Composer Carter Burwell Taps Into Darkly Human Sound With Oscar-Shortlisted Score For ‘The Tragedy Of Macbeth’ – Hear An Exclusive Track

In just a few days the Winter Olympic Games begin in Beijing, a massive event China will use to present an idealized image of itself to the world.

Belgium’s Oscar-shortlisted International Feature is an intimate child’s-eye view of bullying from debut writer-director Laura Wandel. Playground is known as Un Monde in its native French language, and this is set in a world of its own: the school that two siblings must navigate to get through the day.

Collective earned an Oscar nomination last year for documenting the work of brave investigative reporters in Romania. This year, one of the feature documentaries in contention for Oscar recognition focuses on another group of crusading journalists — the staff of Khabar Lahariya, India’s only newspaper run entirely by women.

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read unless you have watched Apple and A24’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” which is now playing in select theaters and streaming on Apple TV Plus. In “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” Denzel Washington plays the titular Lord Macbeth — a Scottish nobleman whose last grasp at power ultimately leads to his downfall.In addition to memorizing Shakespeare’s powerful soliloquies (“It this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?”), the Academy Award winning actor and many in the troupe, including Corey Hawkins (Lord Macduff) and Alex Hassell (Ross), were also required to brush up on their dueling skills for the production, adapted and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Joel Coen.

Panama makes its debut on the International Feature Oscar shortlist with the character-driven thriller Plaza Catedral. This contender from Abner Benaim (Ruben Blades Is Not My Name) is a taut two-hander between a grieving mother and a young street hustler, with a sobering message about corruption and violence. Samuel Goldwyn Films recently acquired the title.

As voters across the Academy branches mull over their Oscar nomination ballots, among the films they’re considering are two that deal with the Deaf experience. One, CODA, is the fictional coming of age story of a girl raised by Deaf parents. The other – Audible – tells a coming of age story as well, but this one is real.

In one of Syrian-born artist Mohamad Hafez’s stunning 3D pieces, a figurine of the Virgin Mary stands before an ornate portal, her hands joined in prayer. The building around her, rendered in plaster, paint, rusted metal and found objects, is blasted to ruins.

Clayton Davis The Writers Guild of America Awards announced its 2022 nominations, where huge boosts were given to films such as “Being the Ricardos,” “Don’t Look Up,” “The French Dispatch,” “King Richard” and “Licorice Pizza” in original screenplay.Adapted screenplay includes “CODA,” “Dune,” “Nightmare Alley,” “Tick, Tick … Boom!” and “West Side Story.” Missing from the lineup are “C’mon C’mon” from Mike Mills and “The Tragedy of Macbeth” from Joel Coen.On the adapted screenplay side, notable awards contenders that were ineligible included “Benedetta” (IFC Films), “Cyrano” (MGM/United Artists Releasing), “Drive My Car” (Janus Films/Sideshow), “The Lost Daughter” (Netflix), “Passing” (Netflix), “The Power of the Dog” (Netflix), “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony Pictures) and “Zola” (A24).

Angelique Jackson WarnerMedia OneFifty has acquired the short films, “Namoo” and “When the Sun Sets,” to be released on HBO Max.Both films are shortlisted to be nominated for the 2022 Academy Awards, with “Namoo” as a contender in the animated short film category and “When the Sun Sets” in the live-action short film category. The nominations will be formally announced on Feb.

Naman Ramachandran Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei’s documentary short “Three Songs for Benazir” is that rare love story that dares to find hope beyond war.After winning numerous awards worldwide, the film, produced by Omar Mullick (“These Birds Walk”) alongside Hamayoun Noori and Jamil Rezaei, was snapped up by Netflix. It is also shortlisted in the Academy Awards’ documentary short subject category.Set in a displacement camp in Kabul, the film follows the tender and growing love story between young newlyweds Shaista and Benazir.

Carole Horst Netflix’s “Robin Robin” uses stop-motion animation and felt figures to tell its charming, musical story of a bird who doesn’t quite belong in a family of stealthy mice and discovers her real place in the world. It’s a Christmas tale that’s also made the Oscar shortlist for animated shorts. Directors-writers Dan Ojari and Mikey Please had been working with each other off and on for about 10 years and formed Parabella Studios, where they began developing “Robin Robin.” A serendipitous meeting with Aardman’s Sarah Cox led them to that legendary studio, which they found to be a perfect match for their own sensibilities.

Stuart Miller Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” is, among other things, visually gripping, a stark, haunting dreamscape that often seems to exist outside of time. While the film is carried by Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, much has been made — justifiably — of Kathryn Hunter’s eerily limber witch: you can’t look away as she bends and contorts, calling to mind a real-life Smeagol.But the movie starts with a whiteout, and so we hear Hunter before we see her. It pulls viewers in and reinforces the notion that this nimble performance (she is echoed into all three witches) is not merely a physical marvel or a gimmick.

Elle Fanning is the spitting image of Michelle Carter in the upcoming series "The Girl From Plainville," which chronicles the sensational trial of the Massachusetts woman convicted of pressuring her boyfriend to take his own life.While much of the crew behind the series marveled at how similar Elle and the famous convict look, the actress still had to alter her appearance, which included using a forehead prosthetic. Showrunner Patrick Macmanus told Entertainment Weekly that it was important to not sensationalize the story and be as genuine as possible. A post shared by Elle Fanning (@ellefanning)In the end, Patrick said Elle used a wig, some light makeup, and a forehead prosthetic to move the actress' hairline back.

TheWrap-Up,” host Sharon Waxman and special guest co-host and TheWrap contributing editor Ben Svetkey talk the 2022 award season, which is currently taking shape with the Oscars set to have a host again and award show nominations being announced left and right.After a discussion of some recent Hollywood headlines, Sharon and Ben mull who might make a good Oscars host, before turning to the spectacular showing by the stars of “Succession” in the Screen Actor’s Guild Award nominations.Our “Wax On/Wax Off” segment returns, as Sharon shares news of TheWrap’s 14 LA Press Club nominations this week.For this week’s feature interview, Sharon is joined by two women whose powerful documentary films are among the 15 that made the documentaries shortlist for the 2022 Oscars — Nanfu Wang, director of “In the Same Breath,” and Megan Mylan, director of “Simple as Water.” Wang’s film looks at the the people on the ground in the U.S. and in China in the earliest days of the coronavirus outbreak.

Elle Fanning looks exactly like Michelle Carter in these new photos from her upcoming Hulu series The Girl From Plainville.

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has the first exclusive track from Brian Tyler and Breton Vivian’s score for Redeeming Love, which is set for release tomorrow via Milan Records, as the Universal Pictures title hits theaters.

Ugyen (Sherab Dorji) is a government-contracted teacher who doesn’t want to teach in Pawo Choyning Dorji’s Oscar-shortlisted debut film Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom. It was submitted for consideration for last year’s Academy Award for International Feature, but was not accepted because the South Asian nation hadn’t submitted a film since it’s lone entry in 1999. Beating the odds, Dorji’s film made the International Feature shortlist — making Bhutan one of three countries to make the cut for the first time, along with Kosovo and Panama.

Even in the context of a zoom interview, it’s hard to fathom why there are so few television and film credits on Kathryn Hunter’s resume. A staple of the British theater world, she won an Olivier Award three decades ago, has has a transfixing presence that is almost impossible to ignore.

EXCLUSIVE: National Geographic is making the Oscar-shortlisted documentary The First Wave available for free for 48 hours, beginning tomorrow. Matthew Heineman’s film, shot in a Queens hospital as New York City endured the initial explosion of Covid, can be seen without commercial interruption through the ABC and National Geographic apps in the U.S., starting Thursday at 12:01 a.m. EST.