Variety 6/7/2023

We’re extremely proud of the latest edition of our favorite awards franchise. Actors on Actors returns in time for Emmy season, as we celebrate the performers of the biggest shows of this past year — from “Succession” to “The White Lotus” to “Abbott Elementary” to “The Bear.” Through all the ups and downs of a challenging 2023, these 26 actors remind us why great story-telling still matters. If you thought this was going to be a slow summer for Hollywood, the early days of June proved that theory wrong. Just before midnight on Saturday, the DGA reached a tentative three-year deal with the studios — averting at least one other strike. Now all eyes are on SAG-AFTRA. For its part, the WGA issued a statement that the DGA deal won’t…

This is editor-at-large Kate Aurthur’s eighth time as an Actors on Actors moderator — and while she loved doing all of them, before the Katherine Heigl-Ellen Pompeo conversation, she told them, “This is my Super Bowl.” When senior TV features editor Emily Longeretta began preparing to moderate her first Actors on Actors, she discovered a unique connection between one pairing — and surprised them with it during the conversation. Reporter Selome Hailu’s first time as an Actors on Actors moderator was for a conversation between Jenna Ortega and Elle Fanning, who had never been featured in the franchise. Before cameras began rolling, Ortega nervously joked, “We’re all virgins!” Frequent Variety contributor Greg Swales photographed our Actors on Actors pairings in Los Angeles from April 21 to April 23. “My favorite…

In October 2017, Bryan Singer appeared energetic and in control as he welcomed Olympic diver Greg Louganis and Queen guitarist Brian May on the London set of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” But behind the scenes, chaos reigned. The onetime Hollywood wunderkind’s career was about to unravel, as Fox executives were growing weary of Singer’s prolonged absences and erratic behavior. On Dec. 4, Fox pulled the trigger and fired Singer, replacing him with Dexter Fletcher. As Louganis and May smiled for photos with the acclaimed director, it marked one of Singer’s last known days on a film set. Getting fired from “Bohemian Rhapsody” was a public humiliation for a filmmaker who had racked up hit after hit. But a series of personal scandals would dwarf that professional setback. Over the ensuing five and…

The Tribeca Festival excised “Film” from its name in 2021, and while it’s true that the annual celebration of all things entertainment has expanded to include plenty of television and immersive programming, the movies make it a must-attend event. This year’s lineup is no exception. It has big-name actors such as Michael Shannon and Jennifer Esposito trying their hand at directing, along with revelatory performances from stars like Nick Jonas. But what makes Tribeca so exciting is that it’s a springboard for bold new voices (keep your eyes on So Young Shelly Yo, making her feature directorial debut). As the fest gets ready to kick off on June 7, here are nine movies not to be missed. FIRST TIME FEMALE DIRECTOR Chelsea Peretti, who stole scenes as the social media-obsessed…

In June, two superhero movies plunge headlong into the multiverse — Sony’s animated “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and Warner Bros.’ live-action “The Flash” — further strengthening the narrative conceit’s variegated grip on Hollywood story-telling. In the former, newbie Spider-Person Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) learns of the Spider Society, a team of Spider-People who’ve come together from across the multiverse and are led by the driven Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), aka Spider-Man 2099. In the latter, Scarlett Speedster Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) uses his speed force to go back in time to save his mother’s life, accidentally creating a brand-new parallel universe in which Michael Keaton’s version of Bruce Wayne is still Batman. Never to be outdone, Marvel Studios has two multiverse projects in 2023: February’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,”…

AWARDS CIRCUIT We write about everyone else’s awards shows all the time, so I’d like to take a moment to let Variety take a victory lap for its recent record 96 nominations for the Los Angeles Press Club’s SoCal Journalism Awards. My colleagues earning Journalist of the Year nods in various fields include Tim Gray, Clayton Davis, Owen Gleiberman, Chris Willman and Daniel D’Addario. And humble brag alert: I received nine nominations myself this year. Now it’s my turn to say, “For Your Consideration.” I bring all this up not just to boast, but also to note that one category in which I was nominated was “Feature, under 1,000 words,” for a piece about how Netflix revived the comedy “Girls5eva” after it was canceled by Peacock. It was a…