Innholdsfortegnelse for 5/10/2022 i Variety

At our May 5 Power of Women dinner in New York, it’s no surprise that the biggest and most urgent topic of discussion among our honorees and guests was the potentially devastating impact the Supreme Court’s attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade would have if it were to come to pass. Were this to happen — which, unfortunately, appears to be inevitable — 26 states could move to ban abortion, including 13 with laws that could immediately go into effect. That means that in half of our country, women would no longer have a say over their own bodies and lives. Our POW honorees took the opportunity on our white carpet and in acceptance speeches to address the court’s private vote to strike down the case that has guaranteed women…

The industry hasn’t gathered for in-person TV upfront presentations since 2019, and so much has changed — including the ways that Madison Avenue heavyweights are spending their money. Billions of dollars are at stake during the upfront sales process, a period when big marketers such as Apple, McDonald’s and Procter & Gamble reserve TV spots in hopes of locking down lower prices. And this year’s scramble for ad dollars is likely to be more intense, complex and confusing than anything in recent memory — even the 2007 session when networks changed how they measured audiences who were using DVRs. Madison Avenue’s attention is pivoting to ad-supported streaming, thanks in part to new commercial-supported tiers of HBO Max; the expected debut of an ad-supported version of Disney+; and the hope that…

During a weekend concert celebrating the opening of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Okla., Elvis Costello sang an epic, rip-roaring “Like a Rolling Stone” but also covered a lesser-known balladic chestnut from the iconic musician’s catalog: “I Threw It All Away.” That title was the very opposite of the message being sent out by the museum, which is curated from an archive that contains about 100,000 artifacts, only a tiny percentage of which are on display. As it turns out, Dylan seemingly didn’t throw anything away. Mavis Staples and Patti Smith also performed at Cain’s Ballroom, a nearby nightclub, in the days leading up to the May 9 ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility built next door to the nearly decade-old Woody Guthrie Center. As for who’ll patronize the museum,…

AWARDS CIRCUIT And just like that, the Television Academy took the “primetime” out of the Primetime Emmys. In December, I wrote about the new agreement between the formerly combative Los Angeles-and New York-based TV academies in which categories would start to be aligned by genre, rather than dayparts. And now, we’re starting to see the changes take effect. Most notably, the org behind the Primetime Emmys, the Television Academy here on the West Coast, has tweaked the language in its eligibility rules to take out specific time frames. Previously, programs and individual achievements within them were “eligible for nomination if they were originally aired (6:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m.) during the current eligibility year.” This year, however, the qualifying rule stipulates that any programs and individual achievements within them “identify as Primetime…

Not long after attending my first Cannes Film Festival almost 35 years ago, I was still green and naïve enough to ask long-time Cannes attendees why the famed French fest held such a powerful place in the pecking order of international film gatherings. The late Richard Corliss, Time magazine’s peerless and beloved film critic, answered warmly and succinctly, with his own more worldly query: “Would you rather be in Germany in the winter or the South of France in the spring?” Corliss had a point, but in the decades since I’ve tucked my own couple of dozen Cannes fests under my belt, I’ve compiled my own list of reasons why Cannes remains the one film festival that people who’ve never been to a film festival have heard about and wish…

Nestled in a former theater whose facade was sculpted by Auguste Renoir, the Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé is dedicated to the preservation, restoration and promotion of film heritage belonging to historical French production company and exhibitor Pathé. Named after the company’s co-chairman, Jérôme Seydoux, the institution is a nonprofit organization founded in 2006. Designed by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, the shell-shaped building opened to the public in 2014 and is home to the only cinema theater in France dedicated to silent movies. Two films are screened there every day to live music. “When we received Pathé’s silent movie catalog in 2015, my husband and I decided to show these movies from around the world because we believe very strongly in the transmission of film heritage,” says the foundation’s president, Sophie…

Sian Heder’s heartwarming family film “CODA” not only scored a historic Oscar for Deaf actor Troy Kotsur, it’s also the first English-language remake of a French film to win the best picture Academy Award. Acquired by Apple Studios at the 2021 Sundance in a record-breaking $25 million deal, “CODA” is based on the 2014 French box office hit “La Famille Bélier,” about a teenage girl with a singing talent who is the only hearing member of a Deaf family. Like most remakes, the underdog movie could have died off after sitting on a shelf for too long had it not been for the all-star team of French producers with U.S. ties who shepherded the project. Besides Jérôme Seydoux at Pathé Films, which fully financed the movie, “CODA’s” lead producers are…

Penning a premature obituary is an occupational hazard that goes with the territory of film industry analysis, and there are few topics that attract such hand wringing as the alleged “death of the pre-sale.” While the execs headed to the Cannes Market have seen major disruptions in the past decade from technology and pandemics, industry insiders say it’s a little too early to play “Taps” on this market mainstay. Legend has it that the concept of indie movie “pre-sales” was invented in the early 1970s by the financial wizard John Heyman, a man no doubt worthy of a role in one of his award-winning son’s “Harry Potter” productions. Bankrolling upfront distribution commitments for indie titles — or “turning paper into gold” as one veteran puts it — was a magician’s…

Iconoclastic auteur Peter Greenaway’s first film since 2015 will be unveiled later this year, and when it hits screens, the opening credits will feature a company that may not yet be familiar to festival-goers. But if all goes according to plan, it will be very soon. APX Capital Group’s film fund was launched in October, with headquarters in New York. Though the company was minted less than a year ago, APX has already been plenty busy setting up deals and partnerships, with the release of Greenaway’s “Walking to Paris” set to be the first of many. Earlier this year, execs notched a deal with Mathew Knowles (father of Beyoncé) and his Music World Entertainment Group to invest $275 million toward Italian film and TV co-productions. And just last week, the…

Since Cinecittà Studios was founded in 1937, the sprawling facilities have driven the golden age of Cinema Italiano. The famed city of cinema has also, albeit intermittently, been a magnet for international productions and endured wild fluctuations in the country’s political climate, before recently reemerging as a new frontier for the country’s film and TV industry. During the period following World War II, the studios forged close ties to Hollywood, which helped the Italian industry gain its international standing. The myriad Italian pics made at the studios range from Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” (1960) and “8½” (1963) to Sergio Leone’s epic “Once Upon a Time in America” (1984), Giuseppe Tornatore’s “The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean” (1998), Paolo Sorrentino’s “Il Divo” (2008) and, more recently, his TV…

Disney, Amazon, Netflix and Showtime all have TV series of different types either recently shot or set to shoot in Sicily. As one of its first Italian originals, Disney+ has commissioned a still-untitled TV series about Sicily’s Florio family, who, during the 19th century, built an economic empire on the island and became known as the merchant princes of Europe. Casting is now underway for this high-end period epic, to be directed by Italy’s Paolo Genovese (“Perfect Strangers”) and produced by Rome-based Lotus Prods., a unit of Leone Film Group. The Sicilian skein, which is expected to start shooting in July, is based on local bestseller “The Lions of Sicily,” by Stefania Auci, that has been translated in several languages. Cameras rolled in October in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, on…

When prepping for FX’s new true-crime drama series “Under the Banner of Heaven,” production designer Renee Read worked to bring a feeling of unease and tension to the Mormon community where the story takes place. Andrew Garfield stars as Jeb Pyre, a detective called on to investigate the gruesome murders of Brenda Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her young child after her family members have fallen into an extreme sect. Set in 1980s Utah, the series, now airing on FX and streaming on Hulu, filmed in small towns in Alberta, Canada, where many buildings hailed from the early 20th century. But Read was careful not to make the period setting “loud and heavy-handed.” She chose an Arts and Crafts-style home for the Pyre family. “That movement grew out of a response…

1 Disney+ Series ‘Percy Jackson’ Casts Aryan Simhadri, Leah Sava Jeffries The “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series at Disney+ has found its Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase. Aryan Simhadri (“Cheaper by the Dozen,” “Spin”) will star as Grover, with Leah Sava Jeffries (“Empire,” “Rel”) set to play Annabeth. They join previously announced series lead Walker Scobell, who will play Percy. The series adaptation of the Rick Riordan book series was ordered at the streamer back in January. Production on “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” will begin soon in Vancouver. —Joe Otterson 2 M-Appeal Buys Erotic Love Story ’99 Moons’ Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has acquired the global sales rights to “99 Moons,” directed by Jan Gassmann, which will have its world premiere in Cannes’ ACID sidebar. The film centers…

One year into its original programming push, Roku is debuting its first major international title. This week, the company will launch “Children Ruin Everything,” an already popular Canadian series, on its free streaming service. Created by “Schitt’s Creek” and “Kim’s Convenience” alum Kurt Smeaton and produced by New Metric Media, the half-hour comedy revolves around young parents Astrid (Meaghan Rath) and James (Aaron Abrams) as they struggle to define their lives outside their roles as mom and dad. Roku snapped up the U.S. streaming rights for “Children Ruin Everything” last October, ahead of its January debut in the Great White North. The show was CTV’s No. 1 new comedy of the season and had the biggest debut for a Canadian comedy among the 25-54 demo since 2019. “We were so…

This year’s honorees were Kim Cattrall, Drew Barrymore, Venus Williams, Amanda Seyfried, Queen Latifah and Camila Cabello. The evening took place in the shadow of reports that the Supreme Court could be close to over-turning Roe v. Wade. “It’s atrocious,” Cabello told Variety. “Obviously it’s going to affect poor women the most. … The idea of having one moment transform the course of a woman’s life is tragic. And it’s tragic [that] the people affected are not having a say.” During her speech, Queen Latifah drew cheers and applause when she said, “If [women] weren’t so powerful, there wouldn’t be such a push to keep us in a place.”…

Pathé subsidiary Cinémas Pathé Gaumont — one of Europe’s largest exhibition chains — operates 133 theaters with more than 1,300 screens throughout France, the Benelux region and Switzerland. Which means that when it comes to market growth, this industry leader must look beyond building new multiplexes. “The network of theaters in our principal territories is now very dense,” says Cinémas Pathé Gaumont CEO Aurélien Bosc. “Our priority is to consolidate our position within those territories while revitalizing the filmgoing experience.” Since taking over in 2018, Bosc has overseen a strategy of inner consolidation and outward development. In 2019, the circuit owned by Jérôme Seydoux acquired the French group CineAlpes and the Benelux-based EuroScoop, adding 22 more locations to its roster. At the same time, Bosc and his team have seized…

To the degree that a global sales division can shape its own image, Pathé’s international arm has built and bolstered its current brand around strong IP, recognizable faces and unbelievable but true stories. To see those elements in play, one need only look to last year, when projects including Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” and Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel” lifted from world and film history as they showcased stars such as Virginie Efira, Romain Duris and Emma Mackey, while collectively finding homes in more than a hundred international territories. (In the U.S., for example, “Benedetta” sold to IFC Films, while “Eiffel” went to Blue Fox Entertainment.) To witness those same imperatives, but supercharged, one need only glimpse Pathé’s 2022 slate, which goes long on hometown IP and star power. “Being exhibitors ourselves, we…

As Cannes celebrates it first big get-together since 2019 with much of the traditional movie industry business model now being questioned, one thing, at least, has never been stronger: The drive by governments worldwide to lure big movie shoots. Powered by an exponential rise in demand, film and TV shoots are already big business. Total expenditure on shoots in France last year was valued at €2.8 billion ($3 billion), 30% up on 2019, CNC president Dominique Boutonnat announced at the recent Series Mania. Overseas shoot numbers are already rebounding from pandemic, with France’s Tax Rebate for Intl. Productions (TRIP) attracting 62 overseas shoots in 2021, 20% more than 2019. Expenditure was up 60%. Goosed by more incentive schemes, the locations industry looks set to build even more. In March 2021,…

Just as George Banks, Mary Poppins’ bowler-hatted boss sang nearly 60 years ago, bankers demand “precision” when they go to work. Without “order” there’s a danger of “chaos and moral disintegration … and a ghastly mess.” Well sung, given that the world today faces existential “disorder” as media and entertainment bankers wind their way to the 75th Cannes Film Festival. The past 15 years have already thrown outsized curve balls of their own at bankers and second-tier financiers, including the financial crisis of 2008-09, when the Masters of the Universe suffered from a Marvel-scale crisis — leading to a plethora of bank media and entertainment loan books being closed — and giving rise to a host of second tier financing operations. Fast forward to March 2020, even before the…

The 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival also marks the 25th anniversary of its partnership with luxury jewelry and watchmaker Chopard. Chopard artistic director and co-president Caroline Scheufele remembers fondly when Pierre Viot, then president of the Cannes Film Festival, asked her to create a new version of the world-famous trophy in 1997. “You can imagine my racing heart when he invited me to redesign a fresh interpretation of the Palme d’Or,” Scheufele tells Variety. “The following year, at the closing ceremony of the 1998 Cannes Festival, the new Palme d’Or was unveiled to the world in the form in which it still exists today.” For Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux, the 25-year partnership with Chopard is a relationship based on loyalty and trust. “Chopard is the ‘craftsman’…

For some cinephiles, Sicily may still conjure images from “The Godfather” franchise, but the Italian isle has long moved on. When you see Sicily on screen these days in movies and TV series made for global audiences, the narratives now seldom involve Cosa Nostra tropes as they once used to. What’s taking precedence for producers now is the sheer beauty of the Sicilian landscape in its plethora of forms. “For decades Sicily was where you would come to film stories that were centered around the Mafia and organized crime; but now this is changing,” says Sicilian Film Commission chief Nicola Tarantino. He notes that only 10% of the roughly 45 projects supported by the commission last year have anything to do with the mob. While the crime angle may have…

Although summer used to be a time for TV fanatics to catch up on reading, that’s not the case these days, with new content constantly rolling out —— even during what used to be the TV off-season. Networks and streamers continue to mine existing IP — HBO Max will bring “Harley Quinn” and “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” in July, while Prime Video has the highly anticipated adaptation of “A League of Their Own” and Netflix will debut “The Sandman.” There’s also a slew of unscripted content, as per usual. Plus, expect buzzy, sure-to-be-trending supernatural shows battling it out. (We’re looking at you, Disney+ and Netflix.) Below, Variety takes a closer look at some of this summer’s most anticipated new and returning premieres. Mark your calendars! • “Hacks” (HBO Max)…

As the production designer of “The Staircase,” HBO Max’s adaptation of the seminal true-crime docuseries, Michael Shaw had immense challenges in front of him, chief among them the series’ namesake. The show, which premiered May 5, explores the confounding circumstances of the death of Kathleen Peterson (played by Toni Collette), whose body was found at the bottom of a narrow staircase in the back of the North Carolina home she shared with her novelist husband Michael (Colin Firth) and their five children. Although the original French documentary series captures the Peterson family and their house in great detail, when Shaw first signed on, alongside set decorator Edward McLoughlin, he hadn’t seen the documentary — and didn’t plan to. “I wanted to read the episodes and interpret it as if it…

FILM REVIEW Director: Sam Raimi Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a busy place. With its crisscrossing sequels, superheroes who dart in and out of each other’s movies and labyrinth of laws and totems, it’s become a metastatic playground, the kind of place that even the most ardent comic book fans have to dedicate themselves to keeping up with. But if you’re the sort of viewer who surveys the Marvel landscape and thinks, “Nope. Sorry. Not busy enough,” the MCU has good news for you. It’s going to get even busier. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is an entire Marvel movie about the interface of parallel universes. In the first “Doctor Strange” (2016), Benedict Cumberbatch’s mordantly witty and self-obsessed Stephen…

From his office window, attorney Jon Katz has a direct view of the Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia, and for the past several weeks he has watched fans gathering outside to catch a glimpse of Johnny Depp. The trial pitting the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, is the biggest case Katz can recall in 20 years of practicing criminal defense in the area. He also does free-speech work — clients have included strip clubs, adult toy shops and the Westboro Baptist Church — so he has a professional stake in the outcome. “I want a verdict against both of them,” he says. Depp and Heard are suing each other for defamation. Depp alleges that Heard destroyed his career when she accused him of domestic violence.…

The Cannes Film Festival is back at full strength for the first time since 2019, and just in time to mark the iconic event’s 75th anniversary. While the 2021 edition of Cannes was a muted affair with the market going virtual — and the sale of Gerard Butler’s “Greenland” sequel to STX emerging as the hottest deal — this year’s market is back in person with a dynamic array of action titles and environmental thrillers on offer. Here are some of the top titles sparking interest from buyers. • THE BEEKEEPER Jason Statham leads what one buyer argues is the “most fun and broadly commercial” package hitting the Croisette so far. The action stalwart stars in the hopeful franchise launch as a former operative of a powerful group called The…

May 11 Wednesday • Eugenio Derbez, Samara Weaving, Max Greenfield and Betsy Brandt premiere their comedy “The Valet.” The Montalbán, Hollywood • Kathy Hilton and Rebecca Hessel Cohen host an afternoon tea party to celebrate the launch of LoveShackFancy’s home collection. Private residence, Los Angeles May 12 Thursday • “Dear White People” star Logan Browning hosts the inaugural LA Girls Rise, a fundraiser for Girls Inc. of Los Angeles. Paramount Studios, Hollywood • Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière hosts a fashion show and an after-party for the house’s 2023 Cruise Collection. The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, Calif. May 13 Friday • The three-day RuPaul’s DragCon kicks off with a ribbon cutting followed by a RuPaul DJ set. Los Angeles Convention Center May 14 Saturday • Millie Bobby Brown,…

The beating heart of Pathé U.K. is Cameron McCracken, the lawyer-turned-producer who’s been at the company for over two decades, with 15 of those years at the helm as managing director. It would be an understatement to say the industry has changed over that time. The production and distribution landscapes have morphed almost beyond recognition, and McCracken acknowledges that Pathé U.K. must remain flexible to stay in the game. That includes moving into television for the first time as well as being open to new models of distribution — including potentially forgoing theatrical exhibition. “At the core, we’re still a theatrical business,” McCracken says. “But we have to evolve to accept that the business model is shifting.” It wouldn’t be the first time Pathé U.K. has shifted gears under McCracken’s…

As the Cannes Film Festival celebrates its 75th anniversary, the concurrent Marché marches into its 63rd year (there were always deals done during the festival, but the powers that be made it official in 1959). The wilder, oft-times disreputable sister of the more sedate, ergo, more esteemed, official festival, there’s no shortage of tales when it comes to the Cannes Market. There’s no better place to start than Cannon’s “go-go” boys: Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Cannon flew 18 staffers to the 1986 festival and took over the Martinez Hotel, encircling it with body-guards. Cannon’s endless line of posters along the Croisette made the late critic Roger Ebert dub that year the “Cannon Film Festival.” “Golan [was] one of the last free-wheeling dealmakers at an event where a lot of…

In the early years of the 21st century, bankers to the film industry set their eyes on East Asia and headed for Hong Kong and Beijing. They could see that mainland China’s decision to open the film business to the private sector had the potential to be a game-changer. Multiplexes were being built, box office was growing and trans-Pacific co-productions were starting. But the revolution failed to happen, Asian film financing refused to become Westernized and debt financing of filmmaking remains a minority activity in the region. Film production in East Asia continues to be built on a foundation of corporate balance sheets (or self-finance) with a generous sprinkling of private equity. Large, structured funds remain rare outside South Korea and the region does not have the same subsidy culture…

Italy’s iconic Cinecittà Studios turn 85 this year and it’s never looked so young. The famed facilities, which in their Hollywood-on-the-Tiber heyday hosted sword-and-sandals epics such as William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” and were later home to Federico Fellini, are undergoing a major overhaul that now sees Europe’s largest LED wall situated on the lot near Fellini’s huge Studio 5. Known as Cinecittà’s T18 Virtual Production Stage, the 412-square-meter (4,434-sq.-ft.) semi-circular screen made up of hundreds of high-def displays that serve as interactive backdrops for actors on a smart set, is one of more than a dozen state-of-the art soundstages being built there thanks to a multimillion-euro cash injection provided by the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery fund. The revamp is being spear-headed by Nicola Maccanico, managing director of Italy’s Istituto Luce-Cinecittà,…

Producer and filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt has shot documentaries and five feature films in Sicily. Through his docs, he discovered that Bagheria-born Giuseppe Tornatore was highly influenced by the monsters of the Villa Palagonia, and that Francesco Rosi shot his movie “Salvatore Giuliano” on all original locations. Schmidt’s features shot in Sicily include 2021’s “Palermo. Gente,” of which he writes “I was filming the Sicilian way of life as it is represented in a small three-face statue: showing a girl, the devil and the death.” His impressions of Sicily offer compelling pictures of the island’s locations: You step out from your Agrigento hotel room to the terrace and there you are in front of the Greek temples. You walk down a little staircase to Palermo’s Catacombe dei Cappuccini, where the air-dried corpses…

TV REVIEW Comedy: HBO Max (8 episodes; 6 reviewed); May 12 Starring: Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Carl Clemons-Hopkins If you’re already a fan of “Hacks,” chances are you’re either in it for the prickly dynamic between Gen Z writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) and legendary stand-up comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), or you try to ignore Ava entirely to focus on TV veteran Smart playing the acidic woman writing her checks. In the first season of HBO Max’s Emmy-winning series, Ava’s senses of entitlement and disdain made her particularly controversial, even though she never escaped the consequences of her terrible instincts. As “Hacks” showed over and over again, watching Ava learn more from Deborah than she’d ever admit — and Deborah having to face the same truth in the reverse —…

Despite the optics of shirtless volleyball games and locker room sparring, you can’t make a “Top Gun” movie without a strong and emotionally centered woman. For “Top Gun: Maverick,” a sequel 36 years in the making, the successor to the original film’s Kelly McGillis is Jennifer Connelly. She plays Penny Benjamin, a character referenced in the first film, and love interest to Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Playing a single mom who owns an Air Force watering hole, Connelly brings new dimensions to an ’80s classic. It’s hard to believe you haven’t worked with Tom Cruise before. I had never even met Tom Cruise before. He’s so exceptional. Spending time with him, you understand how someone has been such a movie star for so many years. It was clear to…