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We have Pirates Of The Caribbean to thank for iconic Keira Knightly films like Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, and Anna Karenina, but don't expect to see the actor in another big-budget franchise any time soon. When asked by The Times if she would ever dip her toe in the blockbuster pool again,...

If you want to win an Oscar for Best Costume Design, it’s best to pick a project for which you can create frilly dresses from a bygone era. Since its introduction at the 1948 Academy Awards, this category has favored period pictures, including the 2024 winner “Poor Things.” (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Costume Design.)

Voters love to reward the creative forces behind such films, especially those that are about the aristocracy including recent champs “Marie Antoinette” (2007), “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2008), “The Duchess” (2009), “The Young Victoria” (2010), and “Anna Karenina” (2013). By the way, none of those films even competed for Best Picture. Indeed, only 20 Best Picture champs also won this award; the last to do so was “The Artist” in 2012.

Among the other double dippers was “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2004). Fantasy films such as this often boast Oscar-winning costumes, including 2022 champ “Cruella,...

Alicia Vikander opened up about her family life at the Zurich Film Festival, where she received the Golden Eye Award.

“Sometimes, [preparing for a role] is boring and tedious. My three-year-old is wondering what’s going on, because I’m locking the doors and talking to myself,” she laughed.

“When I am done, I get very tired. Acting is physically and emotionally draining. I have two young children now, I was pregnant when making that film and that’s where most of my time goes when I am not working,” said the Swedish actor, fresh off dystopian sci-fi “The Assessment.”

Vikander’s growing multilingual family – the actor is married to Michael Fassbender – aroused festival audience’s curiosity.

“My six-month-old doesn’t speak much, but my three-year-old speaks Portuguese, English and Swedish. Recently, he was hanging out with some kids and now there’s also a bit of Spanish. He’s giving me language courses now!

Stars: Meg Fozzard, Shian Denovan, Tom Knight, Ray Bullock Jr., Gala Wesson, Daniel Davids | Written by Christopher Presswell, Forgács W. András | Directed by Christopher Presswell

The Whip opens with Emily (Meg Fozzard), who suffers from a brain injury, and her sister Sadie who cares for her full time, suffering through a benefits interview. And I do mean suffering as the interviewer, somewhere between disinterested and outright hostile, gets Emily’s name wrong and asks if she has mobility issues as she sits there in her wheelchair. Despite a host of issues stemming from her injury, including short-term memory issues, shaky balance confining her to a wheelchair, and hands that shake, she’s deemed fit for work. A forgone conclusion given the government’s “Putting Ability Back into Disability” slogan for revamping the National Health Service.

Elsewhere, Michael Harrington is trying to sell these new policies to voters, and they are not buying it.

Remake of a Danish story of an unwary family who follow a charismatic couple on holiday has lost some of its nihilism but McAvoy packs real power

Tolstoy famously suggested in barnstorming infidelity classic Anna Karenina that all happy families are alike, while the unhappy ones are unhappy in their own way – but here comes Speak No Evil to test the theory. Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis play the Daltons, Ben and Louise, an upmarket American couple living in London; they are holidaying in Italy with their sweet but highly strung daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) while trying to work out some common or garden relationship issues.

During their vacation, they are intrigued and charmed by Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), a more carefree, devil-may-care pair, who seem enviably capable when it comes to the fine art of seizing the day and enjoying life’s lustier side. That...

The Zurich Film Festival will honor Swedish actor Alicia Vikander, who won an Oscar with “The Danish Girl,” during its 20th edition, which runs Oct. 3-13.

Vikander will accept the festival’s Golden Eye Award on Oct. 8 when she presents the Swiss premiere of her new film “The Assessment,” which is directed by Fleur Fortuné.

“The Assessment,” in which she stars opposite Elizabeth Olsen, tells the story of a society striving for perfection, living in a world devastated by climate change, trying to optimize life – including the assessment of parenthood. A couple is examined by an assessor for seven days to determine their suitability to have children.

The award recognizes her “outstanding acting performance and her consistently courageous and clever choice of roles,” as demonstrated in auteur films and blockbusters alike, including “Ex Machina,” “The Danish Girl,” “Anna Karenina,” “Jason Bourne,” “The Green Knight” and “Tomb Raider.”

In 2015, she was...

The festival circuit is an important part of the film industry. After all, how would you know a movie has any artistic cred if it doesn’t have any little leaves on its poster? The oldest of the “Big Five” festivals, the Venice Film Festival, is nearly as old as Hollywood itself, founded in 1932. That’s all well and good until you consider what else was going on in Italy in 1932.

Yep, the Venice Film Festival was brought to you by Fascism.

Specifically, by Giuseppe Voldi, a lifelong bureaucrat who was Mussolini’s Minister of Finance from 1925 to 1928. By the ‘30s, he’d largely dedicated himself to artistic matters, most importantly the Venice Biennale, an annual international culture festival. In ‘32, recognizing the rising importance of movies to the Italian public, he added the film festival. Hey, even Fascists contain multitudes.

The Venice Film Festival was initially noncompetitive, but in 1934, organizers...

Filmmaker Joe Wright takes a 180 in the portrayal of World War II prime ministers, pivoting from the wise and measured Winston Churchill in 2017’s Darkest Hour (which delivered a Best Actor Oscar win to Gary Oldman) to the spontaneous, hot blooded and short-fused Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini in the Fremantle/Apartment/Sky/Pathe series M. Son of the Century, which made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival today. While the Lido gets to see the series’ full eight hours that Wright directed and executive produced, TIFF will be treated to the first two episodes.

We spoke with Wright while he was editing the punk-rock stylized series. He originally shot M. from October 2022-April 2023; the show carrying all the filmmaker’s tonal sensibilities, i.e., deep amber colors, flickering shadows, fierce pacing which we’ve seen in his award-winning features Darkest Hour, Atonement, Anna Karenina and more.

M. Son...

Alex Garland’s 2014 sci-fi thriller Ex Machina could almost have starred Jake Gyllenhaal. “It was never gonna work,” its producer has said.

Terrifyingly almost a decade old, writer-director Alex Garland’s Ex Machina might have starred Jake Gyllenhaal – mostly so it could secure international funding. This tidbit of film history was revealed at a post-screening Q&a at the Edinburgh Film Festival on the 18th August, with Garland joined by producer Andrew Macdonald for the occasion.

“The sales companies wanted us to cast Jake Gyllenhaal because he was bankable and they could sell foreign territories,” Macdonald said, as reported by Deadline. “That would have changed the whole film.”

Unfortunately, Macdonald didn’t elaborate on who exactly Gyllenhaal would have played in Garland’s claustrophobic piece about a sentient android, its billionaire inventor and a young computer nerd who winds up falling in love with it. Our money’s on the billionaire,...

Internationally celebrated Icelandic actors Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and Hera Hilmar are set to star in “Reykjavik Fusion,” an Iceland-set crime thriller series that is rapidly racking up pre-sales in multiple territories.

The series’ deals underscore an increasingly attractive financing model, at least for selectively produced foreign-language shows, based on tying down partners and pre-sales among local broadcasters in Europe rather than waiting for a U.S. deal with a streamer for the U.S.

“It’s a dynamic ecosystem in Europe right now, full of potential partners,” said Erik Barmack, whose Wild Sheep Content co-produces and handles the international distribution of “Reykjavik Fusion.”

A familiar hirsute face and huge body for international audiences, Ólafur Darri is known for “The Tourist,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “True Detective.” He has also played the lead in Icelandic export hits “Trapped” and “The Minister.”

Hilmar starred in Peter Jackson’s “Mortal Engines...

“All happy families are alike,” claims the immortal first sentence of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”; “each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And while jaded viewers may opine that all indie dramedies about dysfunctional families in the “Little Miss Sunshine” or “The Squid and the Whale” mold are alike, writer-director Haroula Rose’s “All Happy Families” suggests the genre has moved in a more grounded direction. Whether that’s ultimately a better direction remains to be seen.

The focal point of this particular family is Graham (Josh Radnor), an aspiring screenwriter/actor whose older brother Will (Rob Huebel) stars on a hugely popular (and seemingly terrible) TV series. As Will surprises Graham by flying from Los Angeles to Chicago for an unannounced visit to the childhood home they bought together, their mother Sue (Becky Ann Baker) is trying to figure out how to react to her former...

Not every person lives boldly enough to achieve their dreams. Those who do, wish their dreams were powerful enough to move the world. Alfred Molina was gifted with both — the opportunity to not only pursue what he loved but also immortalize his work in cinematic history. Unfortunately, even for a celebrated icon of his caliber, Molina still missed out on the third and most tragic wish of all — the chance to make his parents proud.

Harrison Ford and Alfred Molina in Raiders of the Lost Ark [Credit: Paramount Pictures]

The Spider-Man actor first gained notoriety for his work in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. Later, he slowly climbed the Hollywood ladder with roles in the 1990s and 2000s — the most prominent among them being Sam Raimi’s superhero feature: Spider-Man 2 in 2004. But all of his Hollywood accomplishments fell short in the face of 1 factor.

Alfred...

After first being noticed and appreciated in Bend It Like Beckham, Keira Knightley has cemented her place as one of the most talented and desirable stars in Hollywood. While the British beauty has done a wide range of films from romantic dramas to period films, her marquee role in the action-adventure series Pirates of the Caribbean established her as a commercial star.

Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice (image credit: Universal Pictures)

Being a pivotal part of a large-scale franchise, Knightley has had her share of memorable and harrowing experiences on set by the actor’s own admission. In the first film, the Atonement star got a bit too close to her character’s predicament in the film when she understood what it meant to be shipwrecked in reality.

Keira Knightley Had An Unforgettable Ordeal On The Sets Of Pirates Of The Caribbean

In 2003, British actor Keira Knightley landed a...

Director Yorgos Lanthimos is keenly interested in the systems that bind us. Most of his films are about how humans — we whimsical, self-serious egotists — require strictures and societal bindings to function, even if those bindings are absurd, harmful, or wholly invented by power-mad weirdos. The only thing that can free us from our self-imposed hairshirts, usually, is our sexual agency. That was certainly true of Lanthimos' 2023 Oscar darling "Poor Things," in which a woman with the brain of an infant grew into a self-actualized bisexual sex worker, once she was freed of the influence of boorish men who would seek to control her body.

Additionally, in the 2009 film "Dogtooth," Lanthimos told the story of three adult children being raised by a father who, for what can only be a sociological experiment, kept them imprisoned in their home, teaching them a surreal, alternate vocabulary. In "The Lobster," the rituals of love...

Alicia Vikander and Jude Law came out to Tribeca Festival on Tuesday night for the premiere of their upcoming film, Firebrand.

The new take on Henry VIII’s life and his six wives focuses on his final spouse, Katherine Parr, who is named regent while the king battles abroad. When he returns ill and paranoid, and his court works to turn him against Katherine, she finds herself fighting for her survival.

Law, who portrays the notorious king in Karim Aïnouz’s film, was particularly interested in looking at the “decaying, regretful disintegration of this once, once great man,” who went down a very dark path.

“Then also the very simple fact that [Aïnouz] shifted the focus onto Katherine,” the Oscar-nominated actor told The Hollywood Reporter. “So, Henry was a player in a story about a great woman. He’s dominated the narrative of these six women for 500 years, and it was...

Keira Knightley was critical about wearing corsets for her role in Pirates of the Caribbean, despite admitting that it was an easy way to slip into the character of a royal woman. She believed that women should have burned these dresses centuries ago. While the actress’s view about the constricting garment remained the same even after all these years, she has come to accept the vitality of the costume for the character.

Pirates of the Caribbean actress Keira Knightley was vocal about her hate for corsets

Knightley was just 18 when she was cast in the role of Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Apart from the challenging costumes, she also revealed that she was forced to do some stunts that she wasn’t trained for in the movie.

Keira Knightley Hated One Thing About Her Pirates Of The Caribbean Role

Keira Knightley...

While in the middle of filming his latest mystery film, Fountain of Youth, Guy Ritchie is revealing another film project, Wife and Dog. Ritchie’s 18th feature hails from Black Bear, who launches Wife and Dog at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival event. Plot details about Wife and Dog remain a mystery, though Variety hears Ritchie is returning to the shady world of British Aristocracy for this anticipated feature. Cameras roll for Wife and Dog in October, with top-tier Hollywood actors negotiating for starring roles.

Like many of Ritchie’s film projects, he’s writing the screenplay and producing alongside his production partner, Ivan Atkinson, and Black Bear’s John Friedberg. Teddy Schwarzman and Michael Heimler of Black Bear executive produce.

As Cannes revs up for another competitive year, Ritchie is rolling cameras for Fountain of Youth, a mystery written by James Vanderbilt, starring Eiza González, Natalie Portman, John Krasinski,...

The actor on catching the theatre bug playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret, being a football fan, and dealing with a fire that destroyed her home in LA

London-born Cara Delevingne, 31, began modelling in her teens and was twice model of the year at the British fashion awards. She started her acting career in Joe Wright’s 2012 film adaptation of Anna Karenina. Subsequent big screen roles include Paper Towns, Suicide Squad, Tulip Fever and London Fields. On TV, she has starred in Carnival Row, Only Murders in the Building and American Horror Story. She is now making her stage debut in the West End production of Cabaret.

We’re speaking the morning after you went to a Chelsea match. Are you a big fan?

I definitely was in childhood, so it was a treat to return. I grew up going to Stamford Bridge with my uncle. Gianfranco Zola was my favourite player.

Exclusive: ‘Peaky Blinders’ and ‘Gangs of London’ star Joe Cole and ‘True Spirit’ and ‘Titans’ actor Teagan Croft have both just wrapped contemporary neo-noir thriller Override, the fourth feature from directing duo Natasha Merkulova and Alexey Chupov. It marks the English-language debut for the Russian helmers, whose Captain Volkonogov Escaped played in Venice’s Competition strand in 2021.

Paris-based sales and production outfit Charades has boarded international sales for title, which was shot in L.A. in March, while AC Independent and WME Independent will co-represent North American rights for the film. The project will be launched to buyers in Cannes next month.

Override, which is currently in post-production, follows Ron Camp (Cole), a 31-year-old taxi driver in L.A. and Becca (Croft), his 16-year-old passenger, as they are plunged into a modern-day nightmare. Unaware of Ron’s identity as a spree killer, Becca becomes entangled in a series of terrifying events.

Danny Boyle's lo-fi 2002 zombie apocalypse film "28 Days Later" caused a stir in the horror community for its grainy digital photography (shot by Anthony Dod Mantle) and for its introduction of "fast zombies" into the pop vernacular. The zombies in "28 Days Later" were, unlike most movie zombies seen up to that point, fast-moving and vicious rather than mindless and shambling. It is credited for breathing new life into the zombie genre, followed as it was by other zombie hits like the "Dawn of the Dead" remake, George Romero's "Land of the Dead," and the hit 2010 series "The Walking Dead." "28 Days Later" also tapped into a lot of America's post-9/11 ennui, presenting hard-edged images of urban desolation. Everyone felt like the world had ended, and Boyle aesthetically agreed. 

"28 Days Later," penned by "Civil War" director Alex Garland, was followed by a sequel in 2007 called "28 Weeks Later,...

As far as investigators go, Jim Rockford (James Garner) is a bit of a departure from the mostly-polished (Columbo excepted) detectives of television's first decade. A slouchily dressed detective who lived in a trailer and served time in San Quentin, Rockford was cool — if not always collected. "The Rockford Files" ran for six seasons on NBC beginning in 1974 and was later resurrected for a series of '90s TV movies. In that time, audiences were introduced not only to Rockford, but to a cast of supporting characters including his truck driver dad Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.), LAPD pal Becker (Joe Santos), and the con artist Angel (Stuart Margolin).

Garner passed away in 2014, and only a few "Rockford Files" castmates are still with us today. Those who are still around include notable recurring guest stars like famously mustachioed "Blue Bloods" star Tom Selleck, Egot-winning multi-hyphenate Rita Moreno, and "Happy Gilmore" director...

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.

Apple TV+ has ordered a series adaptation of Mick Herron’s “Down Cemetery Road” with Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson attached to star, Variety has learned.

This is now the second adaptation of Herron’s books to get the series treatment at Apple, with the other being the popular spy series “Slow Horses” starring Gary Oldman. Morwenna Banks, who is a writer on “Slow Horses,” will serve as lead writer on “Down Cemetery Road.”

The official logline of the new series states, “When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a girl disappears in the aftermath, neighbor Sarah Tucker (Wilson) becomes obsessed with finding her and enlists the help of private investigator Zoë Boehm (Thompson). Zoë and Sarah suddenly find themselves in a complex conspiracy that reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.”

Banks and Thompson...

Batsheva Hay on outfitting Chloe Fineman for Maya Singer’s Unhinged: “I’m used to producing, making garments and putting on fashion shows. But an actual scripted piece - it was very interesting to me how much work went into it.” Photo: Anne Katrin Titze

In 2018/19 Batsheva Hay's clothes found their way onto Jacqueline Durran's costume design inspiration board for Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (for which Durran won her second Oscar after Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina starring Keira Knightley).

On the opening weekend of her newly launched shop Batsheva spoke with me about the clothes designed by Oscar-winner Holly Waddington for Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon (costumes by the multiple Oscar-nominated Jacqueline West), Maya Singer and Morgan Spector’s Mother!!, starring Rebecca Hall and the directors, featuring dresses by Batsheva and a dangerous sourdough (a highlight of the 20th...

Bollywood actress Sara Ali Khan, who is awaiting the release of her upcoming streaming movie ‘Ae Watan Mere Watan’, has shared that she loves Russian history of the 20th century and Russian literature.

The actress, who has been a student of history, recently spoke with Ians ahead of the release of her period film and shared that she finds it very interesting how landmark moments in Russia from the rise of Vladimir Lenin to the fall of the Soviet Union happened within a span of 100 years.

She told Ians: “I like 20th-century Russian history a lot. I think it’s very interesting how they went from Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Mikhail Gorbachev to the fall of the Soviet Union, ye sab 100 salon mein hua hai. It’s very interesting to observe it that way.”

In fact, Nikita Khrushchev was the one who denounced his predecessor Joseph Stalin...

Actor Daniel Craig’s iteration of the British spy James Bond was loved by fans all over the world. The franchise has been a fan-favorite for a long time now and Craig’s version of the character indeed maintained the bold spy persona that has been passed on over the years with different versions played by different actors.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Nocturnal Animals (2016)

With Craig’s journey wrapped up, fans have been eagerly waiting for the studios to announce the next actor who will play the iconic role. As per a popular media outlet, there is one actor who has almost signed to play the role: Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Speculation went viral on social media but there is still no official statement from the studios. The actor acknowledged the statements in a recent interview, explaining that he finds it “charming.”

Aaron Taylor-Johnson might play the next James Bond Aaron Taylor-Johnson as...

While Taylor-Johnson has not yet played James Bond, he is no stranger to action movies or spy thrillers.

Daniel Craig officially turned in his license to kill following 2021’s “No Time to Die,” and in the three years since, there has been a nearly insatiable stream of rumors about who would pick up the 007 mantle. On Tuesday, all of the speculation seems to have been ended as The Sun reports that British film star Aaron Taylor-Johnson has officially been offered the role, and that the official contract is set to be signed in the next week.

Word of Taylor-Johnson’s candidacy for the role has been well-known since 2022, but he was far from the only major name in the running. Henry Cavill, Idris Elba, Cillian Murphy, and James Norton were all rumored to be in consideration at one point, but it appears that Eon Productions has found its latest spy.

Actress and model Cara Delevingne faced a devastating tragedy when her home in LA was destroyed in a fire earlier today. The actress was in London at the time for a performance at the West End. It reportedly took 94 firefighters from the LA Fire Department to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to neighboring houses.

Delevingne was reportedly devastated by the tragedy as she took to Instagram to express her feelings during the tragedy. She was thankfully safe as she was in London for a play, but was concerned about her cats, which she revealed were safe and sound. However, her parents mentioned how she had built the home with love and had made it her own.

Cara Delevingne’s House Was Destroyed In A Fire Cara Delevingne in Anna Karenina

Model and actress Cara Delevigne’s LA home was ravaged in a fire recently. According to CBS News,...

A fire largely destroyed a two-story hillside mansion in Studio City owned by Suicide Squad actress and supermodel Cara Delevingne today, leaving a firefighter and an occupant of the home (not Delevingne) injured.

The fire was reported shortly before 4 a.m. in the 3200 block of North Oakdell Lane, east of Fryman Road, said Nicholas Prange of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

“Firefighters arrived to find a 6,650-square-foot two-story home built in 1971, with heavy fire in the rear, which consumed one room in the rear and developed into a deep-seated attic fire,” Prange said in a statement.

“Crews confirmed all occupants were out of the home, and then pulled back into defensive mode due to the long duration of heavy fire exposing the structural members,” Prange said.

“The house subsequently sustained a roof collapse, as firefighters continued to apply hose streams from the exterior,” Prange said. “Ultimately, it took 94 firefighters 2 hours and 16 minutes to access,...

Having trouble predicting what will win Best Costume Design at the 2024 Academy Awards? Let’s consult Gold Derby’s Oscar Experts! These savvy prognosticators from major media outlets have chimed in with their predictions, and they say the trophy will go to Jacqueline Durran (“Barbie”). The other four Academy Award nominees are Holly Waddington (“Poor Things”), Jacqueline West (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Ellen Mirojnick (“Oppenheimer”), and Janty Yates & Dave Crossman (“Napoleon”).

As of this writing, a leading 16 out of our 27 Oscar Experts predict a victory for “Barbie”: Andrea Mandell (People Magazine), Brian Truitt (USA Today), Claudia Puig (Kpcc), Clayton Davis (Variety), Eric Deggans (NPR), Erik Davis (Fandango), Keith Simanton (IMDb), Kevin Polowy (Cbr), Michael Musto (Queerty), Peter Travers (ABC), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily), Scott Mantz (Ktla-tv), Susan Wloszczyna (Gold Derby), Thelma Adams (Gold Derby), Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby) and Wilson Morales (BlackFilmandTV).

Durran is a two-time Oscar winner...

The films competing for the 2024 Best Production Design Oscar are “Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Napoleon,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Poor Things.” Our odds currently indicate that “Barbie” (17/5) will be the winner, followed in order of likelihood by “Poor Things” (7/2), “Oppenheimer” (4/1), “Killers of the Flower Moon” (9/2), and “Napoleon” (9/2).

After 1970 and 2004, this is only the third year in Oscars history that the same five movies are nominated for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. The two present lineups differ, however, in that none of the former’s individual contenders are past winners, constituting the first such instance in the category since 2009. In that case, the only returning nominees were art director Nathan Crowley (“The Dark Knight”) and set decorator Gary Fettis (“Changeling”).

Leading this year’s production design hopefuls in terms of total career nominations are “Barbie” duo Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, who earned joint recognition for half a dozen earlier films.

The films in contention for the 2024 Best Costume Design Oscar are “Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Napoleon,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Poor Things.” Our current odds posit “Barbie” (10/3) as the frontrunner, followed in order by “Poor Things” (7/2), “Killers of the Flower Moon” (9/2), “Oppenheimer” (9/2), and “Napoleon” (9/2).

Since she was previously feted for “Anna Karenina” (2013) and “Little Women” (2020), Jacqueline Durran’s ninth career nomination for “Barbie” could make her the dozenth costumer with three or more wins. As is the case this time, her 2020 bid resulted from a collaboration with director Greta Gerwig, while her 2013 one was her third of five for a Joe Wright film, after “Pride & Prejudice” (2006) and “Atonement” (2008) and before “Darkest Hour” (2018) and “Cyrano” (2022). Her remaining two bids came for “Mr. Turner” (2015) and “Beauty and the Beast” (2018).

Durran is now involved in a rematch with Jacqueline West (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), who, as a nominee for “Dune,” lost...

Actor Bill Skarsgård is known for his roles in blockbuster films such as the It franchise and was recently seen in last year’s John Wick: Chapter 4. The Swedish actor is part of the Skarsgård family, with his father Stellan Skarsgård, and brothers Alexander, Gustaf, and Valter Skarsgård also being actors.

In October 2023, Bill Skarsgård was reportedly arrested in Sweden after he was found possessing marijuana. The Castle Rock star was reportedly caught at Stockholm’s international airport and arrested. The actor was reportedly sentenced to a fine earlier this week, with no arrest or probation.

Bill Skarsgård Was Arrested For Marijuana Possession In Sweden Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise in the It franchise

Bill Skarsgård is known for playing the role of Pennywise, the clown and main antagonist of the It franchise. The actor was known for his creepy performance and earned universal acclaim for the role. He began...

The 10th annual Variety Artisans Awards at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival hosted its biggest crowd to date at this year’s event, with 2,000 attendees packing the Arlington Theater to hear artisans behind Oscar-nominated films discuss their projects.

After one-on-one conversations, honorees Stephane Ceretti, visual effects supervisor on “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” Billie Eilish and Finneas, songwriters on “Barbie’s” “What Was I Made For,” Ludwig Göransson, composer on “Oppenheimer,” Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, production designers on “Barbie,” Kazu Hiro, makeup artist on “Maestro,” Jennifer Lame, editor on “Oppenheimer,” Rodrigo Prieto, cinematographer on “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Michael Semanick, re-recording mixer on “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and Holly Waddington, costume designer on “Poor Things,” gathered for a panel discussion.

Senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay challenged the honorees to name their favorite rainy day movies.

“Amadeus,” came up a few times. Goransson mentioned he had two...

Best Costume Design is always a popular category at the Oscars since, unlike some other below-the-line categories, it’s more apparent to moviegoers at large which costumes are worthy of note and thus worthy of winning. This year’s category includes three previous Oscar winners and three first-time nominees, and though period pieces tend to do very well in this category, it’s two of the more unique films that mix contemporary, period and genre elements likely to get the most attention.

It might not be a coincidence that all five of this year’s nominations line-up with this year’s Best Production Design nominees. The two categories go hand-in-hand when it comes to crafting glorious-looking films.

“Barbie”

Jacqueline Durran

Very much the grande dame of costume design, Jacqueline Durran has received nine Oscar nominations with two wins, most recently for Greta Gerwig‘s “Little Women” (2019). She has mostly worked...

“You have the courage to take risks with each other,” explains set decorator Katie Spencer of the benefits of her working history with production designer Sarah Greenwood, “there’s a trust that comes with a good collaboration.” Greenwood adds that “two heads and two pairs of eyes is better than one…also we are very good friends. And what better way to spend your time?” The pair have earned the seventh shared Oscar nomination of their career for their production design on “Barbie.” Though their pink plastic creation is based on toys, it turns out that having fun can be hard work. Watch the exclusive video interview above.

The pair are responsible for bringing Barbieland to life in the Warner Bros film. From the title character’s classic dreamhouse to beaches made of plastic waves, the entire world is a colorful artifice. The pair entered discussions with writer/director Greta Gerwig...

Matthew Macfadyen and Michael Shannon star in ‘Death by Lightning’

Two-time Emmy Award winner Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) and two-time Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) have committed to star in Netflix’s Death by Lightning, a political drama based on Candice Millard’s Destiny Of The Republic. Matthew Macfadyen will star as Charles Guiteau and Michael Shannon will play James Garfield.

“Death by Lightning is a drama series that brings to life the epic and stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield, reluctant 20th president of the United States, and his greatest admirer Charles Guiteau — the man who would come to kill him,” reads Netflix’s synopsis.

The series was created by Mike Makowsky (Bad Education) who’ll serve as writer and executive producer. Game of Thrones and 3 Body Problem‘s David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Bernie Caulfield also executive produce along with director Matt Ross. (Ross will direct all episodes.

Barbie’s production designer and set decorator, Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, will receive an honorary fellowship from the UK’s National Film and Television School (Nfts).

The pair will receive the fellowship at the school’s graduation ceremony on February 23. The award recognises an individual’s outstanding contribution to the industry.

Both Greenwood and Spencer are Bafta- and Oscar-nominated for their production design on Barbie, marking their seventh nomination as collaborators. Their other credits include Sherlock Holmes, Atonement, Darkest Hour, Anna Karenina, Pride & Prejudice and the upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black.

The Nfts board of governors...

Mexico City-based Endemol Shine Boomdog has seized the adaptation rights to “La Reina del Sur” author Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novel, “Revolution” (“Revolución”) with Kate del Castillo’s Cholawood on board as executive producers.

Del Castillo, who plays the titular role in the hit Spanish-language adaptation of “La Reina del Sur” will also star in the upcoming series based on the Mexican revolution.

“I am extremely excited to join forces once again with Arturo Pérez-Reverte, especially in a story set in my country. Arturo is undoubtedly a great lover of Mexico’s history… a history that I learned and love thanks to my father and my roots. Arturo and I share a successful professional partnership, and I am confident that ‘Revolución’ will strengthen that success,” she said.

Published in October 2022, “Revolución” delves into the essence of human nature in an adventure that unfolds against the dramatic canvas of the Mexican Revolution...

Nonfiction filmmaking duo Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui turned heads with their dazzling 2018 fashion doc McQueen, which gracefully walked the line between celebration and sorrow, between the public highs of a brilliant creator of wearable art and the private lows of a man plagued by insurmountable demons. They achieve a comparable balance in their moving new film, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, between the iconic movie star and the man whose life was stalled by a tragic accident. The big difference is that unlike Alexander McQueen, Reeve did manage to overcome long days of darkness and despair, living a productive life for his remaining years.

Late in the film, footage shows President Barack Obama in 2009 signing the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, the bipartisan-supported first legislation specific to the millions of under-represented Americans living with spinal cord injuries and paralysis, named for the actor and his fellow activist wife.

A lot has been written this year about the juggernaut double feature that is “Barbenheimer.” That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be about “Barbie” vs. “Oppenheimer” when it comes to some of the below-the-line crafts races at the Oscars.

Although Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” certainly will do well in the below-the-line categories, as will Martin Scorsese‘s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” there are two crafts categories that will more likely come down to “Barbie” and another movie, Yorgos Lanthimos‘s “Poor Things.” Those categories are Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.

Both movies have blown away audiences since their releases. As you probably already know, Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie,” starring Margot Robbie as the title character and Ryan Gosling as her somewhat clueless paramour Ken, was one of the biggest blockbusters of 2023, having made $1.4 billion worldwide after an astounding $162 million domestic opening back in July.

Cara Delevingne Turns Heads In Her Stunning Black Gown(Photo Credit –Instagram)

Cara Delevingne is an eminent personality in the fashion world who has also made her way to Hollywood. The actress’s striking blue eye color increases her beauty tenfold. Cara again captivated us with her look at the 3rd Annual Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles. The Suicide Squad actress graced the event in a beautiful black number. Keep scrolling to get the deets.

The thirty-one-year-old Model left school in 2009 and signed a contract with Storm Management. She won the Model of the Year honor at the British Fashion Awards in 2012 and 2014. Delevingne started her acting career with the film adaptation of Anna Karenina by Joe Wright. She teases her fans with her amazing pictures on her Instagram handle and enjoys a massive 42.4 million followers.

Cara Delevingne attended the 3rd Annual Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles in...

Mark Shelmerdine, the BAFTA L.A. co-founder and producer who is credited with reviving Alexander Korda’s London Films, died Oct. 26 in Santa Barbara after a long illness. He was 78.

Shelmerdine was diagnosed with a rare form of bile duct cancer in 2016. After being treated in a trial program between Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center and Houston Methodist Hospital, he received a liver transplant in 2018 and became the longest living survivor among those in the program. Friend and fellow producer Brian Eastman confirmed the news of Sherlmerdine’s death to Variety.

Shelmerdine got his start in the entertainment industry after joining the Taylor Clark group, led by the Scottish businessman Robert Clark. As the group’s company secretary and finance director, Shelmerdine was placed in charge of preparing weekly reports and analyses on the box office returns of the Caledonian Associated Cinema and ABC Cinema chains, which Clark owned.

“When I first heard about the project, I was very intrigued about it because I didn’t know anything about this historical figure,” shares Oliver Garcia about Joseph Bologne, the Black eighteenth-century composer at the center of the film “Chevalier.” Once the costume designer learned about Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, played by Kelvin Harrison Jr., he felt even more “excitement” about the film because it was “going to become the first time this incredibly inspiring character was going to be on a film.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

Garcia has worked on period films as an assistant costume designer on “Anna Karenina,” “The Favourite,” and others. Unlike some of those films that center on either fictional characters or are only loosely based on historical figures, the aim of “Chevalier” was to “do a proper biopic” and “pay homage to the character and to the period that he lived in.

Having won an Oscar for her gritty first film about a revenge murder, Emerald Fennell’s second movie, out this week, reminds us that she doesn’t believe in happy endings. Saltburn is about a vengeful college student who aspires to an even wider death toll.

Why would this charismatic young British actress want to become cinema’s doyenne of dark?

It’s not that she’s adrift in indie obscurity. Saltburn is funded by Amazon MGM Studios with Warner Bros International distributing overseas. And her co-producer is Margot Robbie, the effervescent Barbie who made the world blink pink.

Fennell, like Greta Gerwig, who directed Barbie, is a mega talented actress who also managed to hit the mark as a filmmaker. Before Barbie, Gerwig created a touching mother-daughter drama Lady Bird and then adapted and directed Little Women which scored six Oscar nominations including for Best Picture.

By contrast, Fennell’s debut film,...

Mark Shelmerdine, the Emmy-nominated producer who remade Alexander Korda’s dormant London Films label into an independent production powerhouse behind projects including I, Claudius, has died. He was 78.

Shelmerdine died Oct. 26 in Santa Barbara after a long illness, friend and fellow producer Brian Eastman told The Hollywood Reporter. After being diagnosed with a rare form of bile duct cancer in 2016, he had a life-saving liver transplant in 2018.

In the 1980s, Shelmerdine co-founded the Los Angeles branch of BAFTA and the Association of Independent Television Producers, which helped shape the sector that now dominates British TV production. He also published self-help books written by his late wife, Susan Jeffers.

The first of three children, Shelmerdine was born on March 27, 1945, in Buckinghamshire, England. His father, Dick, worked as a police office in Singapore and the Bahamas and as a postmaster in Gloucestershire, England.

Shelmerdine started out as an accountant at Coopers & Lybrand and Taylor Clark Ltd.

Chicago – Writer, Director and Actor Emerald Fennell is leading a new revolution of commentary in her feature films. She began with “Promising Young Woman” in 2020 – for which she won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay – and her follow-up is “Saltburn,” which opened wide last week on November 22nd.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Scholarship student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) struggles to find his place as a new student at Oxford. On a chance meeting, he befriends Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), the most popular, charming, and handsome student in school. When Oliver tells Felix that he has no home to return to for the summer, Felix invites him to his aristocratic family’s country estate, Saltburn. As an outsider drawn into the shimmering world of the eccentric Cattons and their life of excess, Oliver begins to feel at home in this lifestyle, drawing closer to each member of the family. But when his fascination starts to verge on obsession,...

Take a look at "Tomb Raider" actress Alicia Vikander, photographed by Jan Welters, wearing "Louis Vuitton" for the November 2023 issue of "Madame Figaro" magazine:

Vikander trained as a dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm and the School of American Ballet in New York. She began her professional acting career appearing in Swedish television series, gaining recognition for her role as 'Josefin Björn-Tegebrandt' in the TV drama "Andra Avenyn" (2008–10).

Vikander made her feature film debut in "Pure" (2010), winning the 'Guldbagge Award' for 'Best Actress'. In 2012 she portrayed 'Princess Ekaterina "Kitty" Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya' in director Joe Wright's film adaptation of "Anna Karenina"... ...followed by the role of 'Queen Caroline Mathilde' in the Danish film "A Royal Affair", receiving a 'BAFTA Rising Star Award' nomination.

She then starred in the 2013 Swedish drama "Hotell" and the biopic "The Fifth Estate".

In 2014 and 2015, Vikander achieved global recognition and acclaim for her...

Chicago – Writer, Director and Actor Emerald Fennell is leading a new revolution of commentary in her feature films. She began with “Promising Young Woman” in 2020 – for which she won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay – and her follow-up is “Saltburn,” which screened at the 59th Chicago International Film Festival on October 19th.

Emerald Fennell for ‘Saltburn’ at the 59th Ciff

Photo credit: Joe Arce for HollywoodChicago.com

Scholarship student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) struggles to find his place as a new student at Oxford. On a chance meeting, he befriends Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), the most popular, charming, and handsome student in school. When Oliver tells Felix that he has no home to return to for the summer, Felix invites him to his aristocratic family’s country estate, Saltburn. As an outsider drawn into the shimmering world of the eccentric Cattons and their life of excess, Oliver begins to feel at home in this lifestyle,...

In 2014 and 2015, Vertigo published Si Spencer’s eight-issue graphic novel Bodies, a mind-bending mystery about four police officers from different historical eras who discover the same corpse in the same London location, decades apart. Featuring detectives from the present day, the 1940s, the 1890s and 2053, it’s a complex conspiracy thriller about a very dark future. Originally illustrated by four artists – Dean Ormston, Phil Winslade, Meghan Hetrick and Tula Lotay – each era had its own distinct feel and look.

Spencer, who had also written on other Vertigo titles including Judge Dredd and Books of Magick: Life During Wartime, sadly passed away in February 2021, meaning he wasn’t able to see Paul Tomalin’s eight-part Netflix series adapted from his work. It’s out now, with a sprawling cast of characters including Boiling Point and This Is England’s Stephen Graham, several established actors and a handful of newcomers. Here’s more about them.