Innholdsfortegnelse for 01/31/2024 i Variety

When Amy Pascal was toppled from her perch as Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairperson in 2015, the landing was soft. The longtime executive negotiated a lucrative four-year exit deal that guaranteed her two theatrical releases per year and the right to produce future “Spider-Man” movies. That meant Pascal would earn tens of millions of dollars in backend compensation from the next seven films in the Spider-Verse, pulling down $10 million for the 2018 “Venom” spinoff alone. The pact, signed off on by then-Sony chairman and CEO Michael Lynton, even provided Pascal with $10 million annually for overhead and discretionary spending. Over the ensuing years, those arrangements have gone the way of the Walkman. When Netflix film chairman Scott Stuber exits the streamer in March, becoming the latest film chief to pivot…

It happens after almost every show. As “Days of Wine and Roses” stars Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James are leaving the theater they will invariably run into an audience member with a personal connection to the story they’ve just acted out. “I’ll be signing autographs, and inevitably someone will come up to me and say, ‘Eight years’ or ‘Twelve years sober,’ and it’s incredibly moving,” says James. Like the 1962 Oscar-nominated movie and the 1958 teleplay that share its name, “Days of Wine and Roses” follows the marriage of brash public relations executive Joe Clay and his wife, Kirsten, a relationship that is fueled and later destroyed by their addiction to alcohol. It’s searing stuff — a story that doesn’t shy away from the wreckage that drinking can leave…

Every year, there are Grammy parties with jaw-dropping collections of stars that most mortals don’t get to attend. such as Clive Davis’ legendary Pre-Grammy Gala, the gold standard for starry assemblies. But Daft Punk’s epic 2014 post-Grammy fete at the ornate 1924-vintage Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles — after the duo won all of the awards for which their “Random Access Memories” album was nominated — was truly one for the ages. Although a rumor that Madonna would perform with the pair (Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) did not come to pass, there were top-shelf DJs including Questlove, DJ Premier and Todd Edwards playing from a balcony 50 feet above the revelers; a lit-up “Saturday Night Fever”-style dance floor; and a guest list to rival any exclusive Hollywood…

As the nominees for the animated feature Oscar were unveiled this year, one thing was clear: 2D and 2D-influenced animated films are dominating awards season. Among this year’s nominees, “The Boy and the Heron,” “Nimona,” “Robot Dreams” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” all used traditional 2D techniques or other methods to create a 2D look. Even the CG “Elemental” shows 2D influences across the many environments of Element City. And as the Academy nominates what might be helmer Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, it seems as though the impact of 2D is being recognized once again after CG having dominated the animation space for so long. The 2D animation of today isn’t quite like cartoons of the past. With new techniques at their disposal, filmmakers are expanding the visuals they can…

Letter to a Pig In this short, helmed by first-time Oscar nominee Tal Kantor, a survivor of the Holocaust writes a thank you letter to the pig that saved his life. As the survivor recounts his experiences to a group of students, one pupil drifts off and dreams a tragic version of the story. Kantor uses a mixedmedia technique that combines traditional 2D animation and paint animation on paper blended with video segments. A similar technique was used in the filmmaker’s previous project, “In Other Words.” The film is based on Kantor’s own personal experience as a schoolgirl in which she slipped into a dream after hearing a survivor’s story. “Both the survival story and the dream left such a powerful mark that they evolved a decade later into a…

Feud: Capote vs. the Swans TV REVIEW Anthology: FX (8 episodes; reviewed); March 5 Starring: Tom Hollander, Naomi Watts, Chloë Sevigny “Fags are the only people who are kind to worldly old women.” The quotation above is neither the most scandalous nor the most offensive line from “La Côte Basque, 1965,” the short story published by Truman Capote in 1975. But it’s the bit that best distills the themes of “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans,” a limited series that fictionalizes the story’s fallout among the author’s social set. Technically, “Capote vs. the Swans” is the second installment of “Feud,” one of producer Ryan Murphy’s many anthology shows on FX. But unlike “Bette and Joan,” the first season of “Feud,” from 2017, “Capote vs. the Swans” doesn’t revel in the rancor…

For Italian conductor Beatrice Venezi, 2024 kicked off on a decidedly sour note. On New Year’s Eve the baton-wielding Venezi, a friend of right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, was heckled at the Opéra de Nice by French anti-fascist protesters as she took to the podium. The incident reflected tensions rippling through European entertainment industry circles as far-right parties sweep to power in Italy and the Netherlands and gain ground across the EU. Italy took a sharp turn to the right in 2022, when Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party has neo-fascist roots, emerged the winner in the national elections. Since then her right-wing camp, which denies accusations of nostalgia for fascism, has moved to hold more sway within state-controlled media and cultural institutions such as broadcaster RAI, the Centro Sperimentale…

AWARDS CIRCUIT What should we make of the “Barbie” blowup? After the candy-coated phenom debuted last summer to glowing reviews and box office glory, it seemed like a certifiable Oscar juggernaut. Last week as the Academy Award nominations were unveiled, “Barbie” scored a perfectly respectable eight nominations. However, voters overlooked director Greta Gerwig and lead actress Margot Robbie in their respective categories, sparking a social media backlash that threatens to overshadow the awards. It’s disappointing that Gerwig and Robbie’s outstanding work didn’t make the cut, but some perspective is important here. If you’ve only been getting your Oscar analysis from TikTok and X, you’d be forgiven for thinking “Barbie” was shut out. Clearly that wasn’t the case. On one hand, I get the outrage. Female filmmakers still face an uphill…

“SOS” is the name of SZA’s Grammy-contending album this year. It might also be the emergency signal sent out by anyone whose job is to prognosticate the Grammys. All four of the top categories have two, three or even four plausible candidates out of eight nominees. But the wide field is part of what makes the Grammy competition arguably more fun than certain other contests, where the FYC blogosphere is snooze-ably able to detect the prevailing winds. At the Grammys, a vaunted “Adele vs. Beyoncé” battle can be decided with a “Neither of the above,” and a Jon Batiste can win the top prize after being forecast by virtually no one. It can feel like chaos theory in action, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. About the only…

Ten days before her 55th birthday, Kylie Minogue released “Padam Padam,” the first single from her 16th album, “Tension.” Since last May, the tune has become ubiquitous on social media, emerging as a worldwide anthem for the LGBTQ community and qualifying as the singer’s biggest hit of the streaming era. Named for the sound made by the rhythm of the human heart, it’s also become a drumbeat building to Minogue’s best chance to nab her second Grammy, for best pop dance recording. Her first came 20 years ago at the 46th annual ceremony, when “Come Into My World” won a similar category. As so many of her 1980s contemporaries have aged out, retired or otherwise faded from the musical landscape, Minogue has embodied the enduring power of pop stardom. Perhaps…

The After Misan Harriman, best known for his work as a still photographer, tackles his first short film, based on a story that he created and John Julius Schwabach turned into screenplay. David Oyelowo stars as an Uber-esque driver in the throes of grief and just trying to survive life itself. The project was accepted into the HollyShorts Film Festival, where it went on to win the best live action award, thus qualifying it for Academy Award contention. Harriman admits both joy over the nomination and adds that “through this film, we hope to share the message that it’s OK not to be OK.” Invincible Writer-director Vincent René-Lortie’s short film is based on the true story of his childhood friend Marc-Antoine Bernier, who inexplicably transformed from friendly to furious before…

At the nominations stage, the combination of juried and general voting now makes the BAFTAs the least predictable of all the major industry awards. Pretty much every top category this year is marked by a surprising inclusion or omission, with even some of the year’s most-nominated films falling short in unexpected places. Take Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with nine nominations including best film — but none for directing, writing or breakout star Lily Gladstone. Joining Scorsese on the sidelines: Yorgos Lanthimos, helmer of 11-time nominee “Poor Things.” Perhaps nobody is more disappointed, however, than the headline writers who were anticipating a “Barbenheimer” BAFTA showdown. Voters clearly sided with Christopher Nolan’s soberminded “Oppenheimer” in the summer blockbuster battle, nominating it across the board, while Greta Gerwig’s giddy…

Built for Comfort Procedural drama series have been the backbone of television since the days of “Dragnet” and “Perry Mason.” Even as viewers are inundated with new, edgy and artsy programs, they’re embracing sturdy shows that blend potboiler tales and indelible characters like never before. Whether on broadcast TV — where procedurals were the first wave of scripted series to return to the air following last year’s writers and actors strikes — or streaming platforms (hello, “Suits” revival on Netflix), audiences gravitate to close-ended storytelling about cops, doctors, lawyers, firefighters and other first responders. Indeed, just four days after the SAG-AFTRA work stoppage ended on Nov. 9, Wolf Entertainment got back to work on the nine scripted procedurals on its slate: three “Law & Orders” and three “One Chicago” shows…

On her new series, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” Maya Erskine plays a character her fans may not have seen her inhabit before — a grown woman. “I was so used to playing a 13-year-old with a bowl cut where no one would even glance my way,” says Erskine, speaking from the L.A. home she shares with her partner Michael Angarano and their baby son. She is best known for portraying a teen-age version of herself on Hulu’s Emmy-nominated “Pen15,” where she reenacted the pains and joys of adolescence opposite comedy partner Anna Konkle. Now, she’s updating the definitionally grown-up spy movie: “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” the 2005 film, was about tradecraft as a metaphor for marriage — even before its two stars, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, ended up together…

The State of the Race The 10 best picture nominees have been announced, with little surprise — in fact, the lineup matches the PGA Award nominations perfectly. Variety editors break down the final nominees and dissect their perceived strengths and weaknesses in taking home the top prize. American Fiction Adapting Percival Everett’s “Erasure,” Cord Jefferson writes and directs this film about a frustrated Black author (Jeffrey Wright) who unexpectedly becomes successful after writing a parodic novel that panders to Black stereotypes. Advantages: Consistent wins at festivals and from critics’ groups throughout awards season have kept this incisive comedy in the same conversation as its competitors. Jefferson’s feature debut touches on zeitgeist-y questions about identity, with the added advantage of offering something to laugh at as well as think about. And…

The ABCs of Book Banning In her directorial debut, documentary titan Sheila Nevins and co-directors Trish Adlesic and Nazenet Habtezghi examine the rising wave of book banning across America. The MTV Documentary Films short chronicles 100-year-old Grace Linn’s fight against the removal of more than 2,500 books, including Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” from numerous U.S. school district libraries. The short weaves together a montage of young students and authors who share their reactions to books being taken away from readers. “Access to truthful information is under threat. This not only affects one of us but all of us in all countries,” says Nevins. The Barber of Little Rock John Hoffman and Christine Turner explore America’s widening racial wealth gap in “The Barber of Little Rock.”…

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