I was like, ‘Mom, chill out. What are you doing?’ Now I get it. I would take someone out,” the actress said.
Work-wise, Priyanka Chopra is awaiting the release of the spy thriller series Citadel. The series will start streaming from April 28 onwards. Apart from Citadel, the actress also has Love Again opposite Sam Heughan. She will also be seen in Farhan Akhtar’s Jee Le Zaraa alongside Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif.
Shrishti Negi, Senior Correspondent, News18.com, reports on the Indian film industry, with a focus on gender. Her areas of expertise are Bollywood, in…Read More
Are your Spidey-Senses tingling? Well good news, because Spider-Man is coming to Disney+. And not just one Spider-Man, but all three Spider-Men — Peter One, Peter Two, and Peter Three, AND Venom!
Coming soon to Disney+, six Spider-Man films will be launching on the streaming service in the U.S. this spring, giving fans access to more from the Marvel collection, all in one place. The first Spider-Man films starring Tobey Maguire, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and Andrew Garfield’s turn as the web-slinger in The Amazing Spider-Man will be made available to subscribers on April 21, 2023. Spider-Man: Homecoming starring Tom Holland and Venom will join the service on May 12, 2023.
Spider-Man (2002) – Available April 21, 2023
Average teenager Peter Parker is transformed into an extraordinary superhero after he is accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider. When his beloved uncle is savagely murdered during a robbery, young Peter vows to use his powers to avenge his death. Deeming himself “Spider-Man,” he sets about ridding the streets of crime, bringing him into conflict with the malevolent super-villain “Green Goblin.”
Spider-Man 2 (2004) – Available April 21, 2023
Tobey Maguire returns as the mild-mannered Peter Parker, who is juggling the delicate balance of his dual life as a college student and a superhuman crime fighter. Peter’s life becomes even more complicated when he confronts a new nemesis, the brilliant Otto Octavius who has been reincarnated as the maniacal and multi-tentacled “Doc Ock.” When Doc Ock kidnaps MJ, Spider-Man must swing back into action as the adventure reaches new heights of unprecedented excitement.
Spider-Man 3 (2007) – Available April 21, 2023
Peter Parker finally has the girl of his dreams, Mary Jane Watson, and New York City is in the throes of Spider-mania! But when a strange alien symbiote turns Spider-Man’s suit black, his darkest demons come to light changing Spider-Man inside as well as out. Spider-Man is in for the fight of his life against a lethal mix of villains – the deadly Sandman, Venom, and the New Goblin – as well as the enemy within himself.
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) – Available April 21, 2023
A teenage Peter Parker grapples with both high school and amazing super-human crises as his alter-ego Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) – Available May 12, 2023
A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging Super Hero. Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May, under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark. Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine, but when the Vulture emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.
Venom (2018) – Available May 12, 2023
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is a broken man after he loses everything including his job and fiancée. Just when his life is at its lowest, he becomes host to an alien symbiote which results in extraordinary superpowers – transforming him into Venom. Will these powers be enough for this new lethal protector to defeat great evil forces, especially against the far stronger and more weaponized symbiote rival, Riot?
Additional titles from Sony Pictures’ film and television library are expected to premiere on Disney+ in the U.S. later this year.
With the cost of living crisis, the almost continual cycle of governmental scandals, three prime ministers, and the shortest premiership in the nation’s and Parliament’s history, 2022 was by no means a quiet year on the current affairs front in the UK. Yet, for the British film industry, it was comparatively quiet when it came to film releases, although as the saying goes, “quality over quantity.”
Updated April 28th 2023: If you’re a fan of UK and Irish Films, you’ll be happy to know that this article has been updated by Kelly Swift with additional content.
This was the secret to its success in previous years, with UK films having enjoyed the fruits of their labor at the Academy Awards, with notable wins for films such as The Favourite, Darkest Hour, and The Theory of Everything in recent years. There have certainly been some seriously exceptional films released this year, albeit sporadically, so here are the best British films of 2022.
6 Boiling Point
Vertigo Releasing
You’d think years of watching Gordon Ramsay strut around on Kitchen Nightmares would satisfy our appetite for kitchen-based drama. Still, Philip Barantini’s fly-on-the-wall style drama Boiling Point, starring Stephen Graham as head-chef Andy in a career-defining performance, makes Ramsay’s expletive-filled outbursts look like child’s play.
In a one-shot-take, the film follows an evening at an upmarket Michelin-star restaurant in London. After an untimely visit from a food standard inspector, the evening starts off in a tumultuous manner. As the murmurings of discontent in Andy’s personal and work life grow louder and louder throughout the gripping film, the evening goes from bad to worse. Akin to the Safdie Brothers’ anxiety-inducing Uncut Gems and Good Time, Boiling Point builds up this unstoppable, relentless rhythm that throws issue after issue at the increasingly anxious Andy.
5 Belfast
Focus Features
Belfast was released in the UK three months after its U.S. release in 2022, which is ironic considering that it’s set in Northern Ireland; as such, it’s safely a 2022 film for its target audience. Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama is one of the highest-grossing British films of 2022, and in the UK, it became the highest-grossing black and white film in modern years.
Shot in a beautiful monochrome, which lends itself to the atmospheric ambiance of war-torn Belfast, the film tells the story of young Buddy (Jude Hill), whose innocence is tarnished by the ongoing war between then loyalists and the unionists in 1960s Northern Ireland. Living on a street where Catholics and Protestants live relatively harmoniously, the outbreak of the sectarian riots of August 1969 signifies the end of such peace and the delivery of a life-changing ultimatum.
4 The Wonder
Netflix
A Fantastic Woman and Gloria Bell director Sebastián Lelio returned after his last directorial outing in 2018, with the eerie and unearthly Netflix original, The Wonder. The movie that pitches science versus religion and faith against fact received its worldwide premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September, prior to its wider release on Netflix in November. In Victorian Britain, the phenomenon of “the fasting girl” saw so-called “miracle children” fasting for reportedly months on end, going without the sustenance and nourishment of food.
The Wonder, the screen adaptation of author Emma Donoghue’s 2016 novel of the same name, tells the fictional tale of Anna, an 11-year-old Irish girl said to have fasted since her 11th birthday. Lib (Florence Pugh), a forthright and salt-of-the-earth English nurse is drafted in to conduct a “watch,” whereby a two-week-long observation of the girl takes place. In this veering-on-psychedelic drama, Lelio confronts the argument of humanism, objective truth, and science in an era still devoutly God-fearing, yet one where the empirical studies and questioning voices of Marx and Darwin became so hard to ignore.
3 Living
Lionsgate UK
A remake of the 1954 Japanese film from Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru, Oliver Hermanus’ Living is a lesson in mortality and a picture that embodies the cliché of “carpe diem”. The British adaptation of the classic is unsurprising, a slight departure from the mise-en-scene of the original, but the moral, and structure remains unadjusted. Set against the backdrop of London, post-WW2, the film follows the tale of Mr. Williams (Bill Nighy) a stiff-upper-lipped, stern-faced civil servant, who lives a miserable existence.
After a routine check-up, Mr. Williams is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and he must come to terms with his limited time left while concurrently searching for the meaning of his existence. Living is a saddening, poignant reminder of the temporality of life, and the ease with which it can pass us by. Bill Nighy is so unassumingly brilliant as Mr. Williams, his soft temperament and effortlessly sophisticated air brings the film so much gravitas and sobriety.
2 Aftersun
Mubi / A24
Aftersunfrom A24 is an evocative, nostalgia-provoking picture that takes us back to the era of the camcorder and the home-holiday-video. Recorded partly on a DV recorder, and partly in a 35 mm-esque grainy haze, director Charlotte Wells’ debut is seamlessly executed and follows the story of a father, Calum (Paul Mescal), and his daughter, Sophie (Francesca Corio), a Scottish duo who are on a low-key, budget holiday at a Turkish resort.
Calum is deeply contemplative, a divorcee who is clearly battling personal demons, yet remains steadfast in his laid back, unaffected approach with his daughter, Soph, who is portrayed so naturally by Corio, in an understated yet perceptive manner. The warmth of the Turkish sun and the cordial demeanor of its two life-givers in Mescal and Corio make Aftersun such an easy, pleasurable delight of a flick.
1 Joyride
Vertigo Releasing
Based in Dublin, documentary filmmaker Emer Reynolds made her fictional debut with the genre-defying film Joyride, which hit theaters on December 23rd of 2022. The film is a melodramatic road trip comedy that follows alcoholic, first time mother, Joy played by Olivia Colman) and her unlikely counterpart Mully, played by Charlie Reid.
After 13-year-old Mully’s mom passes away and his dad attempts to pocket the money raised in her honor, Mully decides to run away with the cash by stealing the first taxi that he sees. What he doesn’t factor into his genius plan, is that Joy is passed out in the backseat of said taxi with her newborn baby. The plot immediately thickens as Joy insists that they continue driving and offers not to press charges if Mully gets her to her destination. The film cleverly sets the unlikely duo up for a long journey, both physically and emotionally.
What makes this film one of the top Irish flicks of 2022 is how Reynolds let the story unfold. It’s evident that her history in documentary filmmaking helped her capture the beauty of the Irish countryside, as well as convey human relationships naturally in fictional films. The film feels poignant because viewers see two people who desperately need one another.
Mully and Joy were both in places where they needed each other’s specific companionship to move on from their painful pasts; Mully needed a maternal figure, while Joy needed a guide into motherhood. The bittersweet road trip has moments of irreverent humor and grief at the same time, making it representative of real life and a film to watch.
Clubhouse, the once hyped audio app that took off during the height of the pandemic, is staff as part of a company “reset,” the startup announced. In a letter to staff shared by the company, founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth said they were “scaling back our org by over 50% and saying goodbye to many talented, dedicated teammates.”
Interestingly, Davison and Seth said that the company, which was reportedly valued at in 2021, was still well-funded, with “years of runway remaining.” They added that they “do not feel immediate pressure to reduce costs.”
Clubhouse in popularity early in 2021 at a time when many people were feeling socially isolated due to the pandemic. The app was able to draw in big names like Elon Musk and Oprah for its live audio chats, which helped further fuel its early success. But Davison would later that growth came “way too fast,” and usage amid competitors cloning the service and more people returning to their normal activities as the pandemic eased.
In their letter to staff, Davison and Seth alluded to these issues. “But as the world has opened up post-Covid, it’s become harder for many people to find their friends on Clubhouse and to fit long conversations into their daily lives,” they wrote. “To find its role in the world, the product needs to evolve. In order to fix this we need to reset the company, eliminate roles and take it down to a smaller, product-focused team.”
The founders went on to say that they will be focusing on “Clubhouse 2.0,” though they didn’t elaborate on what the service may look like going forward, just that it would be built by a “smaller team.”
Clubhouse isn’t the only live audio service to struggle. Spotify recently its standalone live audio app, Greenroom. And Reddit closed its take on live audio, Reddit Talk, . Even and have struggled to keep some of their audio projects going.
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The Tribeca Festival has its opening-night, closing-night and centerpiece films.
Organizers said today that the documentary Kiss the Futurewill kick off the event on June 7 and a 30th anniversary screening of fest co-founder Robert De Niro’s A Bronx Talewill bookend it on June 17. This year’s Centerpiece Gala on June 10 will feature Disney-Pixar’s Elemental, which is set to close the Cannes Film Festival next month.
Kiss the Future, which premiered at Berlin in February, follows the story of a community of underground musicians and creatives throughout the nearly four-year siege of Sarajevo and the 1997 U2 concert celebrating the liberation of the Bosnian capital. The docu is produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Sarah Anthony and features U2’s Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton.
The Peter Sohn-directed Elemental is set in Element City, where Fire, Water, Land and Air residents live together. It follows Ember (Leah Lewis), a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade (Mamoudou Athie) challenges her beliefs about the world they live in. It opens in theaters June 16 after its Croisette premiere Out of Competition on May 27.
Tribeca Festival
A Bronx Tale, which hit theaters on September 29, 1993, follows a devoted father (De Niro) battling a local mob boss (Chazz Palminteri) for the life of his young son. Growing up on the racially divided streets of 1960s New York, 9-year-old Calogero, or C, idolizes sophisticated local gangster Sonny (Palminteri), despite stern warnings from his working-class father (De Niro). But when C gets older, he finds himself torn between two worlds and must choose between earning respect like his father or commanding it like Sonny. Francis Capra played the younger C, and Lillo Brancato Jr. played him at 17.
“A Bronx Tale is a very personal project that marked my directorial debut,” De Niro said in a statement. “I’m pleased to celebrate its 30th anniversary at Tribeca with my longtime producing partner and Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal, the wonderful Chazz Palminteri and a live New York audience at the iconic Beacon Theatre.”
The 22nd annual Tribeca Festival runs June 7–18 in New York City.
After “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” earned some of the worst reviews for a Marvel movie yet (its 47% score on Rotten Tomatoes ties “Eternals” as the lowest-rated MCU title on the aggregation website), it appears the Marvel Cinematic Universe is back on track thanks to “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” First reactions for the trilogy-ending “Guardians” sequel are rolling in and praise the film as the “best Marvel movie in years” and “surprisingly emotional.”
Awards Radar editor Joey Magidson called the film “full of heart” and said it brought him “to tears on multiple occasions.”
“It’s not what you’re necessarily expecting,” he added, “but it really does land. A perfect ending, too.”
Next Best Picture editor Lauren LaMagna agreed, writing that “Guardians 3” is “full of stakes, emotion and feels like a solid ending (good thing!). The production design and set pieces are some of Marvel’s strongest.”
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 is full of stakes, emotion & feels like a solid ending (good thing!). The production design & set pieces are some of Marvel’s strongest. It’s long, but the theme of found family is & will always be it’s strength. I’ll miss these misfits ? #GotGVol3pic.twitter.com/inK2g6rfAi
Uproxx writer Mike Ryan wrote, “James Gunn bets the house on a surprisingly emotional story centered on Rocket and the love and friendship between these characters. Bets and wins. It’s pretty incredible.”
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3, James Gunn bets the house on a, surprisingly, emotional story centered on Rocket and the love and friendship between these characters. Bets and wins. It’s pretty incredible (animal lovers, there are a couple tough scenes) #GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3
Den of Geek editor David Crow wrote, “Thank God that James Gunn is back in the MCU. This is easily the best Marvel movie in years and had a… surprisingly wistful heart.”
My reaction to #GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3 : thank God that James Gunn is back in the MCU. This is easily the best Marvel movie in years and had a real, heartfelt, and surprisingly wistful heart.
Nerdopolis editor Sean Tajipour also hailed the film as “an emotional and action-packed rollercoaster ride” and “easily the best MCU film since ‘No Way Home.’”
Just screened #GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3 and it is an emotional and action-packed rollercoaster ride. It’s easily the best MCU film since No Way Home. I highly recommend watching the movie on the most giant screen possible to be immersed in this intergalactic story.
However, not everyone had only praise for “Guardians 3.” Next Best Picture editor-in-chief Matt Neglia said that though the movie “sometimes succeeds” in its goal of “sweeping emotion, gut busting laughs and thrilling action,” it still “feels strangely uneven and anticlimactic.”
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 aspires for sweeping emotion, gut busting laughs & thrilling action. It sometimes succeeds but as a send off for all of these characters, it feels strangely uneven & anticlimactic. Features the best makeup & visual effects of the trilogy. #GotGVol3pic.twitter.com/IgOYEvbAPX
Similarly, Grace Randolph wrote that while Gunn is “quickly becoming [a] phenomenal blockbuster director,” he “really needs to stop putting his family and friends in his movies.”
“It’s super distracting and took me out of a whole sequence,” she added.
James Gunn is back in the director’s seat for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” after writing and directing the previous two installments. Gunn was developing “Vol. 3” when Disney fired him in 2018 after controversial jokes he made on Twitter years ago resurfaced online. He was reinstated as director in 2019 after many “Guardians” actors, most notably Dave Bautista, criticized Disney for cutting ties with him. In the interim, Gunn jumped to DC and Warner Bros. to helm “The Suicide Squad.” Gunn is now in charge of DC Studios along with Peter Safran, and the two are rebooting the DC Universe on the big screen starting with Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy.”
The original “Guardians” film was considered a huge risk as it centered on comic book characters that were not especially mainstream. However, critical acclaim for the movie was high and it ended up grossing $94 million in its opening weekend. It finished its box office run with $333 million domestically and $772 million worldwide. The 2017 sequel performed even better with a $146 million opening on its way to $389 million domestic and $863 worldwide.
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” opens in theaters nationwide May 5 from Disney.
See more reactions below.
#GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3 all around this was a better film than the second. This had some epic action moments, interesting progression for the characters, & a great emotional arc for Rocket and the main villain. But some things I wanted more depth/weight but a good time still. pic.twitter.com/LIuP5e0Bhv
I tried SO HARD to resist #GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3, but dammit, Rocket’s storyline eventually got me & never let go. If there were, say, 35% fewer jokes, it would’ve been an all-timer.
Satisfying conclusion overall, though! And it ends on what’s now my favorite MCU needle drop pic.twitter.com/7ll0luyAY6
#GotGVol3 : did it look cool? Yes, yes it did. I think Guardians 3 is really solid — the camera isn’t just stagnant in action scenes and Bautista and Klementieff steal the show.
After watching Chris Evans save the planet in a skin-tight suit for over a decade, it’s hilarious to watch the Marvel actor as the damsel-in-distress in Ghosted, the new Apple TV+ action comedy that began streaming on Friday. Directed by Dexter Fletcher, Ghosted starts off as a sweet romantic comedy about a down-to-earth dude named Cole (Evans) who meets a cute girl named Sadie (Ana de Armas, who also acted opposite Evans in Knives Out and The Gray Man). Cole is determined to track Sadie down after she ghosts him… only to discover she’s secretly a CIA agent in the middle of a dangerous mission. Don’t expect Ghosted to change your life, but do expect to kick back with a few beers, and have a good time.
It’s a good bet that comedian Roy Wood Jr. will be funny Saturday night when he hosts the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C.
But Wood is feeling pretty serious about the role of the media in American politics.
“To me, that’s more important than the jokes, to take the opportunity to recognize the contribution of the media,” said Wood, a correspondent with “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central since 2015. “So I think in that regard, it’s a real honor. You don’t want to be the person that messes it up.”
Wood knows a bit about the matter, having majored in journalism at Florida A&M University and working more than 10 years in radio news, following in the footsteps of his radio journalist father.
“You know, these are the people who decide what the news is and what it isn’t,” he said. “That isn’t easy, and I have nothing but high praise for journalists in general.”
But he isn’t nervous about meeting Biden, since he already met him last year while covering the NBA champion Golden State Warriors’ visit to the White House for The Daily Show.
“I met the president briefly then. It was brief, but very meaningful, very fruitful,” Wood said.
At least the president is attending this year. Donald Trump snubbed all four events during his presidential term. The last time a president had missed the dinner before that was Ronald Reagan in 1981— one month after he was shot in the chest by would-be assassin John Hinckley, Jr.
Wood said no jokes or subjects are “off limits.” He said he might have something to say about Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, hosts from Fox News and CNN who were fired this week.
“I’m more likely to edit out a joke for time constraints than for sensitive subject matter. Everything is in play,” Wood said.
Wood joked that he hopes he doesn’t offend Fox News executives too much, since they might want to consider him as a guest host for Carlson’s time slot.
He also said he might shift from host to fan if he gets to meet NBC news anchor Lester Holt Saturday.
“He is a role model that I look up to and respect,” Wood said.
While the event is generally light-hearted, Wood said he also sees it as a vessel for public access to the president and other powerful figures, without filters.
“I don’t really think of this whole thing as some sort of big roast. I think it’s an accountability session,” he said. “I hope I hold up my end and do a good job Saturday night.”
Money and business are two themes that have fascinated audiences for decades, and Netflix has a wide variety of movies that explore these topics in different ways. Whether you’re interested in stories of ambitious entrepreneurs, Wall Street traders, or corporate greed, there’s a movie out there for you. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some of the top movies about money and business that you can stream on Netflix right now. From inspiring tales of triumph to cautionary tales of excess, these films offer a glimpse into the complex world of finance and the people who navigate it. So, grab some popcorn and get ready to be entertained and educated all at once!
The Laundromat (2019)
A satirical comedy-drama about the Panama Papers scandal, which is one of the worst financial scams in history. Meryl Streep plays Ellen Martin, a widow who becomes involved in the dark world of offshore finance and insurance fraud when her husband is killed in a boating accident.
The film mixes many narratives to demonstrate the pervasiveness of financial corruption and the institutional flaws that allow it to thrive. The Laundromat is a daring and amusing film that exposes the hypocrisy and greed of the global banking elite through sharp humor and cutting sarcasm. The film boasts an amazing ensemble cast, led by Antonio Banderas and Gary Oldman, who give compelling performances that bring depth and dimension to their characters.
The Big Short (2015)
An intriguing film that looks into the intricate and sometimes indistinguishable world of finance. Set against the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis, the film follows a group of investors who forecasted and gambled against the collapse of the housing market.
The plot is based on the true stories of various people who recognised the approaching calamity before anybody else. Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, and Brad Pitt star in the film, which includes an all-star ensemble that delivers gripping performances that bring the characters to life. The Big Short is a thought-provoking and eye-opening film about Wall Street’s inner workings and the human cost of financial greed.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Provides a captivating and unsettling glimpse into the world of high finance and the life of Jordan Belfort, one of its most infamous individuals. The movie, which is based on Belfort’s biography, charts his development from a young, aspirational stockbroker to a powerful, dishonest businessman who operated a fraudulent penny stock scheme that brought him and his accomplices millions of dollars.
Martin Scorsese is the director of the film, and Leonardo DiCaprio gives a fantastic performance as the charismatic, extravagant, and desperate Belfort. The movie presents a sombre reflection on the uncontrolled greed and corruption that may happen in the financial sector while simultaneously being a crazy rollercoaster of excess and depravity. Not to be missed is the compelling and iconic film The Wolf of Wall Street.
The Founder (2016)
A historical drama that portrays the life of Ray Kroc, the man who built the McDonald’s company from humble beginnings. The film, which features Michael Keaton in the title role, follows Kroc’s development from a poor milkshake machine salesman to a cunning and ambitious businessman who eventually takes the McDonald brothers’ ground-breaking fast-food system and transforms it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
The Founder is an interesting and educational look at the past of one of the most recognizable businesses in the world as well as the less desirable aspects of the American Dream.
The Social Dilemma (2020)
A documentary that looks at the negative aspects of social media and its influence on society. The video, which includes interviews with computer experts and former employees of major social media corporations, demonstrates how these platforms control our behaviour and profit from our data.
The Social Dilemma illuminates the troubling ways in which social media may impact our mental health, relationships, and even democracy. It’s a topical and thought-provoking film that raises crucial concerns about the role of technology in our lives and the need for greater openness and responsibility from the businesses that govern it.
Margin Call (2011)
A compelling film about a single night at an investment bank during the early phases of the 2008 financial crisis. The film depicts a group of bankers who recognize their company is about to fail owing to hazardous investments in mortgage-backed securities.
As they scramble to save the firm, they face the hard reality of their culpability in the disaster, as well as the human cost of their actions. Margin Call, starring Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, and Zachary Quinto, is a somber and nuanced look at the inner workings of Wall Street and the ethical quandaries that people in the financial business face. It’s a moving picture that will stick with you long after the credits have rolled.
Final Thoughts
From Wall Street’s ups and downs to social media’s dark side and financial fraud, these films give a fascinating look at money and business. Each film illustrates the human cost of greed and corruption in the dark world of finance. These films will entertain, educate, and challenge your ideas on money and power, whether you’re a finance student, business professional, or movie enthusiast. For those wishing to try their luck in finance, there are even possibilities like 1 deposit casino CA to enjoy gambling without breaking the bank.
I never met Harry Belafonte but for the last three years I’ve thought about him every day.
Over those years, I researched and wrote a book on Project Confrontation, the campaign in the spring of 1963 in Birmingham, Ala., to break segregation once and for all or be broken by it. I believe that what happened in Birmingham — 10 weeks of nonviolent protest and the brute force levied against it — forever altered the trajectory of America.
Project Confrontation led to the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Martin Luther King Jr.’s martyrdom and then a new life for his country: Everything from the rise of the Black middle and upper classes to Barack Obama’s presidency to my ability, as a white man, to marry a Black woman and, together, to raise our three kids on a quiet street where no one threatens us simply for being who we are.
Belafonte made my life possible. And yours too. It’s the simple truth of his role in Project Confrontation.
The protests were days from launching in Birmingham and King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference needed to finance the campaign. The SCLC was broke and Bull Connor, running Birmingham’s violent police force, had repelled decades’ worth of attempts to integrate the city. In other words, before the SCLC gambled lives going up against Connor and Birmingham this time, it had to figure out how to pay for Project C.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Harry Belafonte, circa 1965.
(Archive Photos / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
King called Belafonte and asked if Harry would stage a fundraiser. The two had an easy rapport after seven years of friendship, but they had to use code words on the phone. They were worried about an FBI wiretap. Belafonte ultimately agreed to hold the fundraiser at his New York apartment, the better to avoid prying eyes. He would determine the guests. Better still: He would tell them this was their chance to invest in an upcoming campaign, instead of an ongoing one. The SCLC had never thought to do that before.
In late March 1963, King, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Birmingham pastor Fred Shuttlesworth arrived for the party at Belafonte’s apartment at 300 West End Ave. It was a palatial spread, a 21-room apartment, 7,200-square feet in all. Belafonte dedicated one half of the massive space to living and the other to entertaining.
More than 75 people gathered there that night: Actors Ossie Davis and Sidney Poitier, the only person present who was arguably a bigger celebrity than Belafonte himself.
There was James Wechsler, the editor in chief of the liberal New York Post. Hugh Morrow, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller’s top advisor. Tom Wicker and Anthony Lewis, amongthe New York Times’ most prominent writers. Above all, there were dozens of deep-pocketed New Yorkers intrigued by what Belafonte had billed as a secret and very special evening.
Belafonte’s drawing power in America, and among the liberal whites gathered in his apartment, lay in part in his skin tone. “The thing is,” the Black poet and critic Stanley Crouch later said, “Harry isn’t black black.” Harry’s Jamaican grandmother was white. Harry’s own complexion had yellow undertones — he was High Yellow, as he learned as a kid in Harlem — and this made him less threatening to whites. “I think people perceive him as a nice person,” Johnny Carson once said.
Harry hated that. He was not “nice.” He was not “approachable.” He was instead deeply aware of the broad discrimination all Black Americans contended with — he had grown up in a New York more segregated than his forebears’ colonial Jamaica — and of the discrimination among Black people based on color. This obsession with complexion enraged Harry. “For Dad, it was about changing all of society,” his daughter Adrienne once told the New Yorker.
That change started with Belafonte’s own choices. “I wasn’t an artist who’d become an activist,” Belafonte later wrote. “I was an activist who’d become an artist.” It was Harry’s most admirable trait, even more alluring than his high cheekbones. He was never interested in the easy life his beauty and performing talent afforded him. In spite of his skin tone or perhaps because of it, Belafonte chose the hard road of true activism.
That night in his living room, introducing the entourage from the SCLC, he had already given much to the civil rights movement. He’d given his money to it: hundreds of thousands of dollars by 1963 and eventually millions.
He’d given his marriage to it: His first wife, Marguerite, divorced him after FBI agents stopped by one too many times with questions about why Harry was so involved in protests.
He’d given his reputation to it: Hollywood producers thought he was “difficult.” By 1963, Harry refused movie offers where the Black character was kind-hearted and even-tempered, a propped-up eunuch, which was in Harry’s view every movie Hollywood made.
Belafonte effectively abandoned his film career for the civil rights movement. King turned to him when the SCLC needed money. Bobby Kennedy, then U.S. attorney general in his brother’s administration, called when he wanted to “reason” with King.
“Martin would say that one of his greatest strategic decisions was recruiting me to the movement,” Harry once boasted.
After Belafonte’s introductions at the fundraiser, Shuttlesworth, who was orchestrating the Birmingham campaign, talked about how his city’s cops raped Black women. How the Ku Klux Klan castrated Black men. How it would be difficult to find another American city as racist and violent as Birmingham: CBS’ Edward R. Murrow reported from Birmingham prior to Project Confrontation and told his producer he hadn’t seen any place like it since Nazi Germany.
So wasn’t it a dangerous folly to stage the largest civil rights campaign to date in Birmingham, someone asked? Well, Shuttlesworth said, “you have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live.”
That line wowed the donors. Belafonte’s hand-selected editors and publishers and movie stars wanted to be part of the story of Birmingham, the story he had allowed them to take part in authoring.
They raised $475,000 that night for Project Confrontation. It was the biggest haul in the SCLC’s history, a total equivalent to $4.5 million today.
What happened that spring in Birmingham — King’s arrest and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Connor’s fire hoses and dogs turned on nonviolent protesters, the Klan members who bombed the motel where King stayed and, ultimately, the civil rights legislation the Kennedy brothers sponsored — forever changed our collective history.
We have Harry Belafonte to thank for it all.
Paul Kix’s latest book, “You Have to be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live,” will be published next week.
For much of its history, Amazon grew amazingly, unbelievably fast. Not so much anymore.
Amazon released on Thursday its results for the first quarter. Revenue increased 9 percent, the same as in the previous quarter.
While slow by historical standards, when sales could pop 40 percent from the previous year, the numbers looked pretty good to analysts who expected even less. Amazon shares, which have had a lousy 18 months, rose more than 10 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday before giving up those gains as reality settled in.
Revenue rose to $127.4 billion, while net income jumped to 31 cents a share against a loss of 38 cents in 2022. Analysts had expected a profit of 21 cents a share and revenue of $124.55 billion.
“From my perspective, I think there’s a fair bit to like about how our teams are delivering for customers and the results we’re starting to see,” Amazon’s chief executive, Andy Jassy, said in a call with analysts.
Best-performing sectors were advertising, which rose 21 percent, and Amazon Web Services, which rose 16 percent. But revenue at the online stores, which for most consumers is the essence of Amazon, fell by about $33 million.
Mr. Jassy spoke at length about how all of Amazon will be invigorated in the next few years by artificial intelligence — like large language models and the generative A.I. that they power.
“Frankly the models were not that compelling before about six, nine months ago,” he said. “They have gotten so much bigger and so much better, much more quickly. It really presents a remarkable opportunity to transform virtually every customer experience that exists, and many that don’t exist.”
Amazon, like other tech companies, did very well early in the pandemic when everyone stayed home but has had some troubles since. After expanding its retail distribution network to handle an influx of new business that did not stick around, management is paring back.
Employment at the company has shrunk 10 percent since its peak in early 2022, or by 150,000 workers. Since November, the company has confirmed 27,000 layoffs in divisions including human resources, retail and cloud computing. But the warehouses and distribution network have dropped the most.
Brian Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer, did not rule out more layoffs in a call with reporters on Thursday. “We’ll proceed adaptively,” he said.
Amazon’s Big Tech peers reported surprisingly good results this week after a brutal winter of layoffs, weak results and diminished expectations. Facebook’s parent, Meta, snapped a three-quarter losing streak in revenue, sending its shares up 10 percent. Google’s advertising search business did better than expected, while Microsoft’s cloud computing operation helped the company notch impressive results.
For years, even decades, Amazon chose growth over profits. Making money took a back seat to establishing new markets. Sometimes this worked so well it changed the fundamental nature of the company. AWS grew at such a torrid rate that its profits have done much to compensate for Amazon’s anemic returns on the retail side.
On the other hand, many small ventures remained small. When to shut them down is a decision that for years Amazon could put off, but no longer. Rising interest rates and balky consumers forced its hand.
This week, the company shut its Halo line of health and fitness devices. Amazon has major ambitions in health care, but fitness devices are a crowded market and Halo was not breaking through. Amazon also shut down in recent days Book Depository, an online bookseller it bought in 2011 and operated independently from its principal book-selling division.
New horizons beckon.
“Health care is a multitrillion-dollar business that is very segmented and it’s really broken, in the U.S. particularly,” Mr. Jassy said.
When filmmaker Allen Hughes was first approached with the opportunity to make a documentary about Tupac’s legacy, he wasn’t sure he was the right guy to tackle it.
“It was tough, because me and Tupac have a complex history, to say the least,” Hughes said in a conversation withVariety at the Los Angeles debut of the FX docuseries “Dear Mama.” The series juxtaposes Tupac’s rise to become one of hip-hop’s most influential artists with his mother Afeni Shakur’s activism as a leader of the Black Panther Party in the 1970s.
Hughes – an Emmy and Peabody award nominee whose filmography includes “Menace II Society,” “Dead Presidents” and “The Book of Eli” — is, of course, referencing the beginnings of his career, when he and his brother Albert were recruited by Interscope to direct the music video for Tupac’s breakout song “Trapped” in 1991. The directing duo, known as the Hughes Brothers, went on to direct two more music videos for Tupac’s debut album “2Pacalypse Now,” but the relationship fractured after an on-set altercation in 1993. Just three years later, Tupac was murdered in a drive-by shooting. He was 25 years old.
“It was an intense friendship,” Hughes told the crowd assembled at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles to watch the series’ premiere episode. He continued, joking that filming his last documentary, the 2017 Grammy and NAACP Image Award-winning series “The Defiant Ones,” nearly “sent him to the loony bin,” so he wasn’t sure if he wanted to dive into something this personal. Making a documentary takes a long time, but it’s also very intimate business.
“When you sit with Snoop Dogg and you’re exploring stuff that happened 25 years ago with a man who’s now 50, who’s had the opportunity to progress as a man and mature as a man, talking about his friend who didn’t make it past 25. … That’s a surreal experience to watch,” Hughes said. “You’ll see as the series goes on, men talking about what boys did and the actions of boys who weren’t yet men, and that’s emotional.”
So why did he say yes? Hughes recognized the opportunity to get to some clarity about his former friend, someone he’d first bonded with over being raised by strong, single mothers.
“When I was asked to consider doing this, I said, ‘There’s a lot I don’t understand about Tupac.’ I think he’s one of the most misunderstood figures of the 20th century,” Hughes recalled. “I said, ‘I’ll probably learn a lot more if I discover Afeni and her narrative.’”
The “Dear Mama” docuseries is titled in reference to Tupac’s 1995 song, an autobiographical track which paid tribute to his mother Afeni. In the song, the rapper details the highs and lows of his relationship with his mother — from their incidents of extreme poverty and her addiction to crack cocaine, to his admiration for her strength as an activist and her dedication as a mother to keeping the family together. Produced by Tony Pizarro, “Dear Mama” was featured on Tupac’s third studio album “Me Against the World” and became his first top 10 hit on the Billboard hot 100. The song has since gone triple platinum and become one of Tupac’s most celebrated tracks, selected for preservation at the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress in 2010, just the third hip-hop song to do so.
And the song was the perfect starting point for the five-part docuseries Hughes directed, executive produced and co-wrote with editor Lassë Jarvi.
“Dear Mama” includes archive footage of Tupac and Afeni discussing their lives, as well as interviews with close family and friends — including Glo Cox (Afeni’s sister and Tupac’s aunt), Mutulu (Tupac’s stepfather) and fellow Black Panther Party leader Jamal Joseph (who executive produced the project and sat for the post-screening Q&A with Hughes) – plus Tupac’s musical contemporaries like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Digital Underground’s Money-B and Chopmaster J.
In Variety’s review of the series, critic Joshua Alston says that combining Tupac and Afeni Shakur’s lives into a single series not only captures the nuances of their relationship but also “miniaturizes a huge swath of Black life without diluting it.” Alston writes, “‘Dear Mama’ is similar to looking at a Shakur family photo album through a microscope and a kaleidoscope at the same time.”
During the Q&A, Hughes described the film as a “conversation,” a term which carries a few meanings. It’s a conversation between Hughes and Tupac, as well as between Tupac and Afeni as mother and son. Plus, Joseph noted, the series also serves as a “Trojan horse” narrative into the sociopolitical ideals that the Shakurs fought to uphold.
“Through Afeni and Tupac, we revisit and rediscover the times in broader context,” Joseph said, turning his attention to Hughes. “I remember this brilliant thing you said, ‘This is like a Trojan horse. We’ll get into to people’s living rooms and their devices because it’s Tupac and Afeni. But then, when we open it up, people have to look at themselves and their America.”
For example, many viewers might not know about Afeni’s contributions to the first version of the Patients’ Bill of Rights. They might not know how, just a month before Tupac was born, Afeni passionately defended herself and her fellow activists in the landmark “Panther 21” court case, sealing her acquittal of more than 150 charges of conspiracy. As a member of the Black Panther Party (and one of the Panther 21), Joseph was closely connected with Afeni and, later, her son, so sitting with Hughes to reflect on their lives, and their deaths, was an emotional experience.
“Alan found footage that I didn’t know existed. Those moments with Afeni, moments with me in the Panther office and reliving it — every time I see it, it moves me,” Joseph said.
He expects audiences to be moved as well, explaining that the way Hughes crafted the story, “Everybody gets to feel like they’ve spent time a little bit with us as Panthers, a little bit with Afeni and Tupac.” He added: “There was a poetry to how they lived, how they spoke, what they did. And like a favorite song and a favorite record, when you relive that, it brings up what it felt like in the past. I think why they’re so still relevant is that we feel that connection and we feel that that rage, that anxiety, that strength, but also that hope for the future?”
While making the film, Hughes became increasingly aware of the project’s larger themes.
“This fight for human rights and social justice is an eternal fight. You don’t get to this victory. You have to maintain whatever little victories you got. It’s eternal, this struggle,” the filmmaker said, noting that Roe vs. Wade was overturned while the project was in production. “We’ve gotta keep fighting.”
Hughes’ thought called to mind a conversation Joseph had with fellow executive producer, hip-hop historian and journalist Nelson George.
“When you reflect on Malcolm X — who was, as Ossie Davis said, ‘Our shining prince, our shining king’ — remember what Malcolm was at that age?” Joseph began, calling out the civil rights leader’s recollections of his late teens and early 20s from “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” At that time, Joseph noted, “Malcolm was a drug addict. He was a dealer; he was a thug. And who he became. And his life cut short at 38.”
That’s part of what makes Hughes’ exploration of Tupac’s legacy so profound, Joseph explained, recounting what would turn out to be some of his last conversations with the rapper.
“When Pac died, when you would talk to him, he wasn’t talking about the next platinum record,” Joseph recalled. “He wasn’t talking about the next big movie role. He was talking about youth programs across the country. He was talking about businesses, like the Power of Mecca Cafe. He was talking about Black-owned studios and radio stations to tell our story that way. He was talking about changing the political landscape.”
Concluding his point, Joseph posed the all-important question: “Can you imagine — and we can say these words as we think about people like Malcolm, like Dr. King — can you imagine what the world would be like if those evolving brothers had lived? Can you imagine what the world would be like if Tupac Shakur had lived?”
The first two episodes of “Dear Mama” are available on FX and Hulu. Episode 3 debuts Friday.
The 24th edition of the Hot Docs Forum, the financing event aimed at securing co-productions and funds for feature length documentaries, includes 19 projects representing 16 countries and featuring 23 filmmakers, 12 of whom are women and 11 of whom are black, indigenous and people of color. An additional Wild Card pitch will be selected live at the Forum.
The Forum, which returns to in-person at Toronto’s Hart House after three years of being virtual, also includes an additional 30 projects, which will participate in Hot Docs Deal Maker, a curated one-on-one pitch meeting program.
Commissioning editors, investors and industry experts, including A24, Amazon Studios, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Concordia, Hulu, Paramount, Participant Media, Sandbox Films and Netflix, will attend this year’s Forum.
Industry programmer and Forum producer, Dorota Lech, spoke to Variety about how she selects projects, the advice she gives participating filmmakers, and how she feels about the current doc market.
Did you personally select the 50 projects that are participating both publicly and privately in the Forum this year?
Every year we have a different selection committee that we choose internally. I work alongside them using the same criteria as in past years to choose the projects. This year we had Amelia Hanibelsz from ABC News, Leah Giblin, who was at Cinereach and is now an independent consultant and producer, and Monika Navarro from Firelight Media.
How many projects were submitted for consideration?
About 400.
What are you looking for in a project?
We are looking for different things. One of those things is: Is this project really ready to pitch now? And is it the right time for this group of filmmakers to be in front of this very large room or people? In addition to that, curating a slate that’s representative of the world is a priority. We can’t just have 10 American projects about climate change. There needs to be a whole slate of projects that represent the world we live in.
While Amazon Studios, Hulu, and Netflix are among the many distributors attending this year’s Forum, they don’t seem that interested in social issue fare. What’s your take?
The market ebbs and flows. I’ve been at Hot Docs for a decade now. This is not the first wave of things being shitty that I’ve seen. That said, the documentary market isn’t great. The film market isn’t great, but the market isn’t great for anything right now. Have you been to a grocery store? It’s a disaster. Welcome to capitalism. But documentary as an art form is stronger than ever. And now is the time when we need documentarians the most.
So, when I look at the slate of projects this year, about climate change, Ukrainian defenders, and all sorts of topics reflecting the state of the world with impeccable artistry and access, I’m really heartened.
The point of this event is to bring all these minds together and find a way to help get these 20 projects made. We want to act in such a way that the generosity of spirit in the room will help these filmmakers at least receive the guidance to go toward the right steps for them.
Do you offer filmmakers pitching at the Forum any advice?
I tell every pitch team that this is a long game. You pitching at the Forum is an opportunity to meet potentially 200 to 400 people that you will be working with for the rest of your life. You are not just pitching this project; you are pitching future projects. You are pitching yourself. So, let’s just show up and see what we can do together. For me, this event really is about community and it’s really about idea sharing and film sharing and, oh my God, if we can also get those 20 films financed, that’s ideal. But it’s really rough right now.
Are there any films participating in Hot Doc Film Festival this year that went through the Hot Docs Forum?
Yes. “Twice Colonized” was a Forum project and “Milisuthando.”
Pietro, the restless, openhearted city boy who narrates “The Eight Mountains,” a tender story about love and friendship, is 11 years old when the movie begins. By the time he is in his early 30s, he is a man with a full beard and an inconsequential résumé. A sensitive, charismatic melancholic, Pietro is unattached and existentially unsettled. Cut off from his past and uncertain about the future, he suffers from a familiar contemporary complaint that this story restively circles without naming, one that looks a lot like the modern condition.
Based on a slender, celebrated 2016 novel by the Italian writer Paolo Cognetti, “The Eight Mountains” tracks Pietro across both decades and continents, charting his life through the intense friendship that he makes in childhood with Bruno. They first meet in the summer of 1984, when Pietro’s parents — the family lives in Turin — rent an apartment in a village in the Aosta Valley, a shockingly beautiful swathe of the Italian Alps that borders both France and Switzerland. There, nestled among velvety green slopes and towered over by jagged, soaring peaks, Pietro finds a friend, an ally, a role model and, in time, a sense of belonging.
For both boys, their friendship proves a soul-sustaining connection, one that begins with them dubiously eyeing each other in Pietro’s dark, claustrophobic holiday home but that rapidly shifts once they dash outside. They walk, race and tumble through the area, exploring and sharing. Bruno is a confident, physically vigorous child who can scale the side of a stone building like a goat scampering up a rock face. He’s being raised by his aunt and uncle — his mother is missing in action, his father works abroad as a bricklayer — and is the only child in his village, its population having dwindled, as in other rural areas, to a ghostly near-dozen.
These early scenes are intoxicating, partly because it’s very pleasant to watch happy children just be happy together, and this is an especially stunning place to explore. Like Pietro, you are immediately plunged into the region’s splendors and mysteries, its densely sheltering foliage, enigmatically abandoned corners and dramatic, seemingly limitless vistas. Whether they’re poking about a derelict building or rushing through an enveloping tunnel of green, and even when they’re just chatting, trading helpful morsels of information — Pietro’s father works as an engineer at a large factory — the two remain visually tethered to the material world.
A New York judge granted a full temporary order of protection Thursday for the woman who accused Jonathan Majors of assaulting her in late March, authorities said.
The order came “per the People’s request and with the consent of defense counsel,” a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told The Times in a statement.
Temporary protection orders are common in domestic violence cases and must be renewed at each court hearing. During Majors’ arraignment in March, the judge granted a “limited” order, which still allowed the “Creed III” actor to remain in contact with the woman, according to the district attorney’s office. The “full” order requires Majors to stay completely away from the woman and her home, job or school.
Majors is due in court next on May 8.
In late March, police arrested Majors at a New York City apartment after a 30-year-old woman told police she was assaulted during a “domestic dispute.” The woman was hospitalized with minor injuries to her head and neck.
The next day Majors was arraigned on misdemeanor assault and harassment charges. The criminal complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office alleged the actor did “strike her about the face with an open hand, causing substantial pain and a laceration behind her ear.” A judge ordered Majors released on his own recognizance.
Representatives for Majors have maintained the “Lovecraft Country” star’s innocence, releasing text messages that show the victim appearing to recant her allegations, and later, security-video stills that appear to show the accuser uninjured and out on the town after parting ways with the actor the night of the alleged incident.
On the same day, Variety reported that “multiple alleged abuse victims of Majors” had come forward since the actor’s arrest and were cooperating with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The D.A.’s office declined to comment to The Times.
The rising star of two of the year’s biggest films, “Creed III” and Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” has seen his career thrown into turmoil since his arrest. Majors’ management and public-relations firms, several film projects and an ad campaign for Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers have dropped the actor.
Marvel had heralded Majors’ Kang the Conqueror as the franchise’s next supervillain, although his involvement in the upcoming film “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” in which he is expected to play a lead role, was not immediately clear. The movie is scheduled for release in 2025.
The Instagram account for Andy Samberg’s The Lonely Island revealed that the fan-favorite actor has a role in an upcoming 2023 Marvel film.
Andy Samberg has more than made a name for himself in Hollywood in the past two decades, having starred in countless popular films and series such as Hot Rod and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Samberg has also dipped his toes into animation on numerous occasions and is a skilled voice actor, but he hasn’t taken on a superhero role of any kind until now.
Andy Samberg To Have Part in Spider-Verse 2
The Lonely Island comedy trio’s official Instagram account posted a story revealing that two of the group’s members, Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone, will play a role in Sony Pictures‘ upcoming Marvel movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Check out their announcement below:
The Lonely Island
The caption reads “Jorm and Andy are ‘in’ this!!” Curiously, “in” has quotation remarks around it, perhaps implying that there’s a twist to whatever involvement Samberg and Taccone have in the film.
Taccone was also confirmed to be voicing the Vulture in Across the Spider-Verse last year.
This Is the Tale of Miles Morales
Samberg is best known for his classic sketches from Saturday Night Live, his Lonely Island music videos, and also for starring as Detective Jake Peralta in all eight seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
He obviously has a set type of character he likes to play but has also shown a willingness to branch out into different types of roles in the past few years. And Samberg is no stranger to voice acting, currently starring in and executive producing Comedy Central’s Digman animated sitcom along with the Hotel Transylvania quadrilogy, amongst other projects.
So, who could he be playing in Spider-Verse 2? Well, for starters, it could be one of the many Spider-Variants that will crop up throughout the movie. Internet meme Spoderman has been glimpsed in the film’s marketing – maybe Samberg is lending him a voice?
There’s also the possibility that, given the wording of the above post’s caption, Andy Samberg doesn’t even voice a character at all. It could simply be that an image featuring the actor’s likeness could be shown at some point, much like how Donald Glover’s Troy Barnes from Community was seen displayed on a TV in the original Spider-Verse.
Villain origin stories are a contentious proposition, but franchises seem to love them. The latest offering in that department? A President Snow-focused prequel movie for The Hunger Games. Titled The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the movie will be an “adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ #1 New York Times bestseller.” Recently, The Hunger Games‘ prequel found its leads. Tom Blyth will play a young President Coriolanus Snow in the movie. Meanwhile, Rachel Zegler joins The Hunger Games prequel as Lucy Gray Baird. Finally, Viola Davis has come aboard to play the villain in this villain’s origin story. And now, we even have our first look at the movie.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Trailer
The first trailer for The Hunger Games prequels goes back to the early days of the Games. We meet Lucy Gray Baird and a young Coriolanus Snow. This particular game marks when the games became as much about the spectacle as the violence and punishment. It’s a story of predators, prey, and terrible people.
The synopsis is as follows:
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes follows a young Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates. With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor. Battling his instincts for both good and evil, Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will ultimately become a songbird or a snake.
The Hunger Games‘ Sequel Stars Lucy Gray Baird, Coriolanus Snow, and Casca Highbottom
Lucy Gray Baird and Coriolanus Snow
For those unfamiliar with Zegler’s role, Lucy Gray Baird is an integral part of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. She is, of course, the female lead of the story. Meanwhile, for fans of The Hunger Games, Coriolanus Snow needs no introduction. We get to meet both our lead characters in a first look image from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which reveals Rachel Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird and Tom Blyth’s young Coriolanus Snow.
Lionsgate
A release shares more about both characters. It notes:
Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.
Julian Ungano/Lionsgate20th Century Studios
Producer Nina Jacobson adds, “Lucy Gray is an incredibly complex character, a performer who has to use every skill in her arsenal to survive. Our casting team, Deb Zane and Dylan Jury, spearheaded an exhaustive search, reading hundreds of actors in search of our perfect Lucy Gray. That search ended when Rachel Zegler blew the roof off with her depth and breadth of talent as an actor, singer, and performer. Rachel is utterly compelling; just like Lucy Gray, her voice and charisma command the stage while her inner strength and humanity transform those around her.”
Lionsgate
Casca Highbottom
The latest lead character cast in the Hunger Games prequel movie is Casca Highbottom. Peter Dinklage will play Casca. Those familiar with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will know that Casca Highbottom was “the unintentional creator of the Hunger Games” and the first public face of them. His relationship with the Snow family is a complex one.
HBO
Producer Nina Jacobson shares in a release, “I cannot think of an actor more perfectly suited to inhabit the role of Highbottom. As the man credited with conceiving the Hunger Games and the Dean of the Academy, Casca Highbottom is a character with secrets. Peter’s magnetism, intensity, and dark humor will infuse him with the intelligence, depth, and pathos that the role demands.” Dinklage joins the film’s other two leads Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth.
Additional CastingNews forThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Well, we know that ultimately, President Snow is a snake. And we’re not sure it’s ever the best time to glamorize a tyrannical politician. But hopefully, the film can use this opportunity wisely to portray its main character. We hope we don’t so much root for President Snow as end up watching him embrace monstrosity with horror.
Most recently, Viola Davis was announced as part of the cast of the Hunger Games prequel. Davis will play a villain in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Davis will play Dr. Volumnia Gaul, the head gamemaker of the 10th annual Hunger Games.” That certainly sounds like bad news.
Nina Jacobsen shares more about the role, noting, “From the beginning, Viola has been our dream for Dr. Gaul because of the finely layered intelligence and emotion she brings to every role. A brilliant and eccentric strategist, Gaul is instrumental in shaping a young Coriolanus Snow into the man he will become. We are incredibly fortunate to have an actor with Viola’s extraordinary range and presence to play this pivotal role.”
HBO
In addition to Davis, Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer joined the cast of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. On HBO’s Euphoria, Schafer plays Jules. In the Hunger Games sequel, Hunter Schafer will bring Tigris Snow to life. Tigris is “the cousin and confidante of Coriolanus Snow.” Furthermore, Jason Schwartzman has joined the cast as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman. Lucky is “the host of the 10th Hunger Games and ancestor to Caesar Flickerman, who would become the voice of Panem.” Finally, Fionnula Flanagan will play Grandma’am, “young Coriolanus Snow’s (Tom Blyth) strict grandmother,” according to Deadline. Isobel Jesper Jones, Flora Li Thiemann, Honor Gillies, Eike Onyambu, Konstantin Taffet, Scott Folan, Carl Spencer, Michael Greco, Daniela Grubert, and Pacific Rim‘s Burn Gorman also join the cast.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes‘ Mentors and Tributes
The Hunger Games‘ sequel cast also includes: Jerome Lance as Marcus, one of District 2’s tributes; Ashley Liao as Clemensia Dovecote, Coriolanus Snow’s close friend, who also serves as a mentor to a District 11 tribute; Knox Gibson as Bobbin, a District 8 tribute; Mackenzie Lansing as Coral, a District 4 tribute; and Aamer Husain as Felix Ravinstill, a mentor for one of District 11’s tributes.
Additional casting for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes further includes several more actors. Nick Benson appears as Jessup, the other tribute from District 12; Laurel Marsden as Mayfair Lipp, the person who enters Lucy Gray Baird’s name into the tenth Hunger Games; Lilly Cooper as Arachne Crane, the mentor to District 10’s tribute; Luna Steeples as Dill, one of District 11’s tributes; and Hiroki Berrecloth will play Treech, one of District 7’s tributes.
More mentors and tributes have also been added to the movie. Deadlineshares that Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has cast Max Raphael as Festus Creed, a mentor to a District 4 tribute; Zoe Renee as Lysistrata Vickers, a mentor to a District 12 tribute; Ayomide Adegun as Pliny “Pup” Harrington, a mentor to a District 7 tribute; Kaitlyn Akinpelumi as Domita Whimsiwick, a mentor to a District 10 tribute; Sofia Sanchez as Wovey, a District 8 tribute; and Amélie Hoeferle as Vipsania Sickle, a mentor to a District 7 tribute.
Finally, Deadline reveals Irene Boehm, Cooper Dillon, Luna Kuse, Kjell Brutscheidt, Dimitri Abold, Athena Strates, Dakota Shapiro, George Somner and Vaughan Reilly have come on board as various other mentors and tributes.
More About The Hunger Games’ Sequel
According to the release, “the film will be directed by Francis Lawrence, who previously directed the franchise’s Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part One, and Mockingjay Part Two.” Additionally, “it will be shepherded by franchise producer Nina Jacobson and her producing partner Brad Simpson, along with Francis Lawrence.” Finally, “Suzanne Collins and Tim Palen will serve as executive producers.” And “the latest draft of the screenplay is by Michael Lesslie.” All in all, it looks like the movie rests in good hands.
The latest episode of VGC’s new weekly show, VGC: A Video Game Podcast, is now available on all major audio platforms.
This week VGC’s Jordan Middler and Andy Robinson are joined by broadcaster Pete Donaldson to discuss the week’s biggest video game news, including Xbox’s regulatory roadblock, Nintendo’s return to Gamescom, and Nintendo’s movie hints.
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If you’d like to get in touch with the podcast, you can do so via podcast@videogameschronicle.com.
VGC: A Video Games Podcast episodes are available weekly, hosted by VGC’s Jordan Middler, Chris Scullion and Andy Robinson, and broadcaster Pete Donaldson, featuring regular special guests from across the games industry.
The weekly show is produced by Stak, the company behind some of the UK’s biggest podcasts, including Football Ramble, JaackMaate’s Happy Hour and Abroad in Japan.
The last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind when it comes to artificial intelligence. It’s no surprise to frequent readers that I have been playing around with systems that write and produce images. After all, AI seems like something Hollywood will inevitably use in many different ways.
It would be good to get ahead of the tool they may thrust upon you.
You don’t have to trust me about this. Avengers: Endgame and TheGray Man director Joe Russo recently talked about this phenomenon on a panel at the Sands International Film Festival.
‘Avengers: Infinity War’Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
When asked when AI would be taking over Hollywood, Russo said, “This is like a mind-bending question, right? I mean, we’ve had conversations about how it can be used, and look, Gen Z is very unique because it’s a generation that has… If there were incremental movements in technology over the last, say, 100 years, 150 years, they were the first generation with an exponential movement, right?”
Russo continued, saying, “So there’s a real possibility now for technology to become a really important factor in our lives because it’s been embraced by Gen Z, and they grew up with it, they understand it, they know how to use it. That’s important, right? We’re not in a world where, you know, your uncle doesn’t know how to send emails anymore. We’re in a world where the entire generation has a facile expertise in it, and is also not afraid of it.”
I think he’s right about embracing the changing system. Sure, we need rules and we need protections for our unions, but it’s really impossible to stand in the way of a tool that’s designed to make life easier.
I hate the idea of AI taking jobs away from writers, animators, and all the other jobs in the industry, but if we can build a system where we are in control of using programs, then that may work better for us all.
Russo continued to expound on AI, saying, “So potentially, what you could do with it is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling. So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie, or in a TV show. You could walk into your house and save the AI on your streaming platform. ‘Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe’s photoreal avatar. I want it to be a rom-com because I’ve had a rough day,’ and it renders a very competent story with dialogue that mimics your voice. It mimics your voice, and suddenly now you have a rom-com starring you that’s 90 minutes long. So you can curate your story specifically to you.”
‘Blade Runner 2049’Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Obviously, this world is not here yet. But it feels like Blade Runner 2049, and I don’t know if that type of future is very far away from us.
As fun as that world he described sounds, I’m worried about the world we live in now. And jobs! I want Hollywood and filmmaking to be expansive areas where many people can work.
Russo finished with this prediction:
“That’s one thing that it can do, but it can also, on a communal level, populate the world of the game, have intelligence behind character choice, you know, the computer-run characters in the game that can make decisions learn your play style, make it a little harder for you, make it a little easier for you, curate the story. Say you want Fortnite to be more of a horror game, right? Then you could ask the AI to ramp up the horror elements of it. So again, you could curate your experience. I think that’s where it’s going. How quickly we get there, I don’t know, but that’s where it’s going.”
George Clooney: Johnny Depp and Mark Wahlberg “regret” passing on “Ocean’s Eleven”
This is per Variety, which reports that Disney-owned 20th Century Fox has put the sequel, with Vaughn attached to star, into “early development,” along with plans to tap Animaniacs revival writer Jordan VanDina to write the script, from an idea from Vaughn. Notably absent from this round-up of talent: Everybody else from Dodgeball, including director Rawson Marshall Thurber—who’s since become one of Dwayne Johnson’s pet directors, having helmed both Skyscraper and Red Notice—or the first film’s villain/co-star, Ben Stiller.
In the past, Vaughn (who seems to be the most invested in this whole thing) has said that Stiller was “open” to a return to the world of dives, dodges, and the other three—although Vaughn also noted that all involved are wary of getting bitten by the diminishing returns that can come from double-dipping on a well-loved comedy.
Vaughn has not revealed what his initial “great idea” for a sequel would be; we can only hope that it somehow involves Lance Armstrong returning for a second climactic pep talk to remind us all of what’s possible through hard work, determination, and nothing else. And we’ll grant this: Dodgeball has had a shockingly long tail for a comedy film of its vintage, including the fact that ESPN still occasionally busts out a version of the movie’s “The Ocho” gag when it feels like featuring some lesser-known sports. (Fingers crossed that Gary Cole and Jason Bateman are available for this sequel, at least.)
