CAA Signs ‘Schoolmaster Games’ Director Ylva Forner (EXCLUSIVE)

Margaret Cho described feeling invisible as a bisexual woman because of the lack of representation and absence of leading figures in the media to whom she could relate as an Asian American and a  queer woman. Cho guest narrates the first episode of The Book of Queer, a five-part series that reflects on queer figures of the past, and their impact today and is a rousing celebration of queer joy. When asked what Pride Month meant to her, Cho asserted that it wasn’t about a singular parade or a short time taken out of the year to celebrate queerness. “I think that more than ever we have to celebrate ourselves and look to protecting our rights- whether that’s protecting trans kids, trans legislation or increasing our own visibility throughout the media,” she said. She declared it was vital for queer people to continue to be made visible and that through avenues like media and representation, LGBTQI -identifying individuals would be able to “maintain and advance our own rights and abilities to continue to exist and to thrive.” “My parents owned a gay bookstore in San Francisco, and I grew up in gay culture but the Korean society that we’re from doesn’t acknowledge queer culture. In fact, they still have gay pride parades in Korea but people are often not allowed to take photographs because they don’t want to have a witness to being there.

Naman Ramachandran “Agneepath” director Karan Malhotra’s epic “Shamshera” is gearing for a theatrical release in a post-pandemic moment when audiences are flocking back to cinemas.The film is set in the fictitious city of Kaza in the 1800s, where a warrior tribe is imprisoned, enslaved and tortured by ruthless authoritarian general Shudh Singh (Sanjay Dutt). It tells the story of Shamshera (Ranbir Kapoor), an enslaved man who became a leader and then a legend by relentlessly fighting for his tribe’s freedom and dignity.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStudiocanal has signed a film output deal with Scanbox Entertainment, one of the Nordics’ leading all-rights distribution banner. The pact will see Studiocanal’s current slate of films released in the Nordics, including Cédric Klapisch’s “Rise” (pictured), Claude Zidi Jr.’s comedy “Tenor,” Eric Lartigau’s coming-of-age story “This One Summer” based on the New York Times bestseller graphic novel of the same name, and Isaki Lacuesta’s “One Year, One Night” which was produced by Studiocanal’s Bambú Producciones and world premiered at Berlin.

KEITH JACKSON : At his most vulnerable point. The mob is gathering after Saturday’s horror show in Dublin and Clarke has no excuse for the ineptitude of that performance. He needs to get back to picking his best players because anything less than three points in Armenia could be catastrophic.

"Saturday Night Live" star Michael Che backed Chris Rock's decision to jump back into performing stand-up comedy following the infamous Oscars moment. Che admitted he was "annoyed" after Will Smith slapped Rock onstage during the 2022 Oscars ceremony.  The comedian noted that Rock was expected to give out the award after being slapped. "One of the things that annoyed me was when it was happening people were like ‘Oh well now he’s selling tickets,'" Che told Howard Stern.

Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson — whether you love them or hate them as a couple, there’s no denying they’re the hottest item right now. And where there’s something hot cooking, there has to be a chef that puts it all together. Send your compliments to… Michael Che!

Michael Che has a bone to pick with Pete Davidson!

Jordan Moreau Their first joint production received an Academy Award nomination. Now Oscar Isaac and Elvira Lind are ramping up Mad Gene Media under a first-look deal with Endeavor Content, hoping to build on the success of “The Letter Room” with a wide array of future projects. The married couple, who are raising two children together, are building this banner while Isaac stars in high-profile offerings such as “Moon Knight” and “Scenes From a Marriage.”“We’re not always on 24/7; I’d say 23/7,” Isaac says.“We never sleep,” Lind adds.The couple launched Mad Gene Media in 2019, and recently hired Gena Konstantinakos as head of development and production, after working with her on their Oscar-nominated short film.

Angelique Jackson Lamorne Morris has signed with CAA for representation.Best known for starring as Winston on the hit Fox comedy “New Girl” opposite Zooey Deschanel, Morris currently leads the hybrid live-action and animated series “Woke.” The second season of the Hulu series premiered in April and followed the aftermath of Morris’ cartoonist character Keef Knight being thrust into the spotlight after standing up against the white police officer who had racially profiled and assaulted him in the series premiere. The eight new episodes explored how Keef, an apolitical artist-turned-activist, grappled with the responsibility of gaining a following.“The question for Keef this season is, what else can you do? Are you a one-trick pony?” Morris told Variety TV business writer Jennifer Maas ahead of the season’s launch.

EXCLUSIVE: Multi-hyphenate Karena Evans has signed with CAA for representation.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Taipei Film Festival has named prolific writer-director-producer Kevin Chu (aka Chu Yen-ping) as the recipient of its Outstanding Contribution Award. During the 1980s and the 1990s, Chu made many popular memorable commercial films and discovered several promising new actors — Chu wrote the script of “Never Too Late to Repent” and won the best screenplay award at the Asia Pacific Film Festival. After that, Chu made this directorial debut, “The Clown and the Swan,” which was a critically-acclaimed box office success in which comedy actor Hsu Pu-liao established his name.

Kate Aurthur editor“If I may get a little graphic, the minute the fingering in the kitchen happens, people didn’t know what was coming next,” says Michael Patrick King.Indeed! King — the longtime “Sex and the City” executive producer, who runs “And Just Like That” for HBO Max — thinks the show’s fifth episode was a turning point for viewers on the matter of Che Diaz (Sara Ramírez), who became a divisive presence among the show’s fandom. During that episode, titled “Tragically Hip,” Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) gets hip surgery, and has to rely on her friends to take care of her during her recovery.

EXCLUSIVE: Emma Laird has signed with CAA. She was most recently seen her star-making role in the Paramount+ series The Mayor of Kingstown starring Jeremy Renner. The first season was huge success for the streamer and was recently renewed for a second season and will go into production this fall.