Innholdsfortegnelse for 9/29/2021 i Variety

I had the pleasure of recently interviewing one of the most dynamic figures of our time, Amanda Gorman, who is one of our five Power of Women honorees this year. I had two sit-downs with the 23-year-old poet-activist, and so much wound up on the cutting room floor that I felt was worth sharing. First, some fun facts: Will she be the first woman president of the United States? “I hope not!” Is she developing any non-poetry projects? “I’ve been working on a few novels. I love thinking about things for the screen.” Songs on her playlist: Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls),” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “My Shot” and Kendrick Lamar and Sza’s “All the Stars.” A favorite TV show of all time: “The Munsters.” Who would she like to play her…

After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, Shannen Doherty meticulously documented every step of her treatment on Instagram, from shaving her head to the horrors of chemo — and eventually her remission in April 2017. The actor, best known for “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Heathers” and “Charmed,” would post multiple times each week, also peppering her feed with her workouts, dinners with friends and family and — one of Doherty’s passions — images of dogs in urgent need of adoption. “At that time, I think I needed it,” she says now about chronicling her treatment. And having been a fixture in the tabloids for decades, Doherty wanted to be in control of the narrative: “I wanted to own my life. It’s my life!” The social engagement carried her through, especially…

AWARDS CIRCUIT The early days of awards season bring buzz and promise, but they also mean it’s time for studios to develop strategy and brainstorm opportunities to strike. With the Toronto International Film Festival handing out its prestigious People’s Choice prize to Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast,” the Focus Features drama has the authority to declare itself the best picture front-runner for this awards season — but holding on to the throne won’t be easy. Speaking of thrones, Joel Coen’s adaptation of “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” his first solo directorial helm without his brother Ethan in years, played like gangbusters at the Sept. 24 opening night of the New York Film Festival. Taking on William Shakespeare is always a daunting task, with some films finding success (such as Branagh’s 1996 “Hamlet” or…

Have wedding, baby or pet news to share? Email us at announcements@variety.com. WHERE I’M EATING Jessica Chastain Actor, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” Planta Queen 15 W. 27th St., New York “I get the Torched and Pressed. It’s a truffle avocado sushi roll. And the broccoli is insane. It’s deep-fried, and it has this amazing spicy sauce on it.”…

Sept. 23 Yes 20th Anniversary Celebration The Maybourne, Beverly Hills The evening, which honored Bob Iger and Willow Bay, raised more than $5 million for Yes, Eric Eisner’s scholarship organization that supports disadvantaged youth from grade school through entry into the workforce. “It really is wonderful to come together and to be able to focus on something positive and celebrate an organization that has had such a meaningful and lasting impact on people’s lives,” Iger said. Event co-chair David Geffen made a surprise donation. “I just have to say: I’m not hands-on. I don’t do shit. I just give Eric money,” he said. “And I am genuinely so moved by these young people that I’m going to give you another million dollars.” Co-chair Mellody Hobson said Geffen’s generosity inspired her…

When Amanda Gorman was 5 years old, she would pull her mom out of bed in the early morning hours to get her a pen and paper so she could write. “She actually had to pay me a quarter for every day that I stayed in bed rather than wake her up so she could actually get eight hours of sleep,” recalls Gorman, now 23. “And then I could write later.” It was Gorman’s mother, a sixth-grade English teacher, who told her young daughter that her voice was her superpower. “Can you imagine that as a girl with a speech impediment how that felt like an oxymoron? And as I’ve grown up I understand that, as always, my mother was 100% right. My superpower is my voice.” When Gorman was…

A decade ago, the ABC drama series “Scandal” was headed for cancellation after it struggled through a little-watched seven-episode first season. Dungey, then head of drama programming for ABC Entertainment, had already fought for executive producer Shonda Rhimes to cast a Black actor in the lead. In the spring of 2012, Dungey made an impassioned case for renewal to a roomful of Disney top brass, including then-CEO Bob Iger and then-Disney/ABC TV Group chief Anne Sweeney. “I went into that room and said, ‘As a Black woman, I am speaking out in favor of this show, written and created by a Black woman and starring a Black woman. It deserves a second season,” Dungey recalls. “Scandal” went on to run six more years as a buzzy hit that made Kerry…

The impact of job losses from COVID hit women and women of color in the entertainment business especially hard — a fact that Women in Film’s Hire Her Back program addresses. “Given our mission, we thought that we needed to shine a light on that and start talking about it in a meaningful way,” says WIF executive director Kirsten Schaffer, who along with board president Amy Baer conceived and launched the Hire Her Back initiative in June 2020. They wanted to build “a campaign around the disproportionate number of women who lose their jobs first and get rehired last, and making sure that we were creating a resource that women in the entertainment industries could tap into to help them bridge some gaps financially.” They also partnered with New York…

With classic films looming large and the culture always shifting, crafting a modern holiday movie can be tricky. To keep the category fresh, says veteran producer, director and actor Melissa Joan Hart, stories should be told from new and unlikely perspectives. Lifetime seems to agree; it’s loaded its Yuletide slate with projects promising new angles and settings. Hart stars in Lifetime’s “Mistletoe in Montana” (1) as a cowgirl who falls for a widowed father. “It’s a little bit of scenery that people really haven’t seen in these Christmas movies, with the dude ranch and the horses,” Hart says. “We tried to make it as authentic cowboy as we could.” Another unexpected holiday film setting can be found in “Holiday in Santa Fe” (2), which stars Mario Lopez as an heir…

At Lifetime, a woman’s place is in the executive suite. Women handle the top jobs, collaborating, multitasking and doing the work necessary behind the scenes to ensure that other women are hired, supported and heard. Every key department is headed by a woman, from scripted and unscripted content and acquisitions to publicity and marketing. Among the team leading the charge at Lifetime are Amy Winter, executive VP and head of programming; Tanya Lopez, executive VP, scripted content; Brie Miranda Bryant, senior VP, unscripted development and programming; Kannie Yu LaPack, senior VP, publicity, public affairs and social media; Katie Buchanan, senior VP, scheduling strategy; Valerie Albanese, senior VP, brand creative; Annahita Palar, VP, acquisitions and co-productions; Jara Radom, VP, consumer marketing and media; and Kristen Leonard, VP, programming and market research.…

Queen of Country Reba McEntire and Duke of Hazzard John Schneider star as a bickering divorced duo who were a once-famous showbiz couple. It’s up to their event-planner daughter to reunite these two royal pains in time to perform a holiday concert for the troops. But not without a little more conflict than a typical Christmas story. “They just do not care for each other,” says Hart. The picture was shot in Nashville, Tenn., where both Hart and McEntire live. Hart says she appreciates that Lifetime encourages filmmakers to shoot in authentic locations. Musically, the movie mixes old and new ballads, including an original song written by McEntire. For her costumes, McEntire says she “raided the closet,” borrowing extravagant outfits she’s worn on stage and at award shows. As for…

David Kosse, vice president of international film at Netflix, got something of a raw deal. The London-based executive joined the streaming giant in March 2019, after a three-year stint as president of STX’s global operation, and set out to build the service’s international film offerings in Europe, Middle East and Africa “from ground zero.” But just as he was assembling his first slate — an extensive optioning and greenlighting process that invariably takes about a year — the pandemic hit. “All these movies that went into production during the pandemic are now getting launched in the late-stage pandemic,” says Kosse in an exclusive interview with Variety. “That’s where we are.” Italy’s zany true story-inspired comedic movie “Rose Island” had an early rollout in December 2020, and the French film “Oxygen,”…

With Daniel Craig’s (1) reign as James Bond coming to an end with the 25th 007 movie, “No Time to Die,” this may be the perfect moment to give the franchise an overhaul. Perhaps the next Bond could be female, Black or queer? “If they want to continue with this character and the franchise, I think you can explode it and do anything,” Ben Whishaw (2), who plays Q for the fifth time in the latest installment, tells me on this week’s episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “I don’t know what that should be, but it seems to me like it should be something quite radical, something really different. It’s got to change; it’s got to keep changing. We’re in different times now.” He knows that won’t be…

It is with great joy that twice a year Variety celebrates extraordinary women in pop culture who devote time and energy to charitable causes that are personally meaningful to them. Last year, due to the onset of the pandemic, we pivoted from our traditional in-person Power of Women event in New York to a virtual television special produced by our longtime business partner Lifetime. For our upcoming Los Angeles celebration, though we are still navigating around the delta variant, we have found a safe way to host our Power of Women ceremony on Sept. 30 as an in-person outdoor event at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. We have put strict COVID protocols in place to ensure everyone’s safety. At our dinner under the stars,…

In the Katy Perry canon, which, over 13 years, goes 34 singles deep — nine of them No. 1s — the theme of empowerment dates back to her earliest hit, 2008’s “I Kissed a Girl,” where she proclaims unapologetically that she “liked it.” Her most inspiring song? “It’s a combination of ‘Roar’ and ‘Firework,’” Perry muses. “Neither will ever be left off the set. It’s going to start with one and end with the other.” Indeed, anyone looking to tap into such senses as pride and belonging, confidence and determination, celebration and love, would be immediately satiated at a Perry concert, or her upcoming Las Vegas residency, scheduled to open Dec. 29 at Resorts World. But the 36-year-old global name is equally determined to impact locally, even one-on-one. It’s among…

On the second Monday of September, just one week ahead of her one-year anniversary as president of Condé Nast Entertainment, Agnes Chu attended her first Met Gala. She walked the red carpet outside New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Inside, she sat at a table opposite Elon Musk, where she took in a tribute to Broadway and Justin Bieber’s “jaw-dropping” live performance. She also had a bit of a “geeky girl” reaction when meeting “Game of Thrones” stars Kit Harington and Rose Leslie. But beyond the glitz and glamour of celebrity run-ins, Chu’s first Met Gala held larger significance. The function doubled as a litmus test for the new global content strategy of Condé Nast Entertainment, the multimedia arm of the storied magazine company — which counts Vogue, Vanity…

While last summer’s racial reckoning and the #MeToo movement forced many in the entertainment business to take diversity and inclusiveness seriously — or at least a lot more seriously — Multitude Films founder and president Jess Devaney was already dug in. She bowed the LGBTQled shingle in 2016 with a focus on giving underrespresented voices a storytelling platform. With such films as “Pray Away,” which deals with the trauma of gay conversion therapy, Multitude works with like-minded producers, such as Chicken & Egg, Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum. The shingle also helps implement social-justice campaigns on certain projects. “Most recently with ‘Pray Away,’ we really want to release the film commercially. So getting to work with Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy and Netflix was a dream,” Devaney says. “And the…

After a stressful day spent buried in emails and tackling tasks, audiences crave stories that unravel the tension of a heavy day. Lifetime’s ready to feed that appetite by expanding unscripted programming, especially the escapist kind. “People come to Lifetime when they’re sick of their day and they just want to sit down and watch some good stories with a glass of wine,” says Amy Winter, Lifetime’s executive VP and head of programming. “Across all of Lifetime, we are building programming to entertain those people looking to escape and unwind.” Winter is excited for audiences to indulge in emotional journeys with purposeful shows that continue to put women at the forefront, including “My Killer Body With K. Michelle.” In this new series, the 39-year-old singer will dive into her near-death…

In executive years, Karen Gray is a newbie. The former attorney joined A+E as executive VP of human resources in summer 2019. Coming to A+E, which includes Lifetime, meant bringing not only her legal chops but her analytical and people skills. Those skills include everything from data analysis to offering support to network rising stars, such as two Black women podcasters. “They just called and said, ‘Let’s chat,’ so having a job where you can just sit for a while and chat with talented people is really exciting,” Gray says. Gray is aware of just how important diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is to Lifetime — and to herself, having lived in neighborhoods, attended schools and worked at jobs where she was one of the few Black people. Those experiences,…

Growing up in the South, listening to gospel music and attending church, Danielle Brooks saw a lot of herself in Mahalia Jackson. “I think as Black women — plus-sized, dark-skinned Black women — I don’t think we always get our moment in the sun,” says the actor, who had longed for years to help bring the late gospel legend and civil rights activist’s story to the screen. Upon its debut airing earlier this year, “Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia,” starring Brooks in the title role, joined a long line of Lifetime biopics championing real stories of real women — stories other networks often shy away from. “What they don’t realize,” notes Tanya Lopez, the network’s executive VP of scripted content, “is that women from 90 million households [subscribed to Lifetime] are…

For a brief stretch in the late 1960s, when the sounds of Detroit and Memphis were defining modern R&B, Chicago re-established its bona fides as a revitalized home to modern soul music. While Jerry Butler and the Impressions with Curtis Mayfield were the heads of the class, Brunswick was the local label delivering a string of hits from a roster that included Jackie Wilson, Barbara Acklin, Young-Holt Unlimited, and this month’s Hollywood Walk of Fame honorees, the Chi-Lites. Led by lead singer-songwriter Eugene Record, the group delivered two of the label’s biggest hits, “Have You Seen Her” and “Oh Girl” in 1971 and 1972, respectively, as well as 25 more Top 40 R&B hits. One sign of the timelessness of their recordings — the melody and hook of their “Are…

“A star is something magical, a dream…” That’s Alejandro Sanz — Spain’s most decorated singer-composer, with 22 Latin Grammys and four Grammy Awards to his name — rhapsodizing about his Oct. 1 ceremony for the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “I feel like children who dream of becoming astronauts and wish to see stars up close, to touch them. I’ve been pinching myself; I am going to have a Hollywood Walk of Fame star. I am going to touch it, see it, feel it, but above all, share it. It is real; more than an award, it is a thank you.” Since 1991’s “Viviendo Deprisa” and its blend of infectious up-tempo pop and satiny ballads — with inflections of the flamenco crucial to his familial roots — Sanz…

When director Cherien Dabis was prepping to helm the silent seventh episode of Hulu comedy “Only Murders in the Building,” actor James Caverly, who is deaf, steered her toward the 2007 documentary “Through Deaf Eyes” as research. In it, there is a clip that offers an example of what a person on the spectrum of hearing can experience audibly. To Dabis, it “sounded like a film reel whirring,” she recalls. That became the base of the soundscape for scenes told from the perspective of Caverly’s character, Theo. “He challenged me to say, ‘What is going to be different about the scenes from Theo’s point of view versus the scenes outside of Theo’s point of view?’” Dabis recalls about working with Caverly. “I really had to delineate the two worlds.” Dabis,…

French director Julia Ducournau, who burst on the world filmmaking scene with her first feature, “Raw,” is changing the vocabulary of cinema with her heart-stopping imagery and boundary-blurring approach. But although moviegoers have been known to faint during her films, don’t call her a horror director: She works in the European tradition of visceral cineastes like Pier Paolo Pasolini and Carlos Saura — with a nod to the body horror of David Cronenberg — and her work defies categorization. That originality helped propel her second film, “Titane,” to a Palme d’Or in Cannes this year ahead of an Oct. 1 opening in the U.S. When jury president Spike Lee announced “Titane” as Palme d’Or winner at the beginning of the ceremony, did you think you had heard right? I was…

There’s a growing chasm between the entertainment habits of younger and older Americans. Data provided to VIP+ by consumer insights firm GetWizer shows that while older consumers estimate they devote more than half their entertainment week to broadcast and cable, those ages 15-29 spend nearly three-quarters less time doing so. Rather, they’re using social media, video games and streaming video to far greater degrees. While these choices support a much wider entertainment marketplace, they also might spell an end to the more established, large-scale methods of reaching an audience. For more data from VIP+, visit variety.com/vip. PERCENTAGE OF WEEKLY TIME SPENT ON ENTERTAINMENT SOURCES Source: GetWizer Consumer Insights Data fielded July 2021 to U.S. residents: P15-29 (n=285); P30-44 (n=391); P45-59 (n=341); P60+ (n=467)…

Sept. 29 • Robert Pattinson, H.E.R., Britt Hennemuth and Bill Kramer co-chair Premiere, an evening celebrating the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Sept. 30 • Laverne Cox, Claire Danes, Diane Kruger and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” stars Symone and Sasha Velour walk the carpet at the 2021 New York City Ballet Fall Gala at the David H. Koch Theater.• American Cinematheque and Beyond Fest host a screening of “Lamb,” followed by a Q&A with director Valdimar Jóhannsson and star Noomi Rapace, at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Oct. 2 • Jenna Ushkowitz and Lindsay Price Stone co-host AdoptTogether’s Baby Ball Gala at NeueHousein Hollywood. Guest list includes Curtis Stone, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Malin Åkerman and Neal McDonough. Oct. 4 • Kevin Nealon and Jeff…

Rita Moreno may be turning 90 in December, but the actor dreads the thought of being typecast as a woman over a certain age. “Why should I have to play a grandmother simply because I’m old? Can I be a lawyer? A scientist? So far, the answer is… not so much,” she says wistfully. “Hollywood suffers in a profound way from ageism.” Moreno has made a career — one that spans seven decades of memorable stage and screen roles in “Singin’ in the Rain,” “The Electric Company,” “The Ritz” and “One Day at a Time” — out of defying expectations and breaking barriers. In 1961, she became the first, and still only, Hispanic woman to win an Academy Award, for her turn as Anita in “West Side Story.” Following her…

After grappling with teen angst and the shifting sands of early adulthood on her first two albums, Lorde turns to the light on “Solar Power.” Inspired by the natural world, it’s a wispy, sun-dappled daydream — a departure for the 24-year-old talent with a scalpel-like pen when it comes to issues such as grief and relationships. Something else is different: While some 52% of U.S. album sales for 2017’s “Melodrama” were physical, according to Alpha Data, Lorde resisted a CD release of “Solar Power,” demonstrating her commitment to slowing the speed of climate change. “The fight to keep carbon dioxide below a certain level in our atmosphere, to keep our planet livable, is going to be the fight that defines my life,” says Lorde (whose real name is Ella Yelich-O’Connor)…

Victoria Alonso President, Physical Production, Post Production, Visual Effects and Animation Production, Marvel Studios Alonso oversees Marvel properties that have grossed nearly $23 billion in worldwide revenue for the film division alone. With “WandaVision” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” she’s now an Emmy-nominated producer. Alonso was the first woman to receive both the Visionary prize at the 15th VES Awards and the Harold Lloyd honor from the Advanced Imaging Society. Way to unplug: Coloring books. “You’d be surprised how much conflict you work out in your head while you color a book.” (The Women of) Netflix Bela Bajaria VP, Global TV Lisa Nishimura VP, Documentary and Independent Films Bozoma Saint John Chief Marketing Officer In addition to restructuring her global team this year, in March Bajaria announced that…

Sarah Burgess Showrunner, “Impeachment: American Crime Story” Burgess’ “Impeachment: American Crime Story” is her most high-profile project yet. Burgess’ play “Dry Powder” starred Claire Danes and John Krasinski and earned the Laurents Hatcher Prize, among other accolades. Biggest alteration needed in the biz? As a playwright, Burgess wishes she could change the cost of live theater, “which impacts who can and can’t see shows. Who you see inside a theater is typically only a subpopulation of that theater’s city.” Ashley Brucks Senior exec VP, Production, Paramount Players Brucks is responsible for overseeing the financial and critical hit “A Quiet Place Part II.” She’s also in charge of the next movies in the “Scream” and “Paranormal Activity” franchises. Upcoming for Brucks is production on “The Lost City,” starring Sandra Bullock and…

Programming with empathy has been more than good business for Lifetime; it’s lifted up victims and amplified unheard voices “Each time these companies had their own ideas and ways that they wanted to do the project. I would have had little control or say about the project,” says Bobbitt, who now goes by Lorena Gallo (her maiden name). It wasn’t until she was approached by Lifetime during the emergence of the #MeToo movement that Gallo felt the horrors of her past worth revisiting. “I felt that my input was important and that they truly understood the message I was trying to relay about domestic violence,” she says. Gallo is the narrator of the biopic “I Was Lorena Bobbitt,” and her account of her marriage makes the viewer recoil in discomfort…

Since our founding, Lifetime’s commitment to empowering women has been at the core of who we are. Through our programming, our partnerships and our corporate social responsibility initiatives, we have been honored to see women lead the way. With our Broader Focus initiative, I am so proud that Lifetime empowers women in front of and behind the camera, far exceeding the industry average in advancing projects by, for and about women. We continue to prioritize mentorship and provide scholarships for young women to pursue careers and become the next generation of innovators in our industry. Our content and our platforms will always continue to evolve, but our commitment to being a platform for women’s voices and a champion of their stories will always endure. The opportunity we have to entertain…

MUSIC REVIEW Artist: Brandi Carlile Label: Low Country Sound/Elektra If reverse-engineering your own genetic heritage were possible, Brandi Carlile might refashion herself into the love child of Elton John and Joni Mitchell. You hear a lot of both branches of the spiritual family tree in “In These Silent Days,” her seventh studio album. It’s true that she’s spent much of the three years since “By the Way, I Forgive You” seeming ready for the country, co-founding the Highwomen and co-fashioning Tanya Tucker’s comeback, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find much of that here. There’s no honky-tonk in “Silent Days,” but plenty of “Honky Château,” and “Blue,” and more than enough of her own distinctive sensibilities to show the apple fell far enough from the tree to start its own 21st-century…