After Huge ‘Blade’ Overhauls, Mahershala Ali Says He’s ‘Sincerely Encouraged’ by Where Things Stand and ‘Who’s on Board’ to Write and Direct

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Colman Domingo is having a banner year thanks to acclaimed performances in “Rustin” and “The Color Purple,” the latter of which opened to a triumphant $18 million on Christmas Day. But things were considerably different for the actor back in 2014. Despite being a Tony nominee for “The Scottsboro Boys,” Domingo couldn’t get his screen acting career off the ground.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Casey Kramer, the daughter of film director Stanley Kramer who acted on stage and screen, has died at 67 years old, her family announced. She passed away at her home in Chicago, Illinois on December 24.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zack Snyder is currently leading the Netflix charts with his space opera “Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire,” and he recently got a huge sign of support from none other than Christopher Nolan. In a profile published by The Atlantic, Nolan said Snyder’s influence on cinema is so dominant that part of his touch can be felt in any “superhero science-fiction film coming out these days.” Nolan served as a producer on Snyder’s “Man of Steel” (2013), which was based on a story Nolan cracked with his “Dark Knight” trilogy co-writer David S. Goyer.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Taraji P. Henson revealed during a recent SAG-AFTRA conversation moderated by Variety’s Angelique Jackson that she fired members of her team after her career hit a wall despite the global success of “Empire,” the Fox musical drama series that she starred on for six seasons from 2015 to 2020. Henson played the outspoken and ferocious Cookie Lyon, which won her a Golden Globe and earned her two Emmy nominations.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jason Momoa cast doubt on his future as Aquaman in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, and now DC Studios boss Peter Safran has weighed in by telling The Independent: “If it’s the end of the journey, fine. If it goes on, that’s also fine.” Both Momoa and Safran are waiting to see how big of an audience “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” pulls in before definitively calling it the actor’s swan song as the superhero. The original “Aquaman” movie grossed $1 billion to become the highest grossing DCEU film.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” star Leah Jeffries recently spoke to Essence magazine about how her casting as Annabeth Chase in the new Disney+ series initially generated backlash from some toxic fans. Racist trolls were upset that a Black actor was cast as a character described in the books as a blonde white girl. “The White Lotus” actor Alexandra Daddario played Annabeth in Fox’s “Percy Jackson” film adaptations.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Quentin Tarantino fans were sent into a frenzy in late 2017 after it was announced that Paramount and “Star Trek” producer J.J. Abrams had accepted Tarantino’s pitch for a new “Star Trek” movie and were working with “The Revenant” screenwriter Mark L. Smith to iron out the script.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Avatar: The Last Airbender” creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino spent two years developing a live-action adaptation of the animated classic for Netflix before they shocked fans by announcing their exit from the project due to creative differences. The decision left Albert Kim, best known as a writer on “Pantheon” and an executive producer on “Sleepy Hollow,” as the live-action series’ showrunner without the support of the franchise’s original visionaries.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director As 2023 draws to a close, Christopher Nolan is feeling pretty good about the state of the movie business. That shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise considering “Oppenheimer” pulled in a remarkable $954 million at the box office this year, beating every superhero movie and several major Hollywood tentpoles, like “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Audiences turning out in droves for a three-hour, R-rated and incredibly dense biographical drama as if it were a major action movie blockbuster has Nolan quite optimistic about the future. “I’ve just made a three-hour film about Robert Oppenheimer which is R-rated and half in black-and-white – and it made a billion dollars.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director George Clooney turned up as Bruce Wayne in the final moments of “The Flash,” but in no way does that mean he’s interested in playing Batman again. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight while promoting his latest directorial effort “The Boys in the Boat,” Clooney said the chances of him playing Batman again are less than slim to none. “I do not think there’s enough drugs in the world for me to go back,” Clooney said bluntly.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer are shutting down at least one fan theory about the upcoming ending to their blockbuster Netflix series. On the red carpet for the new “Stranger Things” play in London, the duo went on record to Metro saying the series will not end with a reveal that all the events in the Upside Down were just a dream. One fan theory about the “Stranger Things” ending alleges all the events on screen during the show’s run were actually just the main characters playing an elaborate and very long game of Dungeons and Dragons, a favorite among the characters since the show’s first season.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Andre Braugher‘s cause of death has been revealed to be lung cancer, the actor’s publicist confirmed to Variety. Braugher died December 11 at 61 years old.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Anne Hathaway appeared on the latest “Happy Sad Confused” podcast and called it “lucky” that her iteration of the “Barbie” movie never got off the ground considering the phenomenon that Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” became over the summer. Back in July 2017, Hathaway was announced as the star of Sony’s “Barbie” movie. Comedian Amy Schumer was originally cast, but Hathaway took over the role after Schumer departed.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director James Cameron revealed last month that he’s currently knee deep in the “very hectic” post-production of “Avatar 3.” Neither the director nor Disney is ready to unveil the title for “Avatar 3,” but it sounds like it won’t be “The Seed Bearer” as Cameron once considered. The titles for Cameron’s “Avatar” sequels have become social media fodder ever since November 2018 when the BBC reported the four movies would have the following names: “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Avatar: The Seed Bearer,” “Avatar: The Tulkun Rider,” and “Avatar: The Quest for Eywa.” Cameron told Entertainment Tonight in 2019: “I can neither confirm nor deny — alright, here’s what I’ll tell ya: Those titles are among titles that are in consideration.

Given this rising age of anxiety we’re in, where problems of uncertainty and instability feel like they’re global and yet local, intimate, and personal too, writer/director Sam Esmail’s unnerving global collapse thriller, “Leave The World Behind,” feels like it arrives at an all-too-perfectly timed moment. Its opening moments are arresting.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Casey Wilson said on a recent episode of her “Bitch Sesh” podcast that working with Tim Allen on an episode of his Disney+ series “The Santa Clauses” was “the truly single worst experience I’ve ever had with a co-star ever.” Wilson, best known for her roles on “Saturday Night Live” and “Happy Endings,” guest starred in the show’s pilot episode, which debuted in November 2022. “The Santa Clauses,” which recently finished airing its second season on Disney+, serves as a sequel to Allen’s three movies “The Santa Clause” (1994), “The Santa Clause 2” (2002) and “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (2006). “Tim Allen was such a bitch.

As we close the book on 2023, one of the biggest stories coming out of Marvel Studios this year was the reshuffling and uncertainty surrounding “Blade.” What was once announced with so much confidence in 2019, has now entered a place where it’s unclear if we’ll ever see it get made. Directors have come and gone.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor Since 1998, Variety has honored rising stars on its 10 Actors to Watch report, heralding artists who are experiencing major breakthroughs. The alumni group includes more than 35 Oscar winners and nominees, including Mahershala Ali, Adam Driver, Viola Davis, Lupita Nyong’o and Brie Larson.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Natalie Portman appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” to promote her buzzy Netflix drama “May December” and once again told “Star Wars” fans that she is more than open to reprising her role of Padmé Amidala on screen. Portman was just a teenager when she landed a leading role in George Lucas’ “Star Wars” prequel trilogy. Her first entry, “The Phantom Menace,” opened in 1999 when Portman was 18 years old.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Angelina Jolie told The Wall Street Journal Magazine that she probably would not become an actor if she was just starting out in the industry in 2023. She’d consider acting on the stage, perhaps, but certainly not a life and career in Hollywood. “I wouldn’t be an actress today,” the Oscar winner said.