Innholdsfortegnelse for 10/27/2021 i Variety

We are all still in shock and reeling with grief and anger over the tragic death of 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was accidentally killed last week on the set of the Western movie “Rust” by a prop gun that was discharged by Alec Baldwin. It remains a mystery as to how in the hell this could have happened. The fact is it should never have happened. It is impossible to comprehend the level of carelessness and dereliction of duty, the total disregard of absolute fail-safe gun safety protocols, that led to such a catastrophic outcome that took the life of Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza. It has been widely reported that gun safety guidelines were not being followed on the set of “Rust” in Santa Fe, N.M., and…

“Acapulco,” a romantic comedy series very loosely inspired by the 2017 film “How to Be a Latin Lover,” is a vibrantly hued trip down ’80s memory lane in a gorgeous resort with endearing staffers and guests. But the Apple TV Plus show, wholesome and sweet like “Ted Lasso,” carried a level of creative risk: Its near-even split between English- and Spanish-speaking lines meant that viewers would be watching a show with subtitles. “Acapulco” presents a genuine portrayal of what it could be like to be a Mexican employee at a hotel that forces them to speak English on the premises (or, at least, when their supervisor is around). The series, which debuted earlier this month, currently has a perfect score on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes and is part…

Phenakite: A Restaurant With 20,000 People on Its Waitlist It’s no surprise Hollywood’s hidden tasting-menu restaurant Phenakite is one of the toughest reservations anywhere, with more than 20,000 people on the waitlist. Chef Minh Phan had to close her indoor-only café Porridge + Puffs during the COVID crisis, and had no idea Phenakite, which came together in 10 days, would go on to win a Michelin star in less than a year. Named for a mineral that becomes a gem under pressure, the restaurant — which is tucked inside the lush Second Home Hollywood campus — represents a triumph of turning the hardships of the pandemic into a rare jewel of an eatery. Phenakite offers a 10-course tasting menu with subtle, artfully composed plates marked by pickling, Asian flavors and…

DEXTER is back and he’s killing again. Returning eight years after the original Showtime series wrapped means entering a very different television landscape and cultural conversation around complicated men — and the wider world around them. While showrunner Clyde Phillips and star and executive producer Michael C. Hall acknowledge that said world and the way people watch television have changed, they reject the notion that, as Phillips puts it, “the antihero narrative [is] over and everything’s going to be ‘Ted Lasso’ now.” In the show’s original 2006-13 run, viewers learned why Dexter Morgan became a serial killer: His adoptive father and a questionable therapist created a code by which he could kill — if his victims truly deserved it. Raised with a misguided sense of how to channel one’s darkest…

Every year, the Oscar race is about questions: Who will be nominated, who will win? This year, there’s an added one: What’s the future of moviegoing? COVID has changed everything big and small—including awards eligibility, meaning a theatrical window was not necessary. As cinemas closed in 2020, many studios’ opted for simultaneous streaming/theatrical releases. Others decided to bypass theatrical completely. Was this an emergency measure or an act of panic? Naysayers are predicting moviegoing fading away completely. They’re wrong, of course. But everyone — including all Oscar contenders — need to pitch in to avoid the worst. Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, is a 35-year industry vet and one of the smartest guys in town. At the theater-owners gathering CinemaCon, “I made the point that theatrical…

If there’s anything you could bet on in country music, it’s that Ashley McBryde is a future Grand Ole Opry member—and probably, much further down the line, a Country Hall of Famer, too. But she hasn’t been at it for that long, in the historical scheme of things. Ask her if she remembers her first Opry appearance, and it pops out immediately: “Absolutely. June 16th, 2017. We did my makeup probably four times that day because I kept crying. I cried when I got to room four, because I knew about room four before I walked into it.” What’s room four? It’s the dressing room reserved exclusively for first-timers. “You’re terrified, but I was constantly hearing, ‘Hi Ashley. We’re so glad you’re here.’ And I knew that this would be…

“Flabbergasted” is Georges Chamchoum’s choice word to use when thinking of Asia’s disappointingly low Oscar representation, especially given all the masterpieces that have come from the region. Two years after South Korea’s “Parasite” won best picture, Chamchoum believes events such as the Asian World Film Festival, of which he serves as executive and program director, are essential to raising those statistics moving forward. Thanks to its mission to strengthen ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries, Chamchoun says, “We are part of the puzzle that puts Asian-American art in the spotlight.” This year, AWFF will showcase films to members of the Motion Picture Academy, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. and all the guilds during a critical phase of the awards season leading up to the Golden Globes and the…

Regina King’s acting and directing career is abundant with accolades. So much so that the USC graduate reigns as the most awarded African-American performer to date with an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and four Primetime Emmys. “I’m born and bred in L.A., when we got to see a film at the Chinese Theatre it was always an event because we could put our hands and feet on the prints of the movie stars,” she says. “I always wondered, was it hard to decide what shoe to wear? Who would have thunk I would answer my own question 40 years late…. yep! It is difficult to decide. I’m struggling between a pump and sneaker right now.” Her legacy thus far is an eclectic mix of comedy (“Friday”) and drama (“If…

The prospect of criminal charges resulting from the tragic death on the set of “Rust” is coming into focus as the industry grapples with the fallout from the Oct. 21 gun accident that left 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead. The investigations by authorities in Santa Fe, N.M., are intensifying this week into what went wrong on the Bonanza Creek Ranch set outside the city where the Alec Baldwin indie Western was in the middle of a 21-day shoot. Authorities have issued two search warrants to retrieve items from the ranch, including spent casings from the blanks used in guns on the set and swabs of blood. The accident happened in the afternoon during a rehearsal that also left “Rust” director Joel Souza with a shoulder wound. According to court documents,…

Tamron Hall’s new murder mystery is pure fiction, but it’s built out of many of the elements of her real life. In “As the Wicked Watch,” TV reporter Jordan Manning works to track down the killer of a young Black teenager and in doing so, takes readers on an investigation that examines not only crime but cultural perceptions about race, gender and class. Hall’s journey from Texas TV reporter to national talk-show host and journalist is mirrored in Manning’s own story arc. Pieces of plot are based on two murders Hall covered when she was starting out in Texas, and Manning shares many of the journalist’s fashion choices, including her love of stilettos. “There are obviously certain character traits that relate to me and that viewers will recognize as part…

AWARDS CIRCUIT At the Middleburg Film Festival this month, there were two rapturous standing ovations in the main theater of the Salamander Resort, where all the prominent films screen. One was for the best picture front-runner “Belfast” from Focus Features. The other was for Clifton Collins Jr.’s heartfelt turn as an aging rider hoping for his final championship run in “Jockey” from Sony Pictures Classics. With more than 70 movie credits, the Los Angeles-born actor has been a staple at the movies for two decades. From his imprisoned corporal in “The Last Castle” (2001) to his Oscar-snubbed role as convicted murderer Perry Smith in Bennett Miller’s “Capote,” Collins has been a true character actor, with no awards recognition to come his way. “Jockey” debuted at this year’s Sundance, which was…

It’s fun to make awards predictions in October, which is kinda/sorta the start of Oscar season. But here’s some perspective: In October 2018, audiences greeted Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” so rapturously that many were predicting an Oscar sweep. It ended up with one win (original song), out of eight nominations. And in October 2019, several films were touted as the eventual bestpic winner, though “Parasite” was rarely on those lists. So October front-runner status is no guarantee. On the other hand, it isn’t a curse. Last year at this point, “Nomadland” seemed like the one to beat and it indeed won (though other best pic contenders including “Minari” and “Judas and the Black Messiah” were barely on the radar.) This is not just about awards handicapping; it’s about…

Despite being the world capital of the film and TV industry, Los Angeles has never been a particularly hospitable place to stage a film festival. Which makes it all the more surprising that one of the city’s longest-running, most successful fests happens to be one dedicated entirely to French cinema. Initially called City of Lights, City of Angels, the Colcoa French Film Festival will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, returning to its longtime home at the DGA Theater Complex for a week’s worth of primo Franco fare. Opening with the Juliette Binoche-starrer “Between Two Worlds,” the festival will screen 55 films and series and 19 shorts from Nov. 1-7 — and after taking a gap-year in 2020 due to the pandemic, this year’s fest will be entirely in-person. Reliably…

When Mandy Barnett was told while performing at the Grand Ole Opry on Sept. 28 that she would become the institution’s newest member, the invitation came from one of the Opry’s longstanding veterans, Connie Smith, who was inducted in 1965. But Barnett can just about go toe-to-toe with Smith as an old soul. As someone who’s been performing at Opry shows for the past 27 years, Barnett (who starred in the long-running stage show “Always … Patsy Cline”) has been one of the under-50 crowd’s foremost standard-bearers for traditional country music. “It’s a wonder I didn’t just go backward,” says Barnett, who thought the Opry was going to make a big deal out of her birthday that night, and not ask her to join the hallowed ranks. It was especially…

In 1997, Jeff Friday, founder and CEO of Jeff Friday Media, was working as the film division president of UniWorld Group, a prominent multicultural advertising agency headquartered in New York and founded by legendary ad world maven Byron E. Lewis. In January of that year, in search of new clientele within the entertainment industry, Friday headed to the Sundance Film Festival. It was the first film festival he had ever attended. It was also the year writer-director Theodore Witcher’s award-winning “Love Jones” screened at the fest, ushering in an era of what Friday calls “the glory days of Black cinema.” That film, and the experience of seeing it at Sundance, altered the trajectory of Friday’s career. “This was right around the time of such films as ‘How Stella Got Her…

DP wins acclaim for her work on Jane Campion’s dark, moody ‘The Power of the Dog’ Cinematographer Ari Wegner is about to become a more familiar name in the film world, as the “Zola” DP starts to rake in recognition for her contribution to Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” in selected theaters Nov. 17 and arriving on Netflix Dec. 1. Wegner has received the Toronto International Film Festival Variety Artisan Award and the Middleburg Film Festival Distinguished Cinematographer Award. At the Middleburg, Va., fest, she sat down to talk with Variety about working with Campion. “Jane is a visionary auteur [and] a deeply wonderful person whose ability to see the world in a boldly openhearted way is infused into her films as well as her filmmaking process,” says…

When CNN shut down its airport network in March after nearly 30 years, Lynnwood Bibbens already knew a lot about those orphaned screens. Bibbens had been working on a deal with CNN to collaborate on an evolution of CNN Airport — which would have been called the Airport Television Network — when the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to those plans. CNN subsequently decided to get out of the airport business altogether. That gave Bibbens, the founder and CEO of Reach TV, a leg up in acquiring CNN Airport’s distribution; it now programs more than 2,500 screens in at least 85 airports throughout the country. “We were ready,” Bibbens says. “And every airport director knew it. It was a pretty seamless thing for us to jump right in.” Bibbens brought…

“And Just Like That…” will not only look like “Sex and the City” for a new generation, with Nicole Ari Parker (1), Sara Ramírez, Sarita Choudhury and Karen Pittman joining the cast, but the HBO Max reboot will also tackle issues around race. “I’m excited to be a part of something that’s different for them,” Parker tells me. “We can talk about the elephant in the room that there were no fully fleshed-out characters of color, but now here’s the four of us. We’re real people, and they’ve been great to work with, and some of our [storylines] deal with race and deal with real experiences. It’s New York City!” The series will bring back some of its signature sexiness as well. “We’re grown-ass women, so we know how to…

It is never too early to take a look at the movies that could figure in the 94th Academy Awards. Variety’s experts present the Circuit Contenders, movies that could score a minimum of two nominations in the major categories — picture, director, screenplay, international film and the acting races. By Andrew Barker, Clayton Davis, Shali Dore, Shahreh Drury, Selome Heilu, Carole Horst, Malina Saval, Jenelle Riley, Jazz Tangcay and Jennifer Yuma • ANNETTE (AMAZON) Though it came out earlier in the year, the performances from Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard and Simon Helberg are excellent. As the season goes on, voters might look back to this wholly original film for accolades beyond the score and songs (by Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks, who also wrote the screenplay). It will take…

When Brian O’Shea founded the worldwide film sales and finance company The Exchange in 2011, streaming was still in its infancy, release windows were numerous and robust and DVD pre-sales could still provide a big chunk of a movie’s budget. In the ensuing decade, the landscape has undergone a rapid series of dramatic shifts, but the L.A.-based company has survived and prospered, acquiring, financing and selling more than 200 films, with budgets ranging from $5 million to $90 million, including Universal’s “2 Guns,” starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg; Sundance Award-winners “The Spectacular Now” and “Obvious Child,” and doc “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street.” “We’ve had success in keeping all options open and maintaining relationships and building new relationships along the way,” says Nat McCormick, exec VP…

“I grew up remembering when a sitcom would celebrate 100 episodes, and they’d wheel out the cake,” says Dan Rogers. For the Grand Ole Opry, for which he serves as exec producer, they’re gonna need a bigger bakery. The weekly Nashville-based show, which has been a radio program since 1925 and a TV series on and off for many of those years, is about to have its 5,000th weekly Saturday night broadcast on Oct. 30. Eat your heart out “NCIS,” “Simpsons,” “Gunsmoke,” “Meet the Press,” “General Hospital,” et al — there’s an old kid in town. “It’s unprecedented, and you’ll probably never see it again, especially with a radio show,” Rogers says. “Five thousand Saturday nights is astounding when you begin to think about each of those Saturday nights and…

Indian studio Excel Entertainment is on a roll. There are several films in the works, including the long-awaited return to direction from company co-founder Farhan Akhtar; a continuing relationship with Amazon Prime Video; and a new deal with Netflix. Excel was founded by Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, schoolmates with very different backgrounds, in 2001. Sidhwani’s family owned a successful home appliances manufacturing business, which he worked in for six years and developed strong marketing, business development, team building and motivational skills, attributes that would stand him in good stead in his later career as a producer. Akhtar’s father, Javed, is one of India’s most celebrated screenwriters and poets and mother Honey Irani a well-known writer-director. Their writing credits include some of the all-time hits of Indian cinema. Javed Akhtar co-wrote…

FILM REVIEW Director: Chloé Zhao Starring: Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek The superheroes in Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals” are bound to each other by many things, starting with the interlocking rings and shafts of gold light that emanate from their very being. The light — a cosmic energy they share — is the piping that lines their uniforms, and it’s the shape-shifting weaponry they conjure to battle the Deviants (gnashing, fastbreak monsters that resemble dinosaurs with everything but their sinew and bone stripped away). That filigreed network of light, floating and darting through the air, serves many purposes, and it’s the most tangible figment of Chloé Zhao’s artistry — her way of grabbing hold of the vast machinery of a $200 million comic book franchise movie and turning…