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Chinese painter and filmmaker Qiu Jiongjiong began shaping his new film during the pandemic. With the world suddenly forced to pause, he tells Variety, people felt an urgent desire to return to everyday life and to gather around a table. That idea became the starting point for “Fuxi: Four Tales of Feasting,” which is competing […]
Milcho Manchevski, the North Macedonian director whose 1994 debut “Before the Rain” won Venice’s Golden Lion and earned an Oscar nomination, is back in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival with “Sister Brother Manhole Cover,” a project stalled for years after he accused his country’s film agency of corruption. The dark comedy centers on […]
Comic book writer and screenwriter Frank Miller – whose work includes “300,” “Sin City” and “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” – returned this week to Lucca Comics and Games, an event that spans the gamut of geek culture and pop entertainment. As well as speaking at the event, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of […]
“Green Room” writer and director Jeremy Saulnier paid tribute to late actor Patrick Stewart, who starred in the film and whom he credits with saving the day when they were “close to shutting down,” during a 10th-anniversary screening of the 2015 film in Los Angeles on Friday. Stewart died one day earlier, on Thursday, at […]
Indonesian filmmaker Ariani Darmawan stepped away from directing for years to raise a family. Her first feature, “Jani Be Good,” which is playing in the Tokyo International Film Festival’s Asian Future competition, turns that experience into a portrait of four women across three generations. “I stopped making films for over 10 years because I was […]
A federal judge has once again dismissed President Donald Trump’s defamation claims against the Wall Street Journal over a 2025 report by the paper that a 2003 birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was purportedly written by Trump. Trump’s lawsuit “falls short of pleading actual malice,” wrote U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles […]
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the finale of “Celebrity Traitors” Season 2, now streaming on BBC iPlayer. There’s no question Maya Jama carried this season of “The Celebrity Traitors.” As the only original Traitor to make it to the final episode, the “Love Island” host successfully went undetected for five weeks and recruited […]
Director Peter Berg faced numerous challenges shooting his latest film, “The Mosquito Bowl.” Based on Buzz Bissinger’s book, the film tells the true story of four college football stars — Tom Francis as David Schreiner, Nicholas Galitzine as John McLaughry, Ray Nicholson as Tony Butkovich and Bill Skarsgård as Bob Baumann — who are called […]
James Longley’s “Mohabat” won the Opus Bonum section at Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival on Saturday. Produced by Mohammad Sharif Hotak, Longley and Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, it follows a 12-year-old boy Mohabat, whose father dies in a drone strike. Left without parental care, he’s taken to a city orphanage. “By patiently observing the boy’s interactions […]
Amy Poehler got earnest about her love for comedy while accepting an honor at the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards. “There’s no greater joy for me than laughing at people who I love — laughing with them and at them, both! And them laughing with me,” Poehler said on stage at the ceremony, which took place […]
Paul Bettany might play Marvel superhero Vision, but an on-screen acting choice while filming “VisionQuest” nearly cost him that very sense when the “Iron Man” actor accidentally popped 10 blood vessels in his eyes. “I was pretending to have a device on my head that is doing something to my brain, and I was just […]
Taika Waititi has taken to social media to defend “Klara and the Sun,” his latest directorial effort, amid poor reviews and bleak box office numbers, sharing an Instagram post featuring the film’s poster and its Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 78%. (In contrast, the critic score is 28% — the “Jojo Rabbit” director’s lowest yet). […]
Michael Douglas is giving fans an update on Jack Nicholson. While promoting his new memoir, “One Helluva Ride,” at a recent event, Douglas was asked about Nicholson and his relationship with the “Something’s Gotta Give” actor. “I would have liked to have acted with Jack,” Douglas said. “He’s not working anymore. He’s well. He has […]
Joshua Jackson is teasing his new HBO Max series, “How to Survive Without Me.” Co-created by husbands Greg Berlanti and Robbie Rogers along with Bash Doran, the series follows a family after the death of matriarch Beverly. “The show starts six months after the matriarch of this large family has passed away, and because she […]
Being a teenager is hard enough but when you’re a demigod, things get genuinely complicated. These complications along with titanic battles are at the heart of Season 3 of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” due to drop on Disney+ in November. The cast and showrunners spoke to Variety at Lucca Comics. Walker Scobell, who plays […]
The Austin Film Festival has announced the winners of its script and film competition. The 33rd annual event received more than 12,500 submissions, with 78 scripts advancing to the finalist round before the festival selected 21 writers and writing teams as winners. Those honored received their awards during the Awards Luncheon on Saturday in Austin, […]
The second series of the hit show reached its finale on Friday, attracting a whopping 11.2 million live viewers.
A24’s “You Can See Everything” narrowly beat Warner Bros. and DC’s “Clayface” at the Friday box office, cementing its status as the must-watch documentary — or film, for that matter — of the moment. The buzzy Elizabeth Holmes doc generated $3.56 million on its third Friday from an expanded 3,243 North American theaters and should […]
Happy Halloween, indeed! Just in time for the spooky holiday, HBO has released a surprise episode of “It: Welcome to Derry” on the streaming platform. Titled “A Story of Derry,” the special comes in at 30 minutes and is set hundreds of years before the show’s events and the introduction of Pennywise. The timing is […]
Producer Will Packer has never been shy about sharing his opinion, even as he’s become a public figure. In a season when so many of Hollywood’s boldface names have kept a low profile when it comes to politics, Packer has taken to stages in recent weeks to advocate for causes and candidates that he believes […]
![Maya Jama on That Shocking ‘Celebrity Traitors’ Finale, [SPOILER]’s Betrayal and ‘Heated’ Last Roundtable: ‘My Heart Was Jumping Out of My Chest’](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/TITLEThe-Celebrity-Traitors-S2EP-NUMBERGeneric-1000.jpg)
