Ana de Armas Receives Deauville Fest’s Young Hollywood Award, Pays Homage to ‘Cinephile Grandfather’ Who Gave Her ‘Big Dreams’

The life of Marilyn Monroe is one of Hollywood’s most enduring, intriguing and ultimately tragic stories, and it serves as the basis for Netflix’s film Blonde in which Ana de Armas stars as the beloved screen siren. Monroe passed away at age 36 in 1962, so those unfamiliar with the Some Like It Hot star’s tale will be wondering how Marilyn Monroe died.

Gearing up for phase two of the Oscar season even before we have even scratched the surfaces of phase one, the Santa Barbara Film Festival said Tuesday that The Whale star Brendan Fraser will be the recipient of its American Riviera Award on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2023.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent A trio of French films, the melodrama “A Family for 1640 Days,” political thriller “Goliath” and comedy “Adieu Paris,” are set to be released in the U.S. by the New York-based company Distrib Films. Both Fabien Gorgeart’s “A Family for 1640 Days” (“Une vraie famille”) and Edouard Baer’s “Adieu Paris” are represented in international markets by Le Pacte. “A Family for 1640 Days,” winner of the top prize at last year’s American French Film Festival, revolves around Simon, a six-year old adopted boy who is about to reunite with his biological father. The movie stars Melanie Thierry (“En therapie”) and Lyes Salem. Distrib Films is planning to release the film in early 2023 and have it play at festivals.

Emmy winner Jon Hamm seems like one of the good guys in Hollywood. In 2022, he gave up 60 percent of his salary to finance an extra three days of filming for the indie comedy Confess, Fletch which must mean he’s in a pretty secure position to make that sort of investment. Which leads fans to wonder what Jon Hamm’s net worth is and how much he made while filming Mad Men as Don Draper, one of his most legendary roles.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Simpsons” returns for its 34th season on Sunday with an episode loosely inspired by the Netflix docuseries “Don’t F**k with Cats.” Variety has a first look at the episode; scroll down to watch! That series, which won an Emmy in 2020 for outstanding writing for a nonfiction program, centered on a group of amateur internet sleuths who launch a manhunt to find a suspect accused of animal cruelty — and worse. In “The Simpsons” premiere, “Habeus Tortoise,” Homer visits the zoo and discovers that its 150-year-old tortoise has gone missing. He then becomes part of an internet group determined to find the truth behind the animal’s disappearance.

Netflix and Shondaland have released the first photo from the newly titled Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, the limited prequel series based on the origins of Queen Charlotte, from Shonda Rhimes.

Nestled behind luxury designer storefronts on the most famous street in Beverly Hills lies a new Mexican steakhouse that is already making a huge splash in the L.A. restaurant scene. The Hideaway is the latest hot spot from celebrity party producers Jeffrey Best and Ken Jones of Best Events, as well as nightlife titans JT Torregiani, Sylvain Bitton and David Jarrett of Warwick.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Zentropa Entertainments has unveiled the full cast of Nikolaj Arcel’s new epic historical drama “The Bastard” (previously known as the working title “King’s Land”). The movie has just started shooting.  Along with Mads Mikkelsen and Amanda Collin (“Raised by Wolves”), the movie will star Simon Bennebjerg (“Borgen”) who will play the Frederik de Schinkel, the local landowner and nemesis to Mads Mikkelsen’s character Ludvig Kahlen. Norwegian actress Kristine Kujath Thorp (“Ninjababy,” “Sick of Myself”) will play Frederik de Schinkel’s cousin Edel Helene, trapped in a deadly game between Shinkel and Kahlen of power and love. The cast also includes European Shooting Star winner Gustav Lindh (“Riders of Justice”) who will play pastor Anton Eklund, Kahlen’s unlikely ally.Other cast members include Jakob Lohmann (“Riders of Justice”), Morten Hee Andersen (“Ride Upon the Storm”), Magnus Krepper (“Queen of Hearts”) and Felix Kramer (“Dark”), among others. Believed to be Zentropa’s biggest feature films in years , the $8-million budget feature has already pre-sold to the U.S. (Magnolia Pictures), Germany (PLAION PICTURES), France (The Jokers Films), Benelux (September Films) and Hungary (Vertigo Media).

Ana de Armas needed to convince Netflix that she could be Marilyn Monroe. She was already the first choice of director Andrew Dominik, whose film “Blonde,” a surrealist vision of the life and death of the screen legend, had been reportedly cast with various leading ladies before alighting on de Armas, but “Knives Out” — the hit film in which the previously little-known performer sat at the center of the mystery — hadn’t yet come out. In 2019, few knew her name. De Armas brought her accent coach to the in-person screen test with Netflix. “I hadn’t had the training and the voice and everything,” says de Armas, who was born and raised in Cuba. “So my coach was crouching on the floor, under the table.” The stakes were high. “I just knew that everything we did that day was going to be the definitive test of the movie to be greenlit or not.” The scene was one in which Monroe pleads with husband Joe DiMaggio to let her move to New York so that she can “start from zero, away from Hollywood,” de Armas recalls; passion had to enter Monroe’s voice, all as the woman under the table fed de Armas the proper pronunciations of the lines.

Naman Ramachandran The Beckhams have paid fulsome tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was laid to rest after a lavish state funeral on Monday. On his instagram account, chef Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, who was on the cover of Variety‘s Power of Young Hollywood issue in August, posted several pictures of the late Queen and penned an emotional note. “There are no words to express my sadness at the loss of our esteemed Monarch, Her Majesty The Queen,” Beckham wrote to his 14.4 million Instagram followers. “Collectively, as a nation, we can only hope to show the world what she has shown us with her leadership and grace. It is our duty as the people of Great Britain to carry on her legacy within each of us, in all of our actions and how we live our lives. Amidst the sadness, we have to remember that this is also a time to celebrate all that she did for us. We will be forever grateful. Rest In Peace, Queen Elizabeth.”

Michaela Zee editor The first time “Blonde” star Adrien Brody saw Ana de Armas’ transformation into Marilyn Monroe was on set right before filming their first scene together. “I was transported to another time and place,” Brody, who plays Arthur Miller (aka The Playwright), told Variety at the U.S. premiere of “Blonde” in Hollywood Tuesday night. “I really thought she channeled [Marilyn] — she brought a nuanced, emotionally present [and] connected impression of her. I’m still blown away by it. It was really impressive.” Based on Joyce Carol Oates’ novel of the same name, “Blonde” presents a reimagined version of the iconic actor’s life, from the traumatic childhood of Norma Jeane Baker to her rise to fame as Marilyn Monroe. The supporting cast includes Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Julianne Nicholson, Xavier Samuel, Evan Williams, Sara Paxton and Scoot McNairy.

Ana de Armas is gracing the red carpet at the premiere of her new Netflix movie!

A new documentary series from Netflix is telling the story of the infamous thieves known as the Bling Ring.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” won the Grand Prize of the Deauville American Film Festival on Saturday evening during a ceremony which was followed by the French premiere of Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling.” “Aftersun” had world premiered at Critics Week in Cannes where it won a prize. The movie marks the feature debut of Wells, a New York-based Scottish filmmaker. Headlined by “Normal People” actor Paul Mescal, the bittersweet drama follows a father and his daughter who take a holiday at a Turkish resort in the late 1990s. The movie is being represented in international markets by Charades and will be distributed in North America by A24.

The closing ceremony for the 2022 Venice Film Festival just took place and the awards winners have been revealed.

Ana de Armas received a special honor during the latest screening of her upcoming Netflix movie Blonde!