EXCLUSIVE: Principle photography has begun on the WWII drama The Boy In The Woods, a big-screen adaptation of the wartime novel The Boy in the Woods: A True Story of Survival During the Second World War by Maxwell Smart.
11.10.2022 - 23:53 / variety.com
Michaela Zee editor “Americana Dream” has started production in Louisville, Ky., with all key roles cast in the forthcoming indie musical film. New Orleans-based singer Maggie Koerner will play Billie Carton, starring opposite Nashville-based music artist Sam Varga in the role of Lucky Fontana. “With this amazing cast of real-life Americana music artists, we are on an exciting creative journey that will seem both familiar and completely unsettling to the millions of people around the world who watch reality TV music competitions,” said director and co-writer Ate de Jong. The cast of “Americana Dream” also includes singer-songwriter Stephan Said as Ray Pursell, jazz vocalist Carly Johnson as Precious Blue, AJ Haynes as Lee Post and Michelle Malentina as Gabe. DJ Bombshell, Sylvia Walters, David Domine and Ian McConnell will play supporting roles in the film.
Variety exclusively reported in July that “The Voice” alum Mary Sarah was set to play Billie alongside Varga as Lucky and Jonathan De Azedo as O.D. Orozco. However, Koerner has recently stepped into the lead role. “Americana Dream” takes viewers behind the scenes of the film’s titular reality TV music program, where Billie and Lucky transition from competitors who crave money and fame, to a real couple, willing to sacrifice their dreams of success for love. “‘Americana Dream’ will make it clear that Louisville is one of America’s richest sources of Southern culture and stunning location,” said Variety‘s executive VP of global content Steven Gaydos, who co-wrote and co-produced the film. “I watched Austin and Nashville both emerge as must-see and must-be-there up-and-coming cities, and Louisville is actually overdue for the close-up the city is getting from
EXCLUSIVE: Principle photography has begun on the WWII drama The Boy In The Woods, a big-screen adaptation of the wartime novel The Boy in the Woods: A True Story of Survival During the Second World War by Maxwell Smart.
Lucy Simon, the Tony Award-nominated composer of Broadway’s 1991 musical The Secret Garden and sister of singer Carly Simon, died of breast cancer Thursday at her home in Piedmont, New York. She was 82.
EXCLUSIVE: Production has begun on the psychological thriller The Eye, starring Shruti Haasan (Salaar) and Mark Rowley (The Last Kingdom) from Fingerprint Content.
The Watcher star Naomi Watts has opened up about the show’s ambiguous finale.The actor, who plays Nora in Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series, shared her thoughts on the unravelling of her character alongside her partner Dean, played by Bobby Cannavale.Discussing the final moments, which see Dean spying on a new family in his and Nora’s New Jersey mansion after being stalked, Watts called it a “really dark” examination of the couple.The scene sees Dean then call Nora to lie and say he went to a job interview, not knowing that she was also watching the house in a car right behind him.“They feel like the house is going to solve their problems, and it ends up being the catalyst that causes a whole lot of new problems that they didn’t anticipate,” Watts told Entertainment Weekly. “Now, they’re just trying to figure out who the other [really] is.”Speculating on Dean’s motivations and his obsession with the Watcher, Watts added: “The cycle continues, and we’ve gone too far believing in this American Dream with such entitlement and the fear of no longer being relevant anymore if that dream isn’t realised.
Angelique Jackson Prepare for more Black lady hilarity as Robin Thede’s Emmy-winning HBO comedy series “A Black Lady Sketch Show” has started production on its fourth season. Created by and starring Thede, “A Black Lady Sketch Show” was renewed in June following a strong third season that netted two Emmys — one for outstanding picture editing for variety programming (a trophy the series has won in back-to-back years, with editors Stephanie Filo, Bradinn French, Taylor Joy Mason and S. Robyn Wilson honored for Season 3) and outstanding directing for a variety series (Bridget Stokes). The first three seasons of the sketch series have garnered 13 Emmy nominations and three wins.
Ryan Reynolds is adding another accolade to the list.
Antonio Ferme editor James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” explores the complexity of the American Dream — the idea that every citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work and initiative — from the perspective of a Jewish family in 1980. “In some ways,” according to star Anne Hathaway, the status of this idealistic pursuit has remained “very similar” over the years. At the same time, the actor pinpointed a notable societal change that she hopes continues to persist. “If there’s one thing that I really do hope that we keep coming to a different place about because it keeps coming up at such an impossibly high cost, is that we’re more willing to see ourselves as a part of the problem,” Hathaway told Variety on Wednesday night at the “Armaggedon Time” New York Film Festival premiere. “Not in a fragile way, but in a way that we can affect change by changing ourselves.”
Kelsea Ballerini, Carly Pearce and Jessie James Decker wore super bright colors on the red carpet for the 2022 CMT Artists Of The Year!
Texas police have taken a couple's son into custody as a person of interest in his parents' double murder. Johnson County Deputies on Oct. 5 conducted a welfare check on Michael Scarlett, 66, and Kay Scarlett, 68, after receiving a phone call from a concerned family member who was unable to get in touch with the couple, according to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO).
Critics slammed Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday for referring to America's youth as "our children" during her interview with late night talk show host Seth Meyers. "When you see our kids, and I truly believe that they are our children, they are the children of our country, of our communities, I mean, our future is really bright if we, if we prioritize them, and therefore prioritize the climate crisis and the need to address it. If we think about our children, prioritizing the need to bring our country together," Harris said. Harris and Meyers were discussing a photo of the vice president surrounded by children in a classroom in Connecticut.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Production is underway in Italy on the Italian instalment of Prime Video’s global “Citadel” spy thriller franchise, produced by the Russo Brothers, with Matilda De Angelis cast as the lead. De Angelis, a rising Italian star, made her international breakthrough in Susanne Bier’s “The Undoing,” alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. She more recently appeared with Liev Schrieber in the Ernest Hemingway adaptation “Across The River and Into The Trees,” directed by Paula Ortiz. The “Citadel” start-of-production in Italy and casting announcement was made at Rome’s MIA content market during an Amazon Studios panel.
The case of Cassie Carli just got a whole lot murkier.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Financial companies that boycott the energy industry are pushing "anti-American" political agenda, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt told Fox News. "ESG is kind of rewriting how you invest.
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, 20th Century’s latest installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise, has begun production at Disney Studios Australia, formerly known as Fox Studios Australia, in Sydney, New South Wales.
The victims of a California kidnapping and murder scheme were Punjabi immigrants who came to the United States and "worked tirelessly for 18 years to achieve safety, security, and community for themselves and their families," a new GoFundMe for the family states. "This is the story of our shared American dream gone wrong," Jaspreet Kaur, who organized the GoFundMe for her family, states. "[O]ur loving family was violently taken away from us on October 3rd.
Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior Correspondent Vanessa Hudgens is going on a spiritual, supernatural journey — and wants to take viewers with her. Hudgens teamed up with Bunim-Murray Productions to produce an unscripted film, “Dead Hot: Season of the Witch,” Variety has learned exclusively. The project documents Hudgens’ journey in Salem, Mass., along with her best friend, musician GG Magree, as they set out to learn about witchcraft, ghost hunting and connecting with the spirit world. “Dead Hot” is in post-production, and the project is currently being shopped to outlets. Banijay Rights, the international distribution division of Banijay (which owns Bunim-Murray), is handling distribution.
A 2022 Boston Beer brewing master has been crowned. Baltimore, Maryland-based brewery Checkerspot Brewing Company has been named the winner of Samuel Adams’ 11th Brewing the American Dream experienceship. Checkerspot will make its first appearance as Boston Beer’s newest champion at the Great American Beer Festival this weekend in Denver, Colorado.
Remembering an icon. Country music stars and more celebrities paid tribute to the late Loretta Lynn after her death at age 90.
Manori Ravindran International Editor Richard Linklater’s action comedy “Hitman” has begun production in New Orleans for AGC Studios, with actors Austin Amelio, Retta and Molly Bernard joining the cast. “Hitman” stars Glen Powell and Adria Arjona, and was announced ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, where it was first introduced to buyers. Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios is co-financing the movie with leading indie financiers Shivani Rawat’s ShivHans Pictures and Monarch Media. Powell, who plays Hangman in Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” stars in the project as a Houston cop who’s been working undercover as the most in-demand hitman in Houston, until one day he breaks protocol in order to help a desperate woman (Arjona) trying to escape an abusive boyfriend. The project is based on a Texas Monthly article.