Innholdsfortegnelse for 11/21/2023 i Variety

Cristiano Ronaldo has the most followers on Instagram. Elon Musk claims that title on his platform X (naturally). And Letterboxd has Martin Scorsese. When he joined in October, shortly before his film “Killers of the Flower Moon” hit theaters, the director quickly became the most-followed account on the burgeoning social media platform, which allows users to rate and review movies, create lists and follow their friends. The director — or whichever canny member of his team is behind the account — doesn’t use the platform as a viewing diary though. Scorsese’s inaugural post was a list of 59 titles cited as companion texts to his own work. In the weeks since, he’s shared a second list of his favorite widescreen movies. Scorsese will draw a crowd, but it’s still a…

One of the eternal mysteries of awards season is how to determine whether Oscar-worthy actors should compete in the lead category or in supporting. Is Lily Gladstone’s role in “Killers of the Flower Moon” significant enough to warrant a best actress nom? Is “The Taste of Things” star Juliette Binoche’s part “too big” for supporting? While stellar thesps split hairs over how they ought to be classified, another kind of performance has gone largely unrecognized — one that practically deserves its own category: best cameo. Like Alec Baldwin’s motivational speech in “Glengarry Glen Ross” or Christopher Walken’s watch story from “Pulp Fiction,” a brief appearance by the right actor can completely transform what audiences make of a movie. Here are our nominees for the surprise appearances that boosted this year’s…

Hollywood’s season of strikes came at enormous cost to the entertainment industry. It came in projects that weren’t greenlighted, sleeper hits not realized, breakthrough gigs not booked and paychecks not earned. But by the simple math of Hollywood’s true bottom line, there’s no other way to say it: The strikes waged by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA were a short-term financial gift to studio conglomerates that had already been listing because of streaming losses. The dual strikes gave the studios cover to hit the reset button on business plans that had already been scaled back. “In a weird way the strikes have been a mask for the deeper issues we’re struggling with — the costs of content, the quality of content and the eradication of several revenue streams,”…

WHEN THEY’RE BREAKING A STORY, Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij — a creative team who’ve been together since their first short film in 2007 — tend to work in the bedrooms of their Los Angeles homes. “We live in small houses on the Eastside,” Marling says during a visit to New York, “so we don’t have room for offices or studies.” Batmanglij jumps in. “It feels like pantomime to have offices with assistants,” he says. “Take it back to when you were a kid, building a fort.” In the months before the pandemic, Marling, 41, and Batmanglij, 42, were doing some fort-building — trying to pin down an idea they’d had the year before, and make it work as a story — when they stumbled upon a character who compelled them.…

Only a comedic mind like John Mulaney’s could mine gold from one of the lowest points of his life. The comic released his third Netflix special, “Baby J,” in April. In stark relief to his previous, more ebullient hours, his latest work examined his 2020 drugs relapse and the intervention that led to a successful stint in rehab. “Going to rehab and a lot of other things had become public knowledge, and I felt there was no way to start doing stand-up again without going through this,” he tells Variety now. “I also had a lot to say about it. It had been an extremely eventful time, and the goal from the beginning was to do this as funny as I could make it — not as impactful as I…

Focus, the end-of-year meeting place for the international production community, returns to London as a live event Dec. 5-6. With over 60 conference sessions and more than 150 expert speakers, the event’s ninth edition remains free to attend for industry professionals and embraces the increasing convergence of all screen sectors, gathering thousands of attendees across film, TV, advertising, animation, games and XR. “From the first few months of the year, we could feel that Focus was attracting more and more interest from the makers of all the creative screen industries,” says Jean-Frederic Garcia, managing director of Focus. “There is tangible growing interest in the event and we are very excited to be about to open the biggest Focus ever by quite a margin.” This year’s Focus conference program, presented in…

The umbrella company for all regional film commissions, institutions and private sector, coordinated by the Government of the Canary Islands through its Audiovisual Department. hello@canaryislandsfilm.com WHAT’S NEW ABOUT THE EXTRAORDINARY TAX INCENTIVES FOR FILM AND TV PRODUCTIONS OFFERED BY THE ISLANDS? As it’s well known, our special regime allows us to currently offer up to 54% tax incentive with a €36 million ($38.4 million) cap, one of the highest in Europe. Also, ceilings on fiscal incentives enjoyed by TV productions has been raised to €18 million ($19.3 million) per episode, without total limits on a series. A recent communication by Spain’s General Directorate for Taxes clarified that Canarian producers can team up with investors from Spain’s mainland and finance their film and TV productions, allowing them access to the high…

On a bright day in late October, the creators of the new Netflix anime series “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski, sit inside a Los Angeles arcade bar, trying to look relaxed. “This is going to be a relief,” Grabinski says. But he doesn’t look quite convinced. On its face, their show is the second adaptation of O’Malley’s beloved “Scott Pilgrim” graphic novel series, about the titular 20-something Canadian, his new American girlfriend, Ramona, and his quest to defeat her seven evil exes to stay with her. The first adaptation, of course, is director Edgar Wright’s 2010 cult movie “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” But even though the entire cast of that film — including Chris Evans, Brie Larson and Aubrey Plaza — returned to voice…

AWARDS CIRCUIT Memo to Oscar voters: Please don’t overlook these standout performers. Every awards season, certain performances shine brighter than others, dominating nominations and positioning a lucky few to accept some golden hardware. But what about those unsung heroes? We see them every year, actors whose brilliance might slip under the radar. In this year’s awards race, a couple subtler turns may be overshadowed by “louder” performances in more buzzy titles. Here are five under-the-radar acting contenders the Academy Awards should embrace. HOLT MCCALLANY “THE IRON CLAW” A quintessential “that guy” performer in the eyes of most audience members, this veteran character actor boasts more than 80 credits across a three-decade career, including turns in “Nightmare Alley” and Netflix’s “Mindhunter.” As the hardened patriarch of a family of pro wrestlers…

At press time, the 30th Annual SAG Awards are set for Sat., Feb. 24, 2024. The cautionary language is, of course, due to the fact the recent WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have already caused some awards ceremonies to move dates. But as of now, the show is set to stream live for the first time on Netflix. Here’s a glance at the only awards show where actors honor actors — and how the film and TV races are shaping up. Who are the voters? The SAG Award nominations are selected by two groups, each called the SAG Nominating Committee. Every year, two groups — one is for film and the other for TV — of 2,500 actors are selected randomly from among the approximately 130,000 active SAG-AFTRA members. Those committees…

After six months of strike-related stoppages, global production is set to resume in a massive way, as producers, execs and day-to-day facilitators anticipate an early 2024 surge in production that could very well last throughout the calendar year. Only (and tellingly) — despite such evident and abundant relief — all of those facilitators are also quite measured in their optimism. “I keep telling [my members] not to expect that same post-COVID insanity,” says International Location Managers Guild president John Rakich. “I don’t think we’re going to see that insane [post-lockdown stretch] of two years straight of just back to back work. That might be the case for a few months [as we deal with the bottleneck of productions ready to shoot] but ultimately this business is cyclical, and I want…

Charlene Deleon-Jones, leveraging over 20 years of cross-sector expertise, spearheads Film AlUla, pioneering sustainable growth and global recognition to the regions film and media sectors. ABOUT FILM ALULA Film AlUla is the Royal Commission for AlUla’s film agency, promoting and supporting film and TV production in the County of AlUla, in northwest Saudi Arabia. The untouched location of wilderness and natural beauty of AlUla opened its doors to filming in 2020 welcoming local, regional and international film and TV productions. Since its launch, Film AlUla has welcomed numerous local, regional and international film and TV productions. LOCATION AlUla is a vibrant and ever-changing city, home to approximately 40,000 people. The city reflects the natural, historic and cultural features of the breath-taking environment surrounding it, filled with art and inspiration, constantly…

HOW HAS FRESCO OVERCOME RECENT TURBULENCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL SHOOTS INDUSTRY? Since the new board was established in 2019, headed by Silvia Aráez, Fresco has stood out for handling all types of projects, knowing how to choose the appropriate teams for every one of them. Also, there’s the question of customer loyalty, of which we are truly proud. Both reasons meant that in recent difficult months, Fresco has worked more than ever on development: Evaluating budgets and tailor-made approaches for clients with more complicated projects than usual. Some of these projects have gone ahead; others have not to date, but we’ve already advanced alongside the production companies. We have strengthened ourselves as a potential destination because they now know our capabilities. WHAT EXPECTATIONS FRESCO HAS REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE…

Four days after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel, WME invited Steve Leder, the rabbi from Wilshire Boulevard Temple, to visit the agency’s Beverly Hills headquarters. He came to provide comfort for employees reeling after the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Although the event was not mandatory and Leder’s speech was considered secular, several staffers voiced complaints, which made their way to WME co-chairmen Richard Weitz and Christian Muirhead. Instead of caving, WME invited Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt to speak to the agency on Nov. 1. Greenblatt didn’t mince words, according to those in attendance, calling out the Writers Guild of America for refusing to issue a statement after the Hamas attacks. Across town, the agency’s fiercest rival, CAA, was dealing with a…

The comedy “Colin From Accounts” tends to surprise viewers who tune in expecting one thing, and discover it’s something else altogether. It’s a romantic comedy with a most unusual name (read on if you want to find out who “Colin” actually is) and has become a phenomenon first in Australia, then in the U.K., followed by the Nordic region and now in the U.S. via Paramount+, where it premiered this month. “Colin From Accounts” is written by and stars married actors Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, who are Australian but live in Los Angeles. It’s co-produced by CBS Studios, but it was filmed Down Under and has become an international awards juggernaut, including nominations at the Venice TV Awards and the C21 International Drama Awards and major wins at Australia’s…

All Eyes on Globes The 81st Golden Globe Awards are less than two months away — but what that will look like under new owners, and where audiences will actually get to watch the telecast, remains a bit of a mystery. This is a landmark year for the Globes, as it marks the first ceremony since Dick Clark Prods. and Eldridge Industries acquired the awards show’s assets, rights and properties from the now-defunct Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. (Variety parent PMC owns Dick Clark Prods. in a joint venture with Eldridge.) It also follows a major overhaul of the Globes’ management team and its membership body, including those who vote on the awards. Golden Globes president Helen Hoehne was joined in August by former Variety editor Tim Gray, who now serves…

Following on the heels of a 2022 U.K. ScreenSkills report, the British production industry has sought to bulk up, responding to an urgent decree that urged local players to ready 21,000 new technicians for 2025. Those suggestions have grown ever the more imperative now that the recent stoppage waylaid a sizable chunk of the local workforce. “[Once the strike ended] it was time for celebration — for a minute,” says Production Guild of Great Britain chair Bianca Gavin. “And then there’s a real challenge to make sure that we can service these productions [because] we have a long way to grow, to fulfill our potential.” On that front, expanding accessibility and workforce diversity initiatives should play a salutary role, creating new opportunities for skilled and promising practitioners. “We need to…

Rahim Charania and Cary Goldman are lifelong real estate developers. Throughout their combined 60+ years of experience, they have acquired and developed over $2.5 billion in assets. studio.info@cinelease.com THREE RING, AMERICA’S NEWEST MEDIA CAMPUS Cinelease Studios - Three Ring (CSTR), a joint venture development between Atlanta-based Woodvale and Chicago-based Timber Hill Group, is America’s newest state-of-the-art television and film production campus. The newly expanded CSTR now stands at nearly 600,000 sf, spanning 90-acres, and is among the largest studio campuses in the country. The Studio is home to 253,000 sf of purpose-built stage space, ranging from 10,000 to 48,000 sf per stage. It also features on-site lighting and grip services from Cinelease Studios Inc., heavy equipment from Herc Rentals, and various additional vendor support facilities. Together, these offerings provide a…

Noel talks to us about the UK’s newest film and TV studio, Sky Studios Elstree, and how it’s been purpose built to meet the needs of modern and complex productions from across the globe. contactus.elstree@sky.uk www.skystudioselstree.com CAN YOU FILL US IN A LITTLE ABOUT HOW SKY STUDIOS ELSTREE CAME ABOUT? Back in 2019 Sky had the idea to create a film and TV studio that would become home to some of the biggest, boldest, films and tv shows from across the world. I’m thrilled that we are now fully up and running as the UK’s newest film and TV studio. When you come onto site, you’ll see that we have left no stone unturned, every detail of the studio has been thought through with meticulous detail meaning that if you’re…

FILM REVIEW Director: Ridley Scott Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim A chyron that appears at the end of “Napoleon” — after two and a half hours of turgid, grime-encrusted spectacle — informs that France’s self-anointed emperor oversaw 61 battles, listing the six that director Ridley Scott opted to stage for our benefit … or for his own glory. The director’s motives are unclear, much like those of Napoleon Bonaparte as played by Joaquin Phoenix, who gives a mumbly and oddly anti-charismatic performance as the figure — short, slender and something of an outsider, owing to his Corsican birth — who came to rule France after the revolution. Here, from the master of the modern epic, comes an undeniably impressive technical achievement: a bombastic oldschool “great man” movie of…