Innholdsfortegnelse for 12/15/2021 i Variety

It’s always so jarring and upsetting to learn that someone you have greatly admired has died — no matter how old they are. Italian writer-director Lina Wertmüller, who passed away last week at age 93, was one of those industry icons whom I had hoped to one day reconnect with. I had the honor of first meeting her two years ago when she was in Los Angeles at a luncheon given in her honor by Women in Film. I remember at the time being struck by how healthy and vibrant Wertmüller still was for her age — a dynamo packed into a petite frame with her trademark white plastic glasses and striking white hair. I wrote about our encounter in my Oct. 29, 2019, editor’s letter, recounting how I talked…

While Hollywood prepared to hang holiday stockings and close studio lots, the awards race got a jolt of electricity this week thanks to a round of nominations from two upcoming shows — the diminished Golden Globes and its subsequently hulked-up competitor, the Critics Choice Awards. Here are key takeaways on how their choices impact the Oscars hunt. • Globes Turning Slow Rife with scandal related to the org’s lack of diversity and shoddy ethics, this was meant to be the year the industry and the public ignored the Globes and its governing body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. After NBC announced it would not air the proceedings unless the HFPA came back with significant reforms, the nominations were met with thunderous silence. Nary an A-lister — from Nicole Kidman to…

JANE CAMPION WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE. “I didn’t get back to you that weekend because I got sick,” she says. “I got food poisoning.” Campion isn’t talking to her publicist or a manager. Nor is she addressing one of the dozens of Netflix handlers who have been by her side continuously since last September as she’s flown all over the world — unveiling her latest opus, “The Power of the Dog,” at film festivals and to Oscar voters. No, the person who Campion ghosted over email is… Guillermo del Toro. Since the two of them are about to talk about their latest movies — just days after del Toro has put the final touches on a big-budget remake of the noir thriller “Nightmare Alley,” based on the 1946 novel by…

With a production discography boasting modern hip-hop classics including Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “Ni**as in Paris,” Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode” and Beyoncé’s “Sorry,” it’s somewhat surprising to learn that Hit-Boy (real name: Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr.) is a first-time nominee for producer of the year, non-classical. For the 2022 awards, the Californian hitmaker was finally recognized for his beat-making on Nas’ “King’s Disease II” and contributions to the “Judas and the Black Messiah” soundtrack, which includes one of his own songs, “Broad Day.” What would it mean to win producer of the year? It would definitely be a dream come true. We’re in a crazy era where certain people like to discredit the Grammys or discredit the award shows, period. It’s not everything, but it is a high honor. Just…

With her introspective lyricism and calming instrumentals, Arlo Parks has become one of music’s fastest-rising stars. Months after releasing her debut album, “Collapsed in Sunbeams,” in January, Parks collected the Brit Awards’ breakthrough artist honor and the Mercury Prize for album of the year. Now the 21-year-old musician and poet is up for new artist and alternative album at the Grammys. Parks spoke with Variety about her Grammy nods, blurring the boundaries of genre and being a Gen Z singer-songwriter. What does it mean to you to be nominated for new artist and alternative album, specifically? I’ve always wanted to create music that exists outside of genre, or the more traditional genre structures. And to be alongside artists like St. Vincent, who I’ve listened to for six, seven years now…

Singer-songwriter Allison Russell’s debut solo album, “Outside Child,” explores the trauma she experienced after being sexually and emotionally abused until the time she was 15. The songs tell the story of how she learned to choose her own family and channel the power of music and art to escape and thrive. Up for three Grammy nominations, it’s the kind of album the Recording Academy can point to as something that not just embodies excellence but could actually save a life. It’s not a stretch for Russell to imagine her music having that power, because it happened to her. “My uncle played me Tracy Chapman when I was 9 years old on a road trip — he’s my hero,” says Russell, who is a native of Canada and now lives in…

Watching “Licorice Pizza,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s cinematic love letter to 1970s San Fernando Valley, one thought continually played in my head: Alana Haim reminds me of me. I don’t mean that in any solipsistic sense — I possess zero singing talent and my ability to play a musical instrument is confined to a year of violin and flute lessons in fourth grade wherein both instructors urged me (strongly, repeatedly) to focus on the literary arts. It also has nothing to do with looks. While Haim is long and lean with straight, whiplash hair, I’ve got a rat’s rest of curls and a physique resembling my zaftig great-grandmother who birthed 11 children on a remote Ukrainian farm. Haim is newly 30; I’m in my 40s. But watching Haim (who plays a…

Abu Dhabi and Dubai have made huge strides in attracting foreign film and TV productions to the United Arab Emirates as part of an ongoing effort by the federation of states on the Persian Gulf to diversify from their oil-based economy. They have come a long way since 2006 when Matt Damon and George Clooney-starrer “Syriana” marked the first major Hollywood film shot in the Dubai desert, followed by “The Kingdom,” which brought Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner to Abu Dhabi in 2007. In 2011, UAE aficionado Tom Cruise personally pulled off the stunt of gliding down Dubai’s 163-floor Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, in “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.” Besides Hollywood, Bollywood in more recent years has become a major customer with an increasing number of Indian blockbusters choosing…

Productions from Hollywood, Bollywood and Europe are increasingly opting to film in West Asia as the local industry also gets busier. Below are several shooting locations in the region and a rundown of rebates on offer and local film commissions. Morocco Long known as a hotspot for international film and TV productions, including “Game of Thrones,” “Prison Break” and “Homeland,” Morocco sustained a bit of a slowdown during the pandemic. In early 2020 the cast and crew of Focus Features-produced drama “The Forgiven,” including stars Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes and director John Michael McDonagh, had to be flown out of the country as it went into lockdown. They subsequently returned to complete the film. Now things are picking up again. Disney’s “Indiana Jones 5” recently filmed in the ancient…

As football fans and concertgoers know already, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood is a huge hit, not only because of its striking architecture, which looks great on TV by the way, but also for its fan experience. But adjacent to SoFi is the Hollywood Park state-of-the-art commercial office campus, developed by Los Angeles Rams owner/chairman E. Stanley Kroenke. The first tenant is the National Football League. The NFL relocated from Culver City to its new facilities in September, and houses the NFL Network, NFL.com, NFL RedZone and the NFL app, as well as other units supporting the NFL’s media and business operations. The NFL’s the anchor tenant for what will ultimately become a nearly 5 million sq.-ft. office district within Hollywood Park. A total of 165,000 square feet, encompassing floors five…

REMEMBERED Actor Giancarlo Giannini’s collaboration with writer-director Lina Wertmüller, who died Dec. 9 at age 93, spans nine films, including raucous sex comedy and social satire “The Seduction of Mimì” — his first leading role in a Wertmüller movie — which brought them both their first taste of international fame. Giannini spoke to Variety by phone from Rome about their symbiotic relationship and unique rapport. “Keeping control of a set is tough enough for a man. For a woman it was harder. But Lina had such a strong personality and was often quite brash.”─Giancarlo Giannini • How did you and Lina first intersect? I was studying acting at the National Academy in Rome. She came to see two plays I was in — one was by Molière — and offered…

STRICTLY BUSINESS You can learn a lot about a company by watching what assets it buys and what assets it sells. Sony Pictures Entertainment has been busy over the past four and a half years with a steady stream of deal activity. Most of the transactions haven’t made big headlines because they haven’t involved big dollars compared with megabucks media M&A of late. But they have been signposts for how the company has positioned itself for the future under the direction of Tony Vinciquerra, who took the reins as chairman and CEO in mid-2017. At that time, it was clear that the move to streaming and on-demand platforms would reshape the entertainment economy. “We had hundreds of individual businesses here — many of them losing money — with no hope…

Lady Gaga has had three major acting roles. All have been anything but lighthearted material. She first showed her dramatic chops as a vampire on “American Horror Story: Hotel” in 2015. Three years later, her big-screen debut in “A Star Is Born” earned her a best actress Oscar nomination for her work as Ally, a superstar singer married to a washed-up alcoholic musician (Bradley Cooper). Now, she’s back in the awards race in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” with her portrayal of Patrizia Gucci, who served 18 years in prison for plotting the murder of her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci, heir to the Italian luxury fashion house. Even Gaga thinks it may be time to switch things up. “I’d love to do a romantic comedy,” she tells me on this week’s…

Dec. 7 ‘West Side Story’ Premiere El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood Director Steven Spielberg spoke to Variety about the film’s authentic casting. “This is the way to do it. This is the way we are in this world,” he said. “This is where we should have always been, but this is very important, especially in ‘West Side Story,’ that we have to get it right. It’s not that other productions didn’t get it right in their own way, but I just did not want to make this reimagining without complete representation [and] authentic representation from the entire Latinx community. That was the most important thing.” When the director added that it was important to have “a lot” of Spanish spoken in the movie without the use of subtitles, star Ariana DeBose…

Jared Leto loves a good transformation, as exhibited by his latest performance in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” — where he’s unrecognizable under layers of prosthetics as Paolo, the black sheep of the fashion family. The Oscar-winning actor (who won an Academy Award in 2014 for “Dallas Buyers Club”) is a fan of “dancing on the edge” as he’s building a character. “Let’s try and fail here,” Leto tells himself before shooting a scene. When he looks down the road, Leto chooses Kelvin Harrison Jr. as “Up Next.” The 27-year-old actor — who had breakout roles in “It Comes at Night” and “Waves” — can be seen in Joe Wright’s musical adaptation of “Cyrano” playing Christian. “He’s making interesting choices already,” Leto says. “I know he’s not going to let…

Sure, there were some happy shock waves when Jon Batiste, the much-admired musical multi-hyphenate, unexpectedly picked up the most nominations by far — 11 — when the final candidates were announced in November for the 64th annual Grammy Awards. Despite this achievement, the instrumentalist, composer and “Late Show With Stephen Colbert” bandleader speaks in selflessly communal terms about his seeming designation as the Grammys’ flagship artist heading toward the Jan. 31 telecast. “These nominations are a real affirmation of my belief that music is bigger than genre,” says Batiste from his “Late Show” dressing room in Manhattan’s Ed Sullivan Theater, the very room where he started the recording process for the genre-jumping 2021 album “We Are,” which landed the lion’s share of his Grammy recognition. The recognition is also for…

When the 2022 Grammy nominations were announced late last month, many people were surprised to see ABBA’s first song in nearly 40 years, “I Still Have Faith in You,” as a nominee for record of the year. They shouldn’t have been: ABBA is one of the most popular, influential and successful groups in the history of the world. While often dismissed as a kitschy pop act during their 1970s-early ’80s heyday, their image and at-times goofy lyrics camouflaged their indelible, deceptively sophisticated and complex songwriting and arrangements. Yet their reputation and respect grew exponentially in the years after they announced a hiatus in 1983, as their music proved deeply enduring and the world caught up with its sophistication, particularly via strategic placements in film and TV, especially the 1994 film…

With the pandemic-battered state of Broadway over the past 18 months, only one Rialto cast recording could muster a nomination in the music theater album category. That left room for voters to be more adventurous, opening the door to a Grammy nomination for concept albums including “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear that went viral thanks to TikTok. Inspired by the poetic dialogue and fantastical world of the Netflix series “Bridgerton,” Barlow says she began writing songs from the main character’s perspective. The first tease, “Daphne’s Song,” was posted to TikTok after the series debuted. A simple piano ballad, the song explores Daphne’s emotions when she begins to fall for Simon amid their faux romance. What began as an escape from a difficult year soon catapulted…

Looking back 50 years at anything that isn’t related to geology, evolution or astronomy feels like a glimpse at a long-bygone age. That’s especially true for the 14th annual Grammy Awards. Back when Richard Nixon was in the White House, the Grammy fete was held on March 14, 1972, at the Felt Forum in New York’s Madison Square Garden and was broadcast on ABC. The show was hosted by easy listening singer Andy Williams; presenters included Ed Sullivan, the Fifth Dimension, the Carpenters and “The Brady Bunch” star Florence Henderson. Carly Simon won new artist; Kris Kristofferson won country & western song for “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (no surprise, since he held three of the five nominations in the category); and in a horrifying-in-retrospect accolade, children’s album…

GRAY’S GOLD Pamela Martin of Warner Bros.’ “King Richard,” says, “When it comes to editing, you have to love your characters, flawed or not. And I loved that family.” Before signing on, the editor says, “I knew very little about Richard Williams, and it was mostly filtered through the media: ‘That crazy tennis dad’ or ‘He’s a nut job.’ Now I think that guy’s a genius.” The film concerns the early days of tennis champs Venus and Serena Williams via their training from parents Richard and Oracene. Though the coaches are important, “King Richard” breaks with sports-movie tradition by focusing on family. In multiple sports films, the plot centers on the athlete’s relationship with the coach/mentor: “Bad News Bears,” “Creed,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Hoosiers,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Karate Kid,”…

All of Us Are Dead JTBC Studios drama about a group of high school students trapped on campus due to a zombie virus outbreak. This coming-of-age teen drama could see an international break for younger stars, Yoon Chanyoung (“Do You Like Brahms?”) and Cho Yi-hyun (“Hospital Playlist”). Broadcast/Stream: JTBC, Netflix Bulgasal: Immortal Souls Historical-fantasy drama from “The Guest” writers featuring Korean traditional folklore about mythical immortal creatures. Stream: TVN, Netflix Money Heist Korean remake of award-winning Spanish drama “La Casa de Papel.” Director Kim Hong-sun, behind “The Guest,” and writer of zombie film “Peninsula,” Ryu Yong Jae, team up for this series starring Yoo Ji-tae (“Mad Dog”), Park Hae-soo (“Squid Game”) and newbie to the small screen, Jeon Jong-seo (“Burning”). Stream: Netflix Monstrous Supernatural thriller produced by top production house…

Jordan’s Royal Film Commission was set up in 2013 with Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, brother of the country’s King Abdullah II, heading its board. It has since been working to build the local film industry and stepping up efforts to attract international shoots such as Ridley Scott’s “The Martian,” and more recently “Aladdin,” “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and “Dune,” to name a few. Netflix also chose Jordan recently as the setting for its groundbreaking Arabic original series “Al Rawabi School for Girls,” which follows a group of high school girls plotting revenge on a trio of bullies at their school, portraying violence, including sexual violence, against women, and patriarchy in Arab society. In terms of locations, besides the desert of Wadi Rum, with its immense rock formations…

Filmmaker Joel Coen wanted “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” his adaptation of the Shakespearean staple about the ambitious Scottish king, to be rooted in theatricality but to avoid looking like a filmed play. For his first solo movie as a director, he chose to shoot in the stark black and white of classic expressionist works. The A24-Apple Original film, starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as Lord and Lady Macbeth, opens in theaters Dec. 25 prior to streaming. Production designer Stefan Dechant collaborated closely with cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, who started prepping with Coen almost 18 months before shooting began. Dechant explains that the stylized sets, more than any he’d seen, were built to contrast “where shadow and light fall. Going back to abstraction, we started painting in shadows.” Reference images came…

When Village Roadshow CEO Steve Mosko first met with Kevin Garnett to discuss the sports star’s pivot to the world of entertainment, he was impressed by the ideas the NBA champion brought to the table for his budding Content Cartel production company. As the duo, who were introduced by Garnett’s “Uncut Gems” co-star Adam Sandler, shared what they loved about cinema, the topic of Blaxploitation films came up. “[Kevin] looked at me and — it was very heartfelt,” Mosko tells Variety in a phone interview. “He said, ‘Growing up as a kid, in the more traditional movies, people that look like me were always criminals or being arrested. We’re always the bad guys. In [Blaxploitation] movies, it was the first place I saw someone like me portrayed in ways other…

Multi-hyphenate sisters Sara and Erin Foster never considered themselves “fashion girls.” “Fashion always felt intimidating and unattainable,” says Erin. Adds Sara, “Sure, we want to look nice, but we don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on an outfit.” Homing in on the idea of what Sara calls “a high-quality alternative to fast fashion,” the siblings dreamed up a women’s ready-to-wear line priced between $98 and $398. When the Fosters debuted Favorite Daughter in late 2020, “the world was a very different place, and the idea of opening a physical store seemed impossible,” says Erin. Now, as retail returns to pre-pandemic levels, the sisters — whose father is noted composer and producer David Foster — are readying to unveil the brand’s first brick-and-mortar in Beverly Hills (at 346 N. Beverly…

“Pretty insane, huh?” That was Wolfgang Van Halen’s reaction when he learned of his nomination for rock song at the 2022 Grammy Awards — for “Distance,” the tribute to his late father, Eddie — in a category alongside Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Weezer and Kings of Leon. Indeed, it culminated a whirlwind year for the 30-year-old’s Mammoth WVH, which first released the song, along with a heart-wrenching video spliced together from home videos with his mother, Valerie Bertinelli, and her brother Patrick, just over a year ago. Eddie Van Halen died of cancer Oct. 6, 2020. Wolfie, as he’s known, had been working on the song for a while, first playing it for his dad during the 2015 Van Halen tour in the back of his bus, where he began…

In 1991, the inaugural Grammy award for alternative music album went to Sinéad O’Connor’s “I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got.” But it would be 24 more years before the next solo female artist, St. Vincent, took home the prize — a situation emblematic of a wider gender imbalance that the Recording Academy has been actively working to correct in recent years. However, the nominees for the 64th annual Grammy Awards, taking place on Jan. 31, suggest that some progress has been made. Three of the five nominees for alternative music album are solo female artists. St. Vincent is in the mix again, along with first-time nominees Halsey and Arlo Parks. Factoring in indie-rock band Japanese Breakfast, fronted by “Crying in H Mart” author Michelle Zauner, Fleet Foxes…

Is music for television finally being taken seriously by Grammy voters? Based on this year’s unprecedented number of TV nominations in the visual media categories, the answer appears to be a resounding yes. Seven of the 18 nominations, or more than one-third of the total in the score soundtrack, compilation soundtrack and original song categories, originated in small-screen projects. By comparison, during the previous 20 years of Grammy nominations, voters chose only seven scores, 13 compilation albums and seven songs to compete in those three categories. And only three won: a song from “Malcolm in the Middle” (2001), the soundtrack from “Boardwalk Empire” (2011) and the score for “Chernobyl” (2019). Grammy has rewarded TV music occasionally through the years. Henry Mancini’s jazzy “Peter Gunn” soundtrack won album of the year…

In many of 2021’s screenplay contenders, motherhood is laid bare in all of its thorny reality. These are movies in which, as Olivia Colman’s protagonist reveals in “The Lost Daughter,” parenting is a “crushing responsibility.” For her character, there is ecstatic relief with every reprieve from parenting one’s children, despite the gnawing guilt. Actor Maggie Gyllenhaal, in selecting the slim, interior, radical Elena Ferrante novel as her first screenplay to adapt and direct, has boldly taken advantage of new opportunities for women behind the camera to reframe our conception of motherhood. Gyllenhaal, herself a mom of two with husband Peter Sarsgaard (who co-stars in her film’s adulterous subplot), had become tired of sharing her ideas as an actor on set with a “spoonful of sugar.” Appearing at the Museum of…

The death earlier this month of Chin Doo-hwan, the most hated of South Korea’s three military dictators, who ruled for nearly a decade until 1988, is a timely reminder of the foundations of the country’s present economic might. Today, South Korea combines global prowess in electronics, semiconductors and shipbuilding (industries boosted by the old regime’s strategic plans) and in culture and services, such as entertainment, cosmetics and food. The latter were born of the cultural flowering that followed the end of oppression. The country’s contradictory currents of light and dark, paternalistic conglomerates (known as chaebols) locking horns with creative startups, and artistic freedom that butts up against enduringly rigid hierarchies, have left their mark on Korean movies including “Old Boy,” “Snowpiercer” and multiple Oscar-winner “Parasite.” This duality allows K-pop stars…

K-pop has seen massive popularity due to boy bands’ and girl groups’ debuts and comebacks with new concepts every year. 2021 was no different, witnessing a continued surge of Korean stars embarking on solo projects, making bolder moves in the U.S. and delving deeper into technology. The genre’s success and phenomenal fandom since 2008 has mostly been derived from idol groups. BTS and Blackpink have set a high bar, but there is room for up-and-coming groups and singer-songwriter soloists too. Shin Cho, head of K-pop for Warner Music Asia, notes artists such as Monsta X, Stray Kids and AB6IX are on the rise and “the next phase of K-pop” includes those who perform “a diverse range of genres” or go against the grain of groups and market themselves as solo…

Condos are back in a big way in Los Angeles. Overall buyer demand, low interest rates and the continued lack of single-family home listings have pushed condominium prices to record levels. According to Douglas Elliman’s third quarter 2021 report, the number of condo sales in Los Angeles reached their second-highest total on record in 2021. And September saw a 13.9% year-over-year condo price increase in the L.A. metro area, per the California Assn. of Realtors’ sales data. In June, Matthew Perry sold his Century City condo for $21.6 million, while a penthouse along the exclusive Wilshire Corridor sold for $10.3 million. And also at the top end, there are several newly built, ultra-luxury condo developments vying for buyers. Blue chip standouts include the Pendry Residences West Hollywood by Montage Hotels…

FILM REVIEW Director: Guillermo del Toro Starring: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara The world is one big carnival, and we’re all just suckers, in Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley.” A perfect match of material to auteur, William Lindsay Gresham’s pulpy 1946 novel and the shockingly dark studio picture it inspired give the helmer, hot off his Oscar win for “The Shape of Water,” a chance to go full film noir, resulting in a gorgeous, fantastically sinister moral fable about the cruel predictability of human nature and the way entire systems are engineered to exploit it — from carnies and con men to shrinks and Sunday preachers. Building on the rise-and-crash arc of his “A Star Is Born” has-been, Bradley Cooper delivers another terrific, tragic turn as ambitious huckster Stanton…

“I never even imagined that it would be possible for me to be in the ‘Star Wars’ family.” For more than a year, Jennifer Beals (“The L Word,” “Flashdance”) has been dying to talk with anyone outside her family about her role on the new “Star Wars” series “The Book of Boba Fett.” Beals plays a Twi’lek, a member of an alien race with two long appendages on its head called lekku. Until “Boba Fett” premieres Dec. 29, however, that’s everything Beals can say about the character. Well, almost everything. •What do you remember about the first time you saw the first “Star Wars” movie? It’s not as if I’m well versed in “Star Wars” lore at all. But that moment when Luke is instructed to use the Force identified…