‘Bonnie’ Review: A Legendary Casting Director Gets Her Own Doc, But It’s Maybe More Fawning Then Insightful [Venice]

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova (Borat 2) has been set to star with Daryl Wein (Something From Tiffany’s), Jack Farthing (Poldark), and Abigail Cowen (Fate: The Winx) in under-the-radar drama-thriller Electra, which has begun production in Italy.

The mayor of a small northwest Georgia town has died in what’s being described as a freak accident.

EXCLUSIVE: TheFrontOffice Foundation, the charitable arm of director/producer Wendy C. Goldberg’s TheFrontOffice entertainment company, announced today that it will award a $25,000+ mid-career grant to a female identifying theater director, one of the largest financial awards given to an individual director.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Otmara Marrero (“Start-Up”) and Katie Clarkson-Hill (“Hanna”) are set to star in Catalyst Studios actioner “Switch & Bait.” Directed by Michelle Saledo, the pic is the first project of Catalyst Studios to begin physical production. Catalyst launched its banner in May with an initial slate of six feature films directed, produced and centered on female protagonists. Principal photography began in Belgrade, Serbia, this past week. Megan Messmer and Veronica Caicedo are producing, while Catalyst Studios’ Holly Levow, Mark Pennell and Paul Kampf are executive producing. Highland Film Group is handling the worldwide sales on the title.

Married At First Sight is set to get even more explosive as a teaser at the end of Thursday night’s show left one contestant feeling uneasy and questioning a lot. Gemma Rose, who is currently married to Matt Murray, was left unimpressed by some behaviour as she told pals Adrian and Thomas about her “gut instinct”. She said: “I’m questioning whether there’s more to this story.” Gemma added: “My gut instinct is going crazy”.

Like The Conners and Two And a Half Men, ABC’s The Goldbergs dealt with the controversial exit of a lead actor by killing their character off screen.

The billionaire business mogul Mike Ashley will step down from his role as director of Frasers Group, the company that owns Sports Direct.

At this point, we’ve all seen enough documentaries about 20th-century musical geniuses that the average viewer could direct one in their sleep: archival footage of the greatest-hits performances, behind-the-scenes clips showing the snatches of solitary humanity underneath the currents of history, and some interviews with loved ones and collaborators that go beyond the image to a subject’s vulnerable core. Tried-and-true as the template might be, Brett Morgen also finds it fatally boring, and endeavors to chart a less clear-cut path with his films.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The ongoing overhaul of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios is getting traction thanks to booming demand from international productions just as the number of sound stages increase, prompting realistic prospects of turning a profit by end of 2022, which is a year earlier than planned. Cinecittà has been undergoing a radical revamp devised by managing director Nicola Maccanico since June 2021, when European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Italian premier Mario Draghi (pictured above at Cinecittà) jointly visited the iconic studio lot and held a press conference in its vast Studio 5 — known as the late, great filmmaker Federico Fellini’s second home — to announce a €300 million ($300 million) investment to meet the growing international demand for studio space,

Watching Peter Farrelly’s new film, The Greatest Beer Run Ever, and knowing little about it going in, I kept thinking this would be a totally absurd, beyond belief story if it isn’t one that really happened. By the end I saw it is indeed 100% true, proving life can sometimes be stranger than fiction.  As such it turns out to be one of the more memorable, and certainly heartfelt movies this year, as well as a Vietnam War movie that couldn’t be further from The Deer Hunter, Platoon, and Apocalypse Now,  but a character-driven drama that defies logic but makes you believe once again in the power of the human spirit. This is the rare Vietnam film seen from the POV of a civilian, a key reason it works as well as it does.

It was a big night for HBO’s runway hit The White Lotus at the 2022 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning nearly all the major categories it was nominated in. Sydney-born out gay Australian actor Murray Bartlett took home Emmy for best supporting actor in a limited series, while co-star and gay icon Jennifer Coolidge won the best supporting actress in a limited series. In his acceptance speech, Bartlett thanked White for “giving me one of the best experiences of my life” and gave a shout out to his mom. “I just want to thank my mom all the way home in Australia for giving me the most wonderful foundation of unconditional love. And inspiring me to believe that we can all do that for each other.

The White Lotus breakout star Murray Bartlett claimed the first Emmy of his career tonight, for his outlandish role as Armond, the ingratiating but conniving luxury hotel manager in the HBO limited series.

Mourning a friend. Tori Spelling is among the celebrities grieving casting director Scout Masterson, who died suddenly at age 48.

Endeavor Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel says the pledges by many media execs to rein in content spending amid a broader streaming rethink have yet to have an impact on his company.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian director Paolo Virzì (“Human Capital,” “Like Crazy”) is in Venice where his dystopic drama “Siccità,” which means drought in Italian, is premiering out-of-competition. The innovative pic, which features an A-list ensemble cast comprising Monica Bellucci, Sara Serraiocco (“Counterpart”) and Silvio Orlando (“The Young Pope”), is set amid a protracted drought caused by climate change in the Italian capital where the Tiber has dried up. Virzì spoke to Variety about how “Siccità” germinated during COVID-19 and was shot amid tight pandemic protocols. Excerpts. You worked with novelist and screenwriter Paolo Giordano on the concept and the script for this film. How did the collaboration start?

Marta Balaga Casting director Bonnie Timmermann, behind such films as “Heat” and “Dirty Dancing,” finds herself on the opposite side of the camera in Venice doc “Bonnie,” directed by Simon Wallon. Brian Cox, Mark Ruffalo, Benicio del Toro and Melissa Leo are featured, while Kinology is handling sales. “It’s almost as if she was the one being auditioned. I wanted to treat her almost like a character in a movie. She is looking straight into the eyes of the audience,” says Wallon. Adapting to the new role was hard, Timmermann tells Variety in Venice, but luckily it came with some perks.

Nicole Byer is confirming a big rumor.

Laverne Cox is hosting the special “If We’re Being Honest”, and among those she interviews are standup comic and “Nailed It!” host Nicole Byer.