Variety 12/14/2023

Stardom came early for Zac Efron via the kind of pop culture hit that inevitably defines a young actor’s career. To his credit, Efron has worked hard over the past decade and a half to make sure that his work is not overshadowed by the triple-threat Troy Bolton character he played in the 2006 Disney Channel movie “High School Musical.” In his sit-down with Daniel D’Addario, Variety’s chief correspondent, Efron is candid and thoughtful about the arc of his professional journey and what that has meant for his personal life. For his latest movie, A24’s “The Iron Claw,” Efron went through a classic thespian transformation that demonstrated his extraordinary commitment to the role. As he explains, it’s not that easy to put on 15 pounds of muscle, as was required…

Chief correspondent Daniel D’Addario spent his flight to Los Angeles to meet Zac Efron catching up on his movies, including the raunchy comedy “Dirty Grandpa.” Senior entertainment writer Adam B. Vary enjoyed moderating two Directors on Directors conversations and will never forget Ari Aster saying to Yorgos Lanthimos, “So this man over here is asking us to discuss the nudity.” Cover photographer Chantal Anderson says, “Zac Efron brought such a refreshing openness to our shoot. I loved discussing his time prepping for ‘The Iron Claw,’ and hearing about what’s next for him.” For photographer Dan Doperalski, the highlight of shooting Directors on Directors was not only meeting so many giants of cinema but also capturing their excitement and passion for each other’s work.…

Broadcast pilot season was already mostly dead when the Hollywood strikes came along. But to paraphrase Billy Crystal in “The Princess Bride,” “There’s a big difference between ‘mostly dead’ and ‘all dead.’ Mostly dead is slightly alive!” And that’s where pilot season now stands: Mostly dead — and yet still stubbornly, slightly alive. A relic of a bygone TV era, broadcast pilot season has been on the chopping block for years as networks aimed to get out of that springtime crunch by focusing on year-round development. The fact is, pilot season was already so disrupted there was not much left to disrupt, strikes or no strikes. After all, last pilot season saw the broadcast networks pick up just six shows out of their combined 14 pilots. Compare that to pre-pandemic…

Is the Saudi-Hollywood love affair back on? Judging by the third edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival, which wrapped on Dec. 9, the answer is yes. A parade of stars including Will Smith, Michelle Williams, Chris Hemsworth, Johnny Depp and Halle Berry made the trip to Jeddah even as the Israel-Hamas conflict raged just 700 miles north. This year’s guest list signals a dramatic reversal from five years ago, when Hollywood’s outrage campaign was in full swing following the murder of The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi government agents. In the aftermath, Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel cut ties with the kingdom, returning its $400 million investment just six months after courting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his visit to Los Angeles. While enticing…

I first met Norman Lear through my mentor and friend Jerry Perenchio, who was Norman’s former business partner. Jerry introduced Norman as “somebody exceptional,” and he was right. Norman had a big heart, and he wasn’t going to hurt you. But you had to absolutely be alert, because he was not going to give you a pat conversation. He just had this special uncanny ability to be witty almost all the time. It was that way 30 years ago, and that’s the way he was when he was 101. I remember the first time I got invited to Norman’s house, for a dinner party about 25 years ago. I was so excited to go see Norman and Lyn at their house, and when I arrived, there were probably 12 people…

It’s rare that a creator is lucky enough to see their work come back in style, getting the chance to observe their own influence. It’s rarer still that they get to participate in that revival. The career of producer, writer and political activist Norman Lear was exceptional in countless ways, most famously for seizing third rails like abortion and racial prejudice on the airwaves. Yet there’s also the longevity and vitality — not only of Lear himself, who died last week at 101 and remained active almost to the end, but also his work, a signature style of issue-driven, emotional-realist comedy that saw a resurgence in his final decades. The most obvious example of this longevity is “One Day at a Time.” In its first incarnation, the series was part…