Innholdsfortegnelse for 6/14/2023 i Variety

In the summer of 1952, guilds representing directors and actors reached a historic deal with Hollywood studios to earn a residual on TV reruns. But the Screen Writers Guild held out for a royalty — a percentage of the gross, not a flat fee — and declared the first-ever writers strike. After three months, the writers accepted the residual and returned to work. That is the definition of “pattern bargaining,” and that has been the protocol for contract talks for the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA ever since. The largest studios and platforms make a deal with one guild, and the other two are usually forced to take the same general terms. The WGA is now in the middle of its eighth industrywide strike.…

Issa Rae (1) plays President Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s much anticipated movie based on the iconic Mattel doll, but getting into character inspired a Marilyn Monroe performance too. “When I put on the costume and wig, I was like, ‘OK, they did this,’ and I laughed,” Rae told me at the premiere of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” “Then I went into my trailer, and I filmed me singing ‘Happy Birthday, Ms. President’ like Marilyn.” The clip is still on Rae’s phone, and she said she may post it on social media closer to the release of the movie. Meanwhile, Rae laughed when I reminded her what she told me roughly three years ago during an appearance on the “Just for Variety” podcast (then called “The Big Ticket”): She said she was…

The Emmy race has never been more crowded for those working behind the camera on TV’s most acclaimed series. While these directors below have never won Emmys, their work on this year’s juggernaut dramas, side-splitting comedies and affecting limited series could change that come September. Hikari The titular “Beef” between Amy (Ali Wong) and Danny (Steven Yeun) in Netflix’s hit limited series wouldn’t be as raw if not for Hikari’s direction in the pilot episode. Relatively unknown to many audiences, Hikari’s shorts and feature have played film festivals like Berlin and Tribeca and she’s helmed episodes of Max’s “Tokyo Vice.” But “Beef” serves as an undeniable pronouncement of what’s to come. Peter Hoar Fresh off directing Max’s “It’s a Sin,” Hoar helmed “Long, Long Time,” the third episode of HBO’s…

FILM REVIEW Director: Andy Muschietti Starring: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon In comic book movies, when it comes to a hero’s superpowers — flying, lifting objects, repelling bullets — the audience is almost always on the outside looking in. But in “The Flash,” when the title character throttles forward at the speed of the hot-singe lightning streaks at his back, or floats through the air in slowed-down motion so that a mere second appears to last forever, the movie makes us part of the experience. We know just what he’s going through, which is why the scene gives you a jolt. Early on, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), a forensic chemist in the Central City Police Department, receives a call from Alfred (Jeremy Irons) — yes, that Alfred…

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The walls of Barcelona’s international convention center might soon rattle once the 4,000 European exhibitors, suppliers and service providers in town for the CineEurope trade show breathe out a collective sigh of relief. At the root of such succor are Europe’s more than encouraging box-office admissions, which saw a marked uptick in late 2022 and have continued to rise into the new year. “I think this edition will be very much about celebrating because 2022 was a much better year than 2021,” says Laura Houlgatte, CEO of the Intl. Union of Cinemas (UNIC), which tends to the needs of cinema trade associations and exhibitors across the old continent. “[What’s more] the numbers for the first quarter of 2023 have left everyone in a very good mood.” Organized by the Film…

I’ve always been shy when it comes to writing about Wes Anderson, because he’s a filmmaker I rarely connect with. When I watch one of his movies, I can’t help but see his talent (the visual wizardry, the debonair lapidary cleverness), but I feel like I’m experiencing something that was made on a different planet from the one I live on. I first felt it at the Toronto Film Festival in 1998 when I saw “Rushmore” — because everyone there did a backflip of ecstasy, hailing Anderson as the filmmaker of his generation, and I didn’t get it. I mean, I kind of saw what people were talking about: that “Rushmore” was like “The Graduate” for the new millennium, that the Jason Schwartzman hero had a formidable Holden Caulfield-gone-meta-deadpan attitude…

AWARDS CIRCUIT We’ve all made the “Cop Rock” jokes. The Steven Bochco musical drama, which premiered in fall 1990, was a big swing: marrying original music with procedural storytelling. It was a colossal flop that we still talk about three decades later, and a reminder that musicals are hard. Music has been a part of the TV landscape going back to the 1950s and shows like “Your Hit Parade.” But few series have successfully integrated regular music performances into their storytelling: “The Monkees” and “The Partridge Family” worked in the 1960s and ’70s. “Fame” did it in the early ’80s. And then “Cop Rock” scared people off the concept. The 1990s animation boom incorporated music in shows like “The Simpsons” and “Animaniacs.” But not until the 21st century did scripted…

AS WAVES SWIRL IN THE INFINITY POOL of the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy take in the view of the rolling hills of Antibes. The sun beats down so fiercely on a lily-white tablecloth that the co-CEOs and co-chairpeople of the Warner Bros. Film Group shield themselves with Gucci and Ray-Ban shades. They resemble the all-powerful studio chiefs of yore — or at least their surroundings do. A lot has changed since the Golden Age of Hollywood: Jack Warner didn’t have two smartphones constantly buzzing, misconduct allegations involving “The Flash” star Ezra Miller and cratering share prices to worry about. “It’s so competitive now,” De Luca says, looking out at the shimmering water. “We all have to sing for our supper.” And sing, they have. In a…

When former Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz first sits down in the chair to be interviewed for FX’s docuseries “The Secrets of Hillsong,” he lingers in silence for a long moment. Nearly imperceptible tears well up in his eyes. “I really don’t want to mess up my TV makeup,” he says. The four-part docuseries details the downfall of the megachurch and, particularly, Lentz, who serves as one of the main focal points for the first two episodes. Produced by Scout Prods. and Vanity Fair Studios, “The Secrets of Hillsong” is the second doc to focus on Hillsong — but the first to land interviews with Lentz and his wife, Laura. Lentz, whose charisma and force of personality charmed thousands of churchgoers during his time at Hillsong — including celebrities like Justin…

The Filming Italy Sardegna Festival that kicks off Italy’s summer moviegoing season will play a prominent role in the ongoing push to lure Italians back into movie theaters, just as the country’s box office is starting to gain traction. A robust roster of talents from Hollywood and Italy and a solid lineup of premieres are booked for this event, which combines film and TV and unspools June 22-25 in the Forte Village resort near Cagliari, capital of Sardegna (Sardinia in English). The fest is set to take place just as the Italian government starts to invest €20 million ($22 million) to promote moviegoing through a campaign called Cinema Revolution, under which cinema tickets will be half-price for a limited time. “While in past years I struggled to find films, this…