News

French-Danish actor and director Niels Arestrup, best known to international audiences for playing a Corsican crime boss in Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Grand Prix, Oscar-nominated A Prophet, has died at the age of 75.

His wife, actress and writer Isabelle Le Nouvel, announced the news, saying Arestrup had died on Sunday (December 1) following “a courageous battle against illness” at their home outside of Paris.

Arestrup won best supporting actor César awards for his 2009 A Prophet performance and for playing the petty gangster father in Audiard’s 2005 BAFTA-winning The Beat That My Heart Skipped. He earned a third César award for Bertrand Tavernier...

Niels Arestrup, the French-Danish actor and muse to Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard who appeared in international features including Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, has died. He was 75.

Arestrup’s wife, Isabelle Le Nouvel, confirmed his death to Agence France-Presse on Sunday, saying he died “at the end of a courageous fight against illness.”

Arestrup will forever be linked to Audiard and his performances in the filmmaker’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) — playing the criminal father to Romain Duris’ would-be concert pianist — and A Prophet (2009), in which he embodies a terrifying Corsican mob boss who runs his operation from within prison.

Arestrup won best supporting acting César awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscar, for both roles, and the performances solidified his image as an onscreen villain with a piercing blue gaze who is barely holding back the violence within.

Jeffrey Wright began his distinguished career as a member of John Houseman‘s renowned Acting Company, touring the country performing Shakespeare and honing his craft. His stage breakthrough came with his co-starring role in the original production of “Angels in America” as the nurse Belize, a performance that won him a Tony Award and later an Emmy when Wright reprised it for the 2003 HBO miniseries adaptation.

That Tony win led to Wright starring in the title role of his first major film, “Basquiat,” directed by Julian Schnabel. His powerful performance led to a long and distinguished career as a character actor in film, where he worked with such acclaimed filmmakers as Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch and John Singleton. During that time, Wright balanced his career with TV and stage appearances as well, earning a second Tony nomination for 2002’s “Topdog/Underdog,” and three Emmy nominations for his co-starring role in...

Exclusive: David O. Sacks Productions, Mark Goffman and Getaway Entertainment are teaming to produce a feature-length film about Satoshi Nakamoto, the enigmatic founder of Bitcoin, with Sophia Banks set to direct. The movie, based on Andrew O’Hagan’s longform article “The Satoshi Affair,” will delve into the mystery surrounding the elusive creator of the world’s most revolutionary digital currency, blending investigative journalism with captivating storytelling.

“This film will be akin to watching The Social Network without knowing who the Mark Zuckerberg character might actually be,” Sacks remarked. “I’m delighted that we have the correct team in place to bring O’Hagan’s investigation, and the events since that period, to life.”

Producers David Sacks and Daniel Brunt optioned the article and took it to longtime collaborator Mark Goffman, who is adapting the screenplay and producing with Sacks and Brunt. Producing for Getaway Entertainment are Damiano Tucci, Banks and Arwen Elys Dayton.

After conquering the Dceu, riding shotgun in the Fast and Furious franchise, and taking hackers to task in Netflix’s Heart of Stone, Gal Gadot is locked into a race against time in director Kevin Madonald’s The Runner, an upcoming thriller set up at Amazon MGM Studios. David Kosse produces through his newly established Rockwood Pictures, with Amazon MGM Studios holding the worldwide rights.

Macdonald, whose films include One to One: John & Yoko, The Last King of Scotland, The Mauritanian, and more, directs The Runner from a script by Mark Gibson. According to Deadline, the plot finds Gadot playing “a high-powered attorney who must race through London, following the cryptic commands of a mysterious Caller, as she fights against time to save her abducted son.”

Before Gal Gadot laced up her sneakers for The Runner, she played the Evil Queen in Disney’s live-action adaptation of its first animated classic,...

Exclusive: Gal Gadot has been set to star in The Runner, a London-set action thriller that will be directed by Kevin Macdonald. Amazon MGM Studios has acquired worldwide rights to the film which was developed and will be produced by David Kosse under the veteran exec’s new venture, Rockwood Pictures.

Prolific award-winning filmmaker Macdonald is directing from a script by Mark Gibson.

Gadot plays a high-powered attorney who must race through London, following the cryptic commands of a mysterious Caller, as she fights against time to save her abducted son.

Wonder Woman star Gadot’s recent credits include Netflix’s Red Notice and Heart of Stone. She will next be seen starring as the Evil Queen in Disney’s live-action Snow White which is due for domestic release...

“It’s a punk Marvel movie.” So says director Tony Kaye about his latest film, The Trainer, one of the more intriguing films to world premiere this year at the Rome Film Festival (October 16-27).

The Trainer centres on Jack Flex, a penniless fitness expert who takes a maniacal swing at fame and fortune by trying to sell the Heavy Hat, an obviously dangerous fitness gadget, on his mum’s favourite home shopping channel.

Flex is played by Vito Schnabel who also produced and co-wrote the film. An art dealer as well as a filmmaker, Schnabel made a brief appearance...

Now it’s official. Netflix has confirmed it is moving forward with a second season of anthology series Beef, and also confirmed, as we previously reported, that Oscar Isaac (Scenes From A Marriage), Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman), Charles Melton (May December) and Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) will star in the upcoming installment.

In Season 2, a young couple witnesses an alarming fight between their boss and his wife, triggering chess moves of favors and coercion in the elitist world of a country club and its Korean billionaire owner. Further Season 2 details will be revealed at a later time.

The first season of Beef starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, premiered in 2023 and went on to win a slew of awards including eight Emmy Awards, four Critics Choice Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Gotham Awards, two Film Independent Spirit Awards, two SAG Awards, as well as PGA, WGA and AFI Honors.

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research

Éric Rohmer’s A Tale of Autumn screens on Sunday courtesy of Amnesiascope and Rohmer Fits.

Roxy Cinema

A 35mm print of Silent Hill shows Friday and Saturday, as does a Radiohead-scored Nosferatu; the latter day brings Apocalypse Now: Final Cut and a print of Love Streams; Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro screens on Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

A Brad Dourif retrospective includes the actor in-person for Wise Blood on Saturday and Horseplayer on Sunday; films by Dreyer play in “Essential Cinema.”

IFC Center

The Guy Maddin series “Forbidden Rooms” begins; black-and-white restoration of Johnny Mnemonic and Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat play, as does a 40th-anniversary restoration of Paris, Texas; Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch play late.

Museum of Modern Art...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Museum of Modern Art

As the career-spanning Johnnie To retrospective continues, a Samuel L. Jackson series includes Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Jungle Fever on 35mm.

Bam

A Duras-Akerman double bill plays Sunday.

Film at Lincoln Center

NYFF Revivals continues with films by Robert Bresson, Raymond Depardon, and Clive Barker, Compensation, and more.

Film Forum

A George Stevens retrospective begins; restorations of The Devil, Probably and Lancelot du lac continue; Shane screens on Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

“Kill Yr Landlords” includes work by John Schlesinger, Hal Ashby, and Nikos Papatakis; films by Dovzhenko and Dreyer play in “Essential Cinema.”

Roxy Cinema

Apocalypse Now: Final Cut plays Friday.

Museum of the Moving Image

A Frank Oz retrospective begins; Burden of Dreams and Fitzcarraldo both screen.

Metrograph

Pulp Fiction, There Will Be Blood, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Lolita, and...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

NYFF Revivals begins with films by Robert Bresson, Marguerite Duras, Clive Barker, and more.

Film Forum

As The Devil, Probably continues in a new restoration, Lancelot du lac starts; Stand By Me screens on Sunday.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Johnnie To retrospective continues.

Anthology Film Archives

A Robert Beavers retrospective begins.

Roxy Cinema

Gloria plays Friday and Saturday, while prints of Opening Night and Minnie and Moskowitz also screen; Deep Red shows Friday; experimental shorts and City Dudes play on Saturday; Frederick Wiseman’s High School II screens on 16mm this Sunday, while Puzzle of a Downfall Child plays on 35mm.

Bam

Chantal Akerman’s Toute une nuit continues playing in a 4K restoration; The Long Walk Home screens on Friday.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of first-person documentaries continues; X: The...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Roxy Cinema

Olivier Assayas’ Demonlover plays on 35mm Friday and Sunday; Frederick Wiseman’s High School screens on 16mm Saturday and Sunday; A Woman Under the Influence and Faces continue.

Bam

Chantal Akerman’s Toute une nuit begins playing in a 4K restoration; the black-and-white restoration of Basquiat begins a run.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of first-person documentaries begins; Vanishing Point screens on Saturday.

Film Forum

The Devil, Probably plays in a new restoration, while Sleeping Beauty screens on Sunday.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Johnnie To retrospective continues.

Anthology Film Archives

A Christopher Harris retrospective begins; a Yugoslav cinema series begins.

IFC Center

The black-and-white restoration of Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat continues; Tim Burton’s Batman and a 40th-anniversary restoration of Paris, Texas play daily; The Warriors, Tetsuo the Iron Man, Twister, and a print of The Cell play late.

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Bam

A Different Man director Aaron Schimberg has assembled an all-35mm retrospective of films that inspired his new feature, including work by Lynch, Lubitsch, Nicholas Ray, and Tsai; the 50th-anniversary restoration of The Conversation begins a run.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Johnnie To retrospective has begun, featuring the director in-person.

Anthology Film Archives

An Ingrid Caven retrospective includes films by Fassbinder and Eustache; work by Joseph Cornell, Tony Conrad, and Bruce Conner plays in “Essential Cinema.”

Film at Lincoln Center

An essential retrospective of Brazil’s L.C. Barreto Productions continues.

Roxy Cinema

Faces and A Woman Under the Influence screen.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of the Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden continues; two films by Joanna Hogg screen on Saturday; Young Frankenstein and The Warriors have standalone showings, the latter on 35mm.

Film Forum

The Searchers...

CAA’s Roeg Sutherland is set to be honored with the Zurich Film Festival’s Game Changer Award for his outstanding achievements and contributions within the film industry.

The co-Head of CAA’s Media Finance department as well as its International Film Group, will be presented with the award during the festival’s industry-focused Zurich Summit, which takes place in October within the framework of the 20th Zurich Film Festival (Zff).

As part of the recognition, FilmNation Entertainment CEO Glen Basner will host the Game Changer Award recipient conversation, in which he will speak with Sutherland about his journey.

“Roeg is a passionate cinephile and industry leader, who has not only discovered, but also nurtured and developed the careers of countless artists. In the past several years, he has secured financing and sold some of the most important and critically acclaimed films, both domestic and international,” commented Zff Artistic Director Christian Jungen.

"How long you think it takes to get famous?" Janus Films has revealed an official trailer for a 4K re-release of Basquiat, the famed 1996 film about the iconic artist. It's newly restored in black & white, made from a 4K scan from the original camera negative. Supervised by director Julian Schnabel. The film (firrst released in full color) originally opened in 1996 and played at the Venice Film Festival, before hitting US theaters in the fall of '96. The brief life of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity. Starring Jeffrey Wright in his very first big screen role as the artist who tragically died at 28. Cemented by David Bowie as a spot-on Andy Warhol, Basquiat's supporting cast is a murderers' row of Hollywood legends & art lovers all lending their talents to one of the "high points of 90s indie cinema," an...

For “Kinds of Kindness,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ twisted three-part anthology film set in alternate realities with a cast led by Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, and Willem Dafoe, production designer Anthony Gasparro (“First Cow”) was tasked with transforming New Orleans into a nameless city by avoiding any iconic references to the Big Easy. That meant going on the outskirts — uptown, in the suburbs, or on the lakefront — to create an eccentric vibe.

In “The Death of R.M.F.,” Robert (Plemons) endures daily abuse from his boss, Raymond (Dafoe); in “R.M.F. Is Flying,” distraught policeman Daniel (Plemons) welcomes the miraculous return of his marine researcher wife, Liz (Stone), lost at sea on an expedition and presumed dead, but then suspects that she’s an impostor; and in “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich,” Emily (Stone) and Andrew (Plemons), who belong to a sex cult run by Omi (Dafoe), are on...

Hollywood is a haven for hybrids — from film genres and cuisines to actor/singer/content creators — but what about an art space/boutique/newsstand mashup? Wait, didn’t newsstands go the way of the dodo?

Not completely. A decades-old newsstand at 8224 Sunset Blvd. has been resurrected as the Kiosk-o-thèque by one Arman Naféei, very much a hybrid himself. The Berliner turned Londoner graduated university in London, then morphed into a major DJ by age 15.

“Then I wanted to go move to N.Y.,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. So he switched it up again, becoming the mix master of nightlife magic for New York’s famed Boom Boom Room: “I grew my own cultural network over time,” the enterprising Naféei explains. “Fashion people, film, music and art — all feeding off each other, artist to artist conversations. That’s what I relish. I’m all about the culture.”

After moving to L.

The first season of the Netflix anthology series Beef turned out to be a massive success by any metric.

The sort of buzzed-about prestige show that streamers have been seeking with increasing desperation in recent years, Beef was as big with critics and award committees as it was with subscribers.

While the series has yet to officially be renewed, the move is an inevitable no-brainer for Netflix.

Of course, the show will face the usual sophomore season challenges that accompany the anthology format.

We don't know much about how Beef will tackle those issues from a storytelling perspective.

But it looks like the bigwigs who control the purse strings are doing their part by going all-in on casting.

Related: Succession, The Bear, Beef Dominate Award Season: Is This the Beginning of a New TV Golden Age?

Deadline is reporting today that Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan are both in talks...

Exclusive: Following a breakout first season that included a sweep at the Emmys, the Netflix and A24 anthology series Beef is zeroing on some high-profile talent for its second season. Sources tell Deadline that Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan are in negotiations to star in Season 2.

Netflix had no comment on the Isaac and Mulligan talks.

Insiders say the second season is revolving around two feuding couples. Insiders add that no official Season 2 greenlight has been given.

The roles Isaac and Mulligan would be playing were rumored to be for Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, but that ultimately did not come to fruition.

Isaac has had success as of late on the limited series front with his performance in HBO’s Scenes From a Marriage, which earned him an Emmy nomination. Since then he has finished production on Julian Schnabel’s Hand of Dante, starring opposite Jason Momoa. He is...

Italy’s tax credit, increasing the number of international co-productions and the challenges facing the Iocal film industry were among the key talking points at the third Audiovisual Producers Summit which took place this week in Calabria in southern Italy.

The event, organised by Italy’s Audiovisual Producers Association (APA), brought together around 200 execs from the Italian, US, French and UK film and TV industries.

They included Amazon Studios head of Italian scripted originals Davide Nardini, new Wildside CEO Sonia Rovai, Sony Pictures Television president of international Wayne Garvie, Banijay chief digital officer Damien Viel, Franklin Entertainment’s DeVon Franklin,...

Neben einer Reihe weiterer, zum Teil fest erwarteter Titel bestätigt Variety, dass „Joker: Folie A Deux“ bereits fix ist für die diesjährige 81. Mostra in Venedig. Der Vorgänger, „Joker“, konnte 2019 den Goldenen Löwen gewinnen. Außerdem ausgewählt sind wohl bereits neue Arbeiten von Luca Guadagnino, Pablo Larraín, Julian Schnabel, Johnny Depp und Jon Watts.

Nach Cannes ist vor Venedig. Gerade einmal wurden die Palmen vergeben, richtet man den Blick bereits an das zweite ganz große europäische A-Festival, das aktuell von Alberto Barbera zusammengestellt wird: Die 81. Mostra in Venedig findet vom 28. August bis 7. September auf dem Lido statt. Über viele Titel wird seit Längerem spekuliert. Nun soll es laut Variety erste Entscheidungen geben.

Wenig überraschend ist die Einladung von „Joker: Folie A Deux“ von Todd Phillips mit Joaquin Phoenixund Lady Gaga. Der erste Teil hatte 2019 unerwartet aber nicht unverdient von der Jury unter der damaligen Präsidentin Lucrecia Martel den Goldenen Löwen als bester...

The upcoming Venice Film Festival is shaping up to be a star-studded affair with Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Gal Gadot and Ana de Armas among top Hollywood talents likely to be launching high-profile titles from the Lido.

Though festival chief Alberto Barbera has yet to see several submitted works that are likely to make the cut, a clutch of globally buzzy movies have already secured a coveted Venice berth, though some of the more mainstream entries will probably be bowing out-of-competition.

“Joker 2: Folie à Deux,” Todd Phillips’ edgy musical sequel to his 2019 Golden Lion prizewinning “Joker,” starring Gaga and Phoenix, is a competition shoo-in, along with Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic “Maria,” starring Jolie in the title role.

Larraín’s previous two tragic female biopics — “Spencer” starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana and “Jackie” with Natalie Portman as...

Exclusive: Meryl Streep says that a meeting is “imminent” where she’ll hear about the proposals for her to return for a third helping of Mamma Mia!

The acting legend, honored with an Honorary Palme d’Or at an emotional presentation Tuesday night during the Cannes Film Festival’s opening ceremony the Grand Théâtre Lumière, confirmed that “of course, I want to do it,” but first she wants to hear how producer Judy Craymer has resolved the issue of how Streep’s character Donna Sheridan can return for MM3 when it was revealed during the during the 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again that Donna had died.

Will there be some sort of resurrection, I wondered. “I don’t know how they’re going to do it. They have an idea. I haven’t heard it yet but it’s in [my diary] and I’m going to hear about it pretty soon,...

Is there a harder-working actor in the movie business than Willem Dafoe? The 68-year-old, who splits his time between Los Angeles, New York and Rome, has appeared in more than 150 films, co-starring in everything from superhero features to dozens of movie-buff favorites from David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Lars von Trier, Paul Schrader, Oliver Stone, Julian Schnabel, Wes Anderson, Sean Baker, Spike Lee, Robert Eggers and so many more.

Fresh from his acclaimed performance in Yorgos Lanthimos‘ recent awards season favorite Poor Things, Dafoe is already returning to Cannes this month in the Greek director’s much-buzzed-about follow-up, Kinds of Kindness. Described as a surrealist fable set in the present day, the new project is an anthology film told in three parts, reuniting Lanthimos with the provocative screenwriting partner of his early career, Efthymis Filippou (Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer). The film’s multi-Oscar-feted key cast — Dafoe,...

Greg Daniels and Michael Koman could return to The Office universe, with Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus) as cast members of the proposed spinoff. Gleeson and Inpacciatore would be part of an ensemble for the project, which Deadline says is close to entering production. Plot details about The Office spinoff remain a mystery.

We know only a little about the project beyond its setting in The Office universe. Daniels wants fans to know it’s not a reboot, even though it takes place in the same arena as the Steve Carell-led mockumentary series focusing on the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company employees. Daniels says the new show could feature a camera crew doing a documentary about a subject outside the day-to-day lives of office workers surviving the daily grind and their toxic boss.

Domhnall Gleeson launched his acting career in 2001 as a character named Byrne in an episode of Rebel Heart.

The next iteration of The Office is coming together.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the new take on the beloved NBC Steve Carell comedy has cast the first two members of what will be the ensemble comedy with Sabrina Impacciatore (The White Lotus) and Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) becoming the first two to join the cast of the potential series.

Reps for Universal Television, which is producing the updated take from creators Greg Daniels and Michael Koman (Nathan for You), declined to comment as the details surrounding the project remain closely guarded. A platform for the project has not yet been determined as sources say Daniels and the studio want to make sure the take is right before setting it up at a network/streamer. Peacock remains the exclusive streaming home for Daniels’ The Office after paying millions to secure the rights back from Netflix,...

The potential new Greg Daniels and Michael Koman comedy series in The Office universe has locked in its first two stars: Domhnall Gleeson (The Patient) and Sabrina Impacciatore (White Lotus), who will be part of an ensemble, sources close to production tell Deadline. Details regarding their roles are under wraps. The Office studio Universal Television declined to comment, other than to confirm that the project remains in development.

As Deadline revealed exclusively in January, Daniels opened up a development room to explore ideas for a follow-up series to the Emmy-winning The Office. The prospective new series, which is not a reboot, is said to be set in a new office with new characters but live within the same world as the Steve Carell-led mockumentary series which follows employees at the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. Daniels has indicated that a new Office iteration could...

“The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore and Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera play alternate versions of themselves on the final episode of the Italian adaptation of “Call My Agent,” which was released this weekend on pay-tv Sky Italia.

Shot in September 2023, during the real Venice event, the show sees Impacciatore play the fest’s master of ceremonies who, wearing a red gown, disembarks with her agent from a motorboat on the Lido at the Excelsior Hotel dock, greeted by throngs of fans and paparazzi. She then starts acting a bit strange, speaking to Barbera in English instead of Italian and almost falling into the lagoon, as seen in the above exclusive subtitled clip.

Impacciatore, who played Valentina, the hotel manager in the Sicily-set second season of “White Lotus,” was mostly unknown outside of Italy before appearing in the hit HBO show which also gave her domestic career a nice boost.

Not every good film is necessarily a good time, and vice versa. On the latter front, see “Mothers’ Instinct,” a 1960s-set suburban psychodrama too silly to secure our belief and too reserved to pass muster as go-for-broke camp — but still compulsive enough, twisty enough and finally berserk enough to keep us hooked through all its tonal and narrative lane-changing. As a pair of model homemakers and next-door neighbors whose close friendship is severely undone by sudden tragedy, even stars Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain don’t always seem to be making entirely the same movie: Hathaway’s sly, high-gloss vamping points to a more brittly amusing one than Chastain’s earnest emotional commitment, turning their characters’ escalating picket-fence battle into a compelling tussle for the soul of the script itself. One wins, and not predictably so.

First-time feature director Benoît Delhomme, however, doesn’t have much command over this strange,...

Perhaps sharing the screen in Julian Schnabel’s 2000 film Before Night Falls, is what brought Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp close. But certainly, starring in one movie wasn’t what bonded them as best of friends, forever. Sticking through thick and thin, while supporting each other through tough times, is what made Depp and Downey Jr. great friends.

Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer

Ever since then, Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp have made headlines for their envious friendship goals in Hollywood. Like when Depp went through his defamation trial against Amber Heard, Downey Jr. was there to celebrate his victory with a FaceTime. Similarly, after the Iron Man actor won his first Oscar, following his appearance in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Depp came forward to appreciate his big win.

Robert Downey Jr. Celebrated Johnny Depp’s Victory Against Amber Heard

Apart from sharing the screen...

Sacha Baron Cohen and Chris Rock had the good sense to arrive early at the Jean-Michel Basquiat Made on Market Street exhibition at the Larry Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills.

They surveyed the 30 or so Basquiat art works in relative peace ,before the throng arrived.

Cohen tells me he came straight from writing something “for TV” that might shoot in Los Angeles or in London, he wasn’t sure. Interesting.

There may also be a film. But before anything else he’ll be seen along with Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville and Louis Partridge in Disclaimer, the TV drama thriller Alfonso Cuarón has written and directed for Apple TV+.

Jeffrey Wright at the Basquiat exhibition. Photo Bamigboye/Deadline.

Rock and Cohen had skedaddled with pal Guy Oseary to see Madonna by the time Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright presented himself at the gallery. It was wholly appropriate that the American Fiction star be there.

Jason Momoa may not be seen in the new entry in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune series, but the Aquaman star has taken the time to talk with The Hollywood Reporter on a number of new projects, including directing a Guinness commercial and filming the upcoming Minecraft movie. In the interview, Momoa professed how much of a dream it is for him to helm a commercial for the Guinness brand. While not his first time behind the camera, he would express, “What I love about being a director is that everything up on that picture, I’m going to be judged for. […] When you’re a director, I get to choose everything, everything in the frame, what people are wearing, who’s acting, everything is what I want.”

While speaking with THR, he also glows about the new Dune as well as his experience with Denis Villeneuve. When asked if he...

Filmmaker, Martin Scorsese is famous for his tough, sometimes violent portrayals of American life. Since the 1970s, he’s directed lots of movies that have made him a big deal in the film world.

His impressive body of work includes iconic movies such as Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), Gangs of New York (2002), The Departed (2006), Hugo (2011), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and more. In his recent film, Killers of the Flower Moon, Scorsese keeps up his trend of adapting interesting true stories into captivating movies.

Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro on the sets of Killers of the Flower Moon

The filmmaker is now stepping away from his usual role to act in a film with a cast that is as impressive as Oppenheimer‘s, which includes Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, and many more.

SUGGESTEDBoth Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese Have the Same...

Martin Scorsese is reviving an entertaining – if relatively short – acting career in Julian Schnabel’s new movie. More below:

In a moving interview with Deadline last year, director Martin Scorsese expressed that, at 80 years old, he was increasingly worried about running out of time.

Well, if 2024’s anything to go by, he’s certainly making the most of the time that he has. On top of announcing his upcoming (and untitled) film about a certain Jesus Christ and making a Squarespace advert with his daughter, Variety has revealed that Scorsese has been cast in the role of Dante’s mentor in Julian Schnabel’s upcoming crime mystery In The Hand Of Dante.

The veteran director/TikTok star apparently plays “a small but powerful role” in the film as “an elderly sage who influences Dante Alighieri while he is writing The Divine Comedy.”

In The Hand Of Dante is being produced independently,...

Acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese will soon be seen playing Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s mentor in Julian Schnabel’s upcoming film ‘In the Hand of Dante’. Martin has a small but an impactful role. He will be playing an elderly sage who influenced Alighieri while he is writing ‘The Divine Comedy’ in Julian Schnabel’s crime mystery ‘In the Hands of Dante’, reports variety.com.

Martin, who will be honoured with Berlin Film Festival‘s honorary Golden Bear, has made a special appearance in several films by him and has often performed in movies by other makers.

He essayed Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh in a segment of Akira Kurosawa’s 1990 film ‘Dreams’ and also performed as voice talent as the loan shark pufferfish in ‘Shark Tale’.

‘In The Hand of Dante’ also has British musician and actor Benjamin Clementine, who along with contributing to the film’s score will...

Martin Scorsese will soon be seen on the big screen, and he won’t be playing himself.

The master director, who is being feted with Berlin Film Festival’s honorary Golden Bear on Tuesday night, has a small but powerful role playing an elderly sage who influences Dante Alighieri while he is writing “The Divine Comedy” in Julian Schnabel’s upcoming crime mystery “In the Hands of Dante.”

Though Scorsese has cameoed in many of his movies and occasionally performed in films by other directors – he played Vincent van Gogh in a segment of Akira Kurosawa’s 1990 film “Dreams” and also performed as voice talent as the loan shark pufferfish in “Shark Tale” – this role is likely to be among his meatiest.

“He is extraordinary in the film,” Schnabel tells Variety, calling Scorsese’s part “a brilliant, important role” and adding: “You can’t take your eyes off him.”

Two...

The 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival came to a close Sunday, but one of its highlights came three days earlier, with the last of the filmmaker tributes that serve as the spine of the fest.

On Thursday evening, inside Santa Barbara’s historic 2000-seat Arlington Theatre, veteran stage and screen actor Jeffrey Wright — who is Oscar-nominated for the first time in his nearly 30-year film career, for his leading performance in Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, a dramedy about race in America — was feted with the fest’s Montecito Award following a deeply engaging career-retrospective conversation with Sbiff executive director and passionate Wright admirer Roger Durling.

Wright, 58, spoke about being raised by his mother and his aunt, and never really even considering acting until he got to Amherst College, where he began to fall in love with the craft (and to abandon the notion of attending law school). He...

When "Frasier" returned for a neither remarkable nor disappointing revival series in 2023, several things about the beloved titular doctor's comeback just felt off. The new incarnation of the sitcom was a fairly harmless and light-hearted affair, peppered with flashes of the sitcom magic that characterized the original show. That initial series ran from 1993 to 2004, becoming one of the greatest sitcoms to ever grace our screens. But while the revival saw star Kelsey Grammer firing on all cylinders and gave us a season finale that stacked up nicely against previous Christmas episodes, the supporting cast just wasn't ever going to be able to live up to the original ensemble. All of which made for a revival show that felt kind of like "Frasier," but not quite.

Adding to that uncanny feeling was the fact that "Frasier" 2023 also lacked something of the visual magic of the original. It's perhaps unfair to compare...

This February, Christie’s will present the iconic property from music legend Elton John’s former Atlanta home in a series of landmark sales at Christie’s Rockefeller Center. Beginning with an evening sale on Wednesday, February 21, the series will be comprised of 8 sales in total, both live and online. The auctions of this extraordinary collection represent a turning point in the celebrated singer’s personal journey and offers collectors a rare opportunity to own a piece of its rich history.

The city of Atlanta played a crucial role in John’s life, becoming the hub he would return to throughout his numerous tours within the United States. He solidified this connection to Atlanta in 1992 when he acquired the condominium in Park Place, on Peachtree Road. His unexpected choice of Atlanta as a residence was driven by personal reasons. After becoming sober in 1990, he found solace and support in the warm...

While filming Basquiat, the 1996 film from director Julian Schnabel, Jeffrey Wright was tasked with slipping into the world of the artist Jean Michel Basquiat. If the nature of the role wasn’t creative enough, he was on set working alongside David Bowie, who was cast to play Andy Warhol. Soon, the lines between the different forms of art at play — film, music, painting — started to blur. During a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Wright recalled Bowie playing unreleased music while on set.

“I remember one day we were...

Elton John is bringing some of his iconic memorabilia to auction, with Christie’s presenting property from his former Atlanta home in a series of landmark sales at Christie’s Rockefeller Center.

Beginning on Feb. 21, the series will be comprised of eight sales in total, both live and online, with items crafted specifically for his home on Peachtree Road. The collections features photographs and artwork, including Damien Hirst’s “Your Song” — signed and inscribed with a note to John and his husband David Furnish — with an estimated value of $350,000 to $450,000, as well as a portrait of John by Julian Schnabel, estimated to be worth $200,000 to $300,000.

John’s on-stage looks, including an ivory and gold ensemble designed by Annie Reavey in 1971 that’s estimated at $8,000 to $12,000, will also be up for auction, as well as Versace upholstery, clothing and home decor, a grand piano (estimate $30,000 to $50,000) art glass collections, antiques and artifacts from his travels.

Willem Dafoe has a face made for film. When the sixty-something actor appears on screen, his prominent cheekbones, wide eyes, and toothy grin are difficult to take your gaze off. Combined with his slender frame and his raspy, gravely, deep voice, the actor’s portrayal of Jesus Christ allegedly prompted Sergio Leone to opine “This is not the face of our Lord, this is the face of Satan!”

Dafoe hasn’t played Satan at all over the course of his career, but he’s certainly played his share of villains, bringing his signature menace to dozens of cinematic crooks and psychopaths. After his first lead role, in Kathryn Bigelow’s 1982 biker drama “The Loveless,” his early parts were largely antagonists to the lead heroes, such as the alluring but frightening criminals in “Streets of Fire” and “To Live and Die in L.A.” The part that arguably brought him the most widespread,...

Sometimes, a cinematographer works enough with an actor that when they’re set to do their directorial debut, that actor is in. That seems to be the case with “Mother’s Instinct,” the directorial debut of well-renowned French Dp Benoît Delhomme. Known for films like Anton Corbijn’s “A Most Wanted Man” and Julian Schnabel’s “At Eternity’s Gate,” he’s also worked with Jessica Chastain a few times on “Lawless,” “Wild Salome,” and some photography work he did for Terrence Malick’s “Tree Of Life.” So perhaps the favor extends to starring in “Mother’s Instinct,” Delhomme’s directorial debut, which will arrive later this year via Neon.

Continue reading ‘Mother’s Instinct’ Trailer: Anne Hathaway & Jessica Chastain’s Anticipated Psychological Thriller Is “Coming Soon” via Studio Canal UK at The Playlist.

It looks like Gerard Butler spent Christmas outside of Los Angeles this year.

The 54-year-old actor was spotted heading into Lax Airport to catch a flight out of town on Sunday afternoon (December 24), right in the middle of the holiday rush.

It’s unclear if Gerard was traveling with anyone or if he was alone. It’s been a while since he has been spotted out in public with longtime girlfriend Morgan Brown.

Gerard was recently spotted filming the upcoming movie In the Hand of Dante in Italy. He’s working with director Julian Schnabel for the film and we have photos of them chatting on set.

Here’s the synopsis, from Amazon: “Deep inside the Vatican library, a priest discovers the rarest and most valuable art object ever found: the manuscript of The Divine Comedy, written in Dante’s own hand. Via Sicily, the manuscript makes its way from...

Jeffrey Wright began his distinguished career as a member of John Houseman‘s renowned Acting Company, touring the country performing Shakespeare and honing his craft. His stage breakthrough came with his co-starring role in the original production of “Angels in America” as the nurse Belize, a performance that won him a Tony Award and later an Emmy when Wright reprised it for the 2003 HBO miniseries adaptation.

That Tony win led to Wright starring in the title role of his first major film, “Basquiat,” directed by Julian Schnabel. His powerful performance led to a long and distinguished career as a character actor in film, where he worked with such acclaimed filmmakers as Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch and John Singleton. During that time, Wright balanced his career with TV and stage appearances as well, earning a second Tony nomination for 2002’s “Topdog/Underdog,” and three Emmy nominations for his co-starring role in...

However Jessica Chastain and her jury could be relied on for glamour.

The opening night of this year’s Marrakech International Film Festival (Fifm) on Friday (November 24) night was a low-key affair in keeping with Fifm’s aim of foregoing parties and lavish red carpets in favour of a deeper cultural experience.

A few attendees even wore jeans and sneakers, an unorthodox mode of attire for any red-carpet event. But these are unusual times following the devastating earthquake in Morocco in Septemberr and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The “red carpet” for the evening was tucked away in a side room of the Palais des Congrès,...

This year’s Marrakech International Film Festival opened with a testament to art.

Two months after a devastating earthquake, and in light of the ever-more heart-wrenching news coming out of the Middle East, the film showcase kicked off with a humanist rallying cry voiced by jury president Jessica Chastain.

“In the weeks leading up to the festival, we were not sure that we would even be able to be here,” Chastain said at the Marrakech opening ceremony on Friday. “The world we share is shattered and divided. And so I have immense gratitude… [that] throughout history, art has been used as an accessible tool for communication, raising awareness about social issues and affecting positive change.”

Indeed, now celebrating its 20th edition, the Moroccan event has always sought to shine a celebratory light, emphasizing art and international communion, especially in dark times. Upon taking the stage on Friday, Chastain echoed those overarching sentiments.

Jessica Chastain, resplendent in a shimmering silver tasseled jump suit, championed the power of art to bring about positive change at the opening night of the Marrakech Film Festival on Friday evening.

The actress is the attending the Moroccan film festival as the president of the jury.

She was joined on stage by jury members Iranian Holy Spider actress Zar Amir, Call My Agent! star Camille Cottin, Australian actor and director Joel Edgerton, UK director Joanna Hogg, U.S. director Dee Rees and Swedish filmmaker Tarik Saleh and actor Alexander Skarsgård.

“Throughout history art has been used as an accessible tool for communication, raising awareness about social issues and effecting positive change,” she said.

Citing the words of renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead on the power of “a small group of thoughtful committed citizens” to change the world, Chastain called on all those in the theatre to embrace the arts.

“I...

Indie and art film producer Jon Kilik, unlike many, remains hopeful for the personal, mid-budget movie for grown-ups. “Those are the films directors love to make and audiences still love,” says Kilik, being feted this week at Poland’s Camerimage cinematography festival for work of special visual sensitivity.

Having flown in from a shoot in Rome, Kilik confesses he still loves being on set after a career spanning four decades, including work with Spike Lee, Julian Schnabel, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Jim Jarmusch and Oliver Stone.

His latest project filming in Europe, “In the Hand of Dante,” starring Gal Gadot and Oscar Isaac in a metaphorical journey through hell to paradise, is characteristic of Kilik’s lifelong passion for bringing challenging works of literature and art to the screen.

And he’s proven time and again that such films have an audience and are economically viable, he points out, if handled...

Julian Schnabel is in Italy on the set of his star-studded crime mystery “In the Hand of Dante,” for which he and Louise Kugelberg, his wife and close creative collaborator, have been narratively and literally criss-crossing between the 14th and 21st centuries in locations including Sicily, Venice, Verona and Rome.

Besides the film’s previously announced leads — Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Gerard Butler — “Hand of Dante” will also see British musician and actor Benjamin Clementine (“Dune”) playing a quintessentially demonic character who seesaws between past and present. Clementine also contributes to the film’s score. Other A-list recruits comprise John Malkovich, Al Pacino and Louis Cancelmi (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) who plays both a present-day hitman named Lefty and nobleman Guido da Polenta, who was Dante’s benefactor.

Julian Schnabel, speaking to Variety on a spectacular Rome set – a palatial villa on a hill overlooking the...