7 Actors Almost Played Michael Scott on 'The Office' & 2 Turned Down the Role!

Robert Downey Jr.‘s closest friends and collaborators are speaking out about his life and legacy.

Naya Rivera‘s voice has been heard on a new song again for the first time since her tragic death in 2020.

Michelle Williams hasn’t been up to much since “The Fabelmans” last year, but that’s about to change. Deadline reports that the actress will star in and produce “Dying For Sex,” an upcoming limited series for FX.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic The Hollywood biographical drama — or biopic, to use the word that always makes it sound like a dental instrument — is enjoying its mega-moment. “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s three-hour epic about the father of the atomic bomb, proved that a story-of-a-life movie could be as big and coruscating as the cosmos; not so incidentally, it’s garnered Nolan the most ecstatic reviews of his career.

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are familiar with the running debate about who is the strongest Avenger. That’s one of those questions that has a lot of different answers, but we’re posing a different one today: Who is the richest member of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes based on their estimated net worth?

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with first-timer Alex Convery’s screenplay for the Ben Affleck-directed Air. 

While Edgar Wright has dabbled in action filmmaking before, a little with “Hot Fuzz” and ‘Scott Pilgrim,’ and much more with “Baby Driver,” he has yet to really do something that would be described as blockbuster filmmaking.

Peaky Blinders producer Caryn Mandabach Productions (CMP) is developing a historical drama series with BAFTA-nominated Elizabeth scribe Michael Hirst and End of the F***ing World director Jonathan Entwistle.

Robert Pattinson landed a star-making role playing Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise. However, he almost wasn’t cast over concerns he wasn’t attractive enough for the part.

Some of the world's favorite movies could have played out very differently on the big screen. Sally Field turned down the opportunity to be in "The First Wives Club," and Matthew McConaughey was passed up for the lead role in "Titanic." John Travolta was originally slated to appear in "Forrest Gump" before Tom Hanks was cast in the starring role. Steven Spielberg wanted Harrison Ford to star in "Jurassic Park" before the actor turned down the opportunity.

Todd Gilchrist editor In a year in which evaluating the contributions of writers became a major point of contention across the entertainment industry, Variety is especially pleased to announce its list of 10 Screenwriters to Watch. Some among them are scribes whose work has already made waves — cultural as much as commercial — with others on the precipice of transforming this year’s awards season and the broader landscape of film for years to come.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor Michael Fassbender is a two-time Academy Award nominee who trained at the Drama Centre London before touring with the Oxford Stage Company; he’s performed Chekov and Shakespeare and worked a veritable who’s who of greatest living directors. Rookie actor Kaimana had never even considered trying to be an actor, noting she avoided school plays “like the plague.” Yet the two form a winning pair in “Next Goal Wins,” the funny, touching, uplifting new film from “Jojo Rabbit” filmmaker Taika Waititi, hitting theaters Nov.

Friends actor donated a generous amount of money to his Parkinson’s charity.The actor, who is best known for starring in the Back To The Future franchise films, revealed in a new interview that Perry once gave a hefty sum at a benefit event for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.Fox, who founded the charity in 2000, two years after announcing that he’d already been dealing with the disease for several years, told Entertainment Tonight about the star’s kindness – and how the actor made the donation quietly.“I hope this isn’t indiscreet, but when the [Friends cast] first made their big sale and were made millionaires for the rest of their lives, he wrote a big fat check to the foundation,” Fox said.“We were really early on and trying to find our feet, and it was such a vote of confidence.”“And it wasn’t accompanied by any self-aggrandising or anything,” Fox added.

Film Movement has acquired U.S. rights to Maciek Hamela’s In the Rearview, winner of well over a dozen awards at film festivals around the world, including the top prize at Sheffield DocFest.

Kit Harington is back to work!

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Rockism, in case you don’t know the term, is the school of thought that holds the noisy “purity” of rock ‘n’ roll to be morally and aesthetically superior to the “corruption” of pop. There are numerous iconic examples of rockism.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 7 of “The Masked Singer,” “One-Hit Wonders Night,” which aired Nov. 8 on Fox. Money can’t buy you class, but “The Masked Singer” can buy you some well-timed publicity. Just days after she was seen at this year’s BravoCon, original “The Real Housewives of New York City” star and cabaret singer Luann de Lesseps — aka the “Countess” — was revealed on Wednesday as the latest celebrity to participate in Season 10 of “The Masked Singer.” De Lesseps was revealed to be Hibiscus, after performing “It’s Raining Men,” by The Weather Girls.

Bre Tiesi is clearing the air about the viral Michael B. Jordan comment.

The Hollywood Reporter, Parton shared that she had been approached with offers to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show on several occasions, admitting that there were times she simply couldn’t commit due to prior engagements. Other times, she doubted her ability to undertake such a massive production.Parton acknowledged the grandeur of Super Bowl halftime shows.“When you think about those shows, those are big, big productions,” she told the magazine.

Valerie Wu Intern SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the series finale of “Blue Eye Samurai,” titled “The Great Fire of 1657,” now streaming on Netflix. Season 1 of Netflix animated series “Blue Eye Samurai,” created by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green, ended on a cliffhanger. The city of Edo burned down, and mixed-race samurai Mizu (Maya Erskine) left white man Abijah Fowler (Kenneth Branagh) alive — despite her craving his death from the very first episode.