Bruce McKenna and John Fusco Join Philippines-Set Film Projects by Inspire Studios (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American and UK/IRE rights to the political comedy The Hater, from writer-director Joey Ally (Uproot, Are You Still Singing), in which she stars alongside Bruce Dern (Nebraska, The Hateful Eight), Meredith Hagner (Search Party, Palm Springs), D’Angelo Lacy (aka musical artist Black Gatsby), Ian Harding (Pretty Little Liars, Ford v Ferrari), Ali Larter (The Last Victim, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter), and Nora Dunn (Together Together, The Lost Husband). The independent distributor has slated it for a day-and-date release on March 18.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Novelist’s Film,” which Wednesday earned Korean director Hong Sang-soo the Grand Jury Prize in Berlin, has scored multiple rights deals. With Seoul-based Finecut handling the rights sales, the film was licensed to Ama Films for Greece and Cyprus, Mimosa Films for Japan, L’Atalante Cinema for Spain, Arizona Films Distribution for France and to The Cinema Guild for the U.S.Finecut also did European Film Market business with “Contorted,” an unorthodox horror about a family tragedy.

EXCLUSIVE: Professional basketball player and producer Jarnell Stokes has signed with Babette Perry at Innovative Artists, who will rep him for both on-camera and production deals.

Christopher Vourlias Music Box Films has acquired the North American rights to writer-director Martika Ramirez Escobar’s genre-bending “Leonor Will Never Die,” which won the Special Jury Prize for Innovative Spirit in Sundance this year after premiering in the festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition.The film tells the story of Leonor Reyes, once a major player in the Filipino film industry during its ragtag action cinema glory days, but now in her golden years and struggling to pay her bills. When she reads an advertisement for a screenplay contest, Leonor begins tinkering with an unfinished script about a young man avenging his brother’s murder at the hand of thugs.But after a falling television knocks her unconscious and sends her into a coma, Leonor finds herself inside her incomplete movie, re-writing and editing on the fly in a fantastical bid to complete the film while her body lies in limbo.

While it may seem massive, La La Land is a pretty tight-knit community (figuratively and literally). In Hollywood everyone knows each other, and not just by an acquaintance, some also by family ties.

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz will co-write and co-direct Spanish Dracula, the true story about how silent film star and Mexican actress Lupita Tovar found a second wind starring in  Spanish language versions of Hollywood films like the Universal classic Dracula. The Weitz Brothers are her grandsons, and they will produce through Depth of Field, along with Pancho Kohner. He is their uncle and author of The Sweetheart of Mexico, a memoir he helped his mother write about her most fascinating life.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe upcoming FX limited mystery series “The Retreat” has added 10 new cast members, Variety has learned.Clive Owen, Harris Dickinson, Alice Braga, Jermaine Fowler, Joan Chen, Edoardo Ballerini, Raul Esparza, Pegah Ferydoni, Ryan J. Haddad and Javed Khan have all joined the series.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorTo many, Dante Basco is known as Rufio in Steven Spielberg’s “Hook.” Reality TV fans will remember him on “Hell’s Kitchen,” but over the years he has turned his hand to producing, directing and writing.In “The Fabulous Filipino Brothers,” out now on-demand, he directs and stars, along with his brothers Derek Basco, Dionysio Basco, and Darion Basco, in the film structured as a series of vignettes following four brothers as their Filipino American family prepares for the ultimate Filipino event: a wedding.As the narrative intercuts between the wedding celebration in Pittsburg, Calif., and the vignettes that focus individually on the four siblings during the buildup to the big event, Basco worked with fellow Filipino American cinematographer Andrea Walter to deliver his vision. Says Walter, “Dante and I decided we wanted to give a different look for each brother.

Tim Burgess has announced that he’ll be hosting a special 25th anniversary listening party tonight (February 10) for Blur‘s self-titled 1997 album.The Charlatans’ frontman has been hosting listening parties for a multitude of albums on Twitter since the UK went into its first coronavirus lockdown back in early 2020.This afternoon he announced that Blur members Alex James and Dave Rowntree, as well as producer Stephen Street will be joining him and his followers tonight for a listening party to celebrate the band’s fifth album turning 25.‘Blur’ was originally released on February 10, 1997, and featured the singles ‘Beetlebum’, ‘On Your Own’, ‘M.O.R.’, and the iconic anthem ‘Song 2’.

Naman Ramachandran Zhang Lu’s “Yanagawa” (China), Hong Sung-eun’s “Aloners” (South Korea) and Fujimoto Akio’s “Along the Sea” (Japan/Vietnam) were among the top award winners at France’s Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas. “Yanagawa,” which opened the 2021 Pingyao Film Festival, won the Golden Cyclo, the festival’s top honor awarded by the international jury.

The 2022 Razzie Awards nominations are here.

Meghan McCain has slammed the 2022 Winter Olympics, branding them the "Genocide Games" over China's human rights abuses.MORE: Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie share disappointment over 2022 Winter Olympics newsThe 37-year-old took to social media to share an image designed by Chinese artist badiucao, which was created in protest of the host country. It showed an ice hockey player wearing the Chinese flag with blood on their stick and mask as they knocked over a Tibetan monk.WATCH: Meghan McCain announces departure from The View"I will not watch one minute of the @Beijing2022," she captioned her post, adding the hashtag, "#GenocideGames."On Twitter, she expanded on her opinion, writing: "There is no reason to watch a Winter Olympics that is holding up and spreading propaganda for a regime that is committing actual genocide and ethnic cleansing - on top of poisoning the world and killing 6 million people.

Meghan McCain has decried Whoopi Goldberg's recent comments on The View about the Holocaust, sharing that she is "heartbroken about what was said".MORE: Meghan McCain praised by fans for inspiring words about importance of 'listening to each other'The former TV star took to social media to share her thoughts in the hours after Whoopi apologized for the shocking remarks that have been branded "antisemitic". "I hate commenting on my old employer because I have moved in every way a person can move on," Meghan wrote.WATCH:  The View star Whoopi Goldberg alleges the Holocaust wasn't about race"That being said I am an activist against antisemitism and it is a big part of my life.

Naman Ramachandran France’s Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas kicks off Feb. 1 with a gala screening of Iranian auteur Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s 2001 Cannes winner “Kandahar” and will conclude on Feb.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have been "expressing concerns" to Spotify about Covid-19 misinformation amidst the Joe Rogan controversy.

The Office on the new film IF.The pair will star together in the project, which is directed by Krasinski, alongside Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve), Alan Kim (Minari), Cailey Fleming (The Walking Dead) and Louis Gossett Jr (An Officer And A Gentlemen).According to Deadline, the story is based on Krasinski’s original idea about a child’s journey to rediscover their imagination. The film was originally called Imaginary Friends, but the title has now been shortened to IF.Announcing the news on Instagram, Krasinski wrote: “Ah, what if one day I could assemble my dream cast? What… IF.”A post shared by John Krasinski (@johnkrasinski)Krasinski will write, direct and produce the project via his company, Sunday Night, through Paramount Pictures.

British boxing was suspended in January amid the coronavirus pandemic following a decision made by the British Boxing Board of Control but what the first month of 2022 lacked is made up for in February.

Elton John has to hit pause on the once again. In a statement released on his Instagram Story, the 74-year-old singer confirmed that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and has to postpone the Dallas leg of his tour.«Hi everyone, wanted to send a message to let you know that I have contracted COVID and so have had to reschedule my shows in Dallas,» the statement read. «If you have tickets, you'll be contacted with the new dates really soon.