Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorNick Jonas was barely a teenager when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.“I was a 13-year-old kid with a life that was kind of uprooted by this disease,” the musician and actor told me Wednesday at the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation’s “Big Fighters, Big Cause” charity boxing match at the Beverly Hilton hotel. “I didn’t really know of anybody in the public eye who was living with it at the time.”Three years later, when the Jonas Brothers were one of the hottest boy bands around, Jonas went public with is condition.“If me sharing my story over these past 16 years has helped anybody, that’s the goal,” he said.He was honored by the foundation with this year’s Golden Glove award for his diabetes advocacy.
‘Encanto’ Star Stephanie Beatriz Says She’s Inspired by Simu Liu to Become an Action Star
10.05.2022 - 01:45 / variety.com
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorForget about Happy Meals — let’s talk about happy filmmakers.“Encanto” star Stephanie Beatriz has teamed up with McDonald’s for Spotlight Dorado, a short film contest for Latino talent.“McDonald’s has a long history of fostering community. Not only do they essentially feed the community, but they also are trying to sort of put a spotlight on and empower and amplify Latino voices,” Beatriz tells me. “Spotlight Dorado is going to be a multi-year platform that does that.
For this year, they’re specifically focusing on film, which is really, really thrilling.”The competition is open to U.S.-based Latino writers, directors and producers, with a submission deadline of June 3. Three finalists will be awarded a production budget of $75,000 and receive mentorship from industry leaders, including Beatriz and “Raya and the Last Dragon” director Carlos López Estrada. “It’s really hands on,” Beatriz explained.
“It doesn’t feel like, in some instances like it can be a corporation going, ‘Let’s put this money here’ and kind of leave it, but this is doing something that Gloria Calderón Kellett has talked a lot about. You can’t just give the job to someone, you have to give the job and then show them and teach them how to keep moving forward in their industry with that momentum. Spotlight Dorado is doing that.”Beatriz recalls that when she was starting out, Latino mentors were “few and far between.”“I started my career in theater,” she said.
“One of the actresses that I worked with is named Vilma Silva. She’s a brilliant actress, but not particularly well known outside of Shakespeare or classical theater. But she was one of the first people who told me, ‘Of course, this industry
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Sony Turning PlayStation’s ‘Gran Turismo’ Into Movie; Neill Blomkamp Eyed To Direct
EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions, whose most recent video-game-to-film collaboration Uncharted grossed more than $400 million in global box office earlier this year, are getting behind the wheel for a movie adaptation of the iconic driving game Gran Turismo.
‘Horizon Zero Dawn’ Series in Development at Netflix
Jordan Moreau More Sony video games are getting the TV treatment, as president Jim Ryan revealed in an investor briefing on Thursday that popular PlayStation titles “Horizon Zero Dawn” and “Gran Turismo” are the latest games going Hollywood.The “Horizon Zero Dawn” series, based on the popular video games where robotic dinosaurs roam a post-apocalyptic America, is in development at Netflix, while “Gran Turismo,” a racing series, hasn’t landed a distributor yet.In addition to the new projects, Sony confirmed that the “God of War” series, which was first announced in March as being shopped around to Amazon, has landed at the Prime Video streamer.Sony and PlayStation Productions are ramping up their projects based on their popular video games, which was first kicked off with the “Uncharted” movie starring Tom Holland earlier this year. The next highly anticipated title is the “Last of Us” series coming to HBO, which stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as the zombie apocalypse survivors Joel and Ellie.
Endemol Shine Finland Hires ‘The Woodcutter Story’ Line Producer Paria Eskandari (EXCLUSIVE); Channel 4’s ‘Goodbye Brooklyn Nine-Nine’; Wales Screen Summit; ‘Forensic’ Trailer
Endemol Shine Finland Hires ‘The Woodcutter Story’ Line Producer Paria Eskandari
‘Company’ Star Matt Doyle on Channeling His Own Panic Attacks Into ‘Getting Married Today’ Showstopper
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorMatt Doyle still can’t believe what’s been happening to him lately.A New York City theater actor for about 16 years, he’s now a first-time Tony nominee for his work as Jamie in director Marianne Elliott’s reimagining of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.” Doyle has become quite close with Patti LuPone, the Broadway legend who plays Joanne in the revival and is also nominated for her work.“I don’t think there will ever be anything more profound in my life, and I’m very comfortable with that,” Doyle, 35, tells me during a phone interview a couple of hours before a recent Wednesday night performance. “And what we’ve been able to do? We’ve brought the show back after a pandemic, we’ve lived through Stephen Sondheim’s death, I’m doing this with Patti LuPone.
‘Queer Eye’ Star Jonathan Van Ness Wants Families to Talk Politics and Religion at the Dinner Table
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor“Queer Eye” may have brought LGBTQ issues into the living rooms of millions, but that doesn’t mean the fight for equality can be won by Hollywood alone.“Part of the duality of queer existence is that sometimes you can experience joy, you can experience exciting things in the midst of really difficult things going on,” “Queer Eye” host Jonathan Van Ness told me at an Emmy FYC event for Netflix’s reality makeover show. “But I think duality also applies to visibility and representation and then the lived experience of people. I think that a lot of times we like we lock those things together and we think, ‘Oh, representation is getting better visibility is getting better.
‘Twisted Metal’ Peacock Series Casts Neve Campbell
Joe Otterson TV ReporterNeve Campbell has joined the “Twisted Metal” series adaptation at Peacock.Campbell joins previously announced cast members Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, and Thomas Haden Church in the series version of the Playstation video game franchise.More to come…
‘Twisted Metal’: Neve Campbell Cast In Peacock’s Live-Action Video Game Adaptation
EXCLUSIVE: Neve Campbell (Scream, The Lincoln Lawyer) has joined the cast of Peacock‘s in a recurring role. Campbell will portray the character of Raven opposite Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, and Thomas Haden Church.
Tim McGraw Says Faith Hill Had to Remind Him to Shower While Shooting ‘1883’
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor“1883” may have a been a limited series, but Tim McGraw is open to the idea of doing some more.The Paramount+ show, a spinoff of Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone,’ takes place after the Civil War and follows James Dutton (McCraw) and his wife Margaret (Faith Hill) and their two kids as they head west hoping for a better life.“It’s sort of a 50/50 toss up in my mind,” McGraw tells me on this week’s episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “Do I want to do it again or was it too much work to do it again? I was doing some shows in the middle of it.
Renée Zellweger Says ‘The Thing About Pam’ Prosthetics Caused Her to Break Out in Rashes
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorJudy Greer admits seeing Renée Zellweger for the first time in full makeup, prosthetics and wardrobe as convicted murderer Pam Hupp while shooting “The Thing About Pam” presented a a unique set of challenges.“We both looked at each other and started laughing,” Greer, who plays controversial prosecutor Leah Askey in the true-crime series, said Wednesday at the NBCU FYC House in Hollywood during a panel moderated by yours truly. “And then she told me not to make her laugh because her face would fall off.”Asked if her face ever did “fall off,” Zellweger laughed, “Yes.”Zellweger revealed the prosthetics did cause her to break out in a rash. “The rash didn’t go away.
‘Twisted Metal’: Thomas Haden Church Joins Peacock’s Live-Action Video Game Adaptation
Oscar nominee Thomas Haden Church is set as a lead alongside Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz in Twisted Metal, Peacock’s comedic half-hour live-action adaptation of the popular video game.
‘Twisted Metal’ Peacock Series Casts Thomas Haden Church
Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Twisted Metal” series at Peacock has cast Thomas Haden Church.Church will star opposite previously announced series leads Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz. The show is described as a half-hour action comedy based on the Playstation video games of the same name.In the show, a motor-mouthed outsider (Mackie) is offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Faith Hill Says Filming Sexy ‘1883’ Bathtub Scene With Tim McGraw ‘Was Tough’
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorFaith Hill will never forget one of her earliest auditions.She read for director Anthony Minghella for 2003’s “Cold Mountain” for the role that went to Natalie Portman. “I read, I believe, the rape scene and another one. It was intense,” Hills tells me on the new episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast.
‘Bridgerton’ Star Charithra Chandran on How Colorism Made Her Avoid the Sun for Years: ‘It’s a Daily Struggle’
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor“Bridgerton” star Charithra Chandran is sitting at Netflix’s FYC experience at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles with her fellow Indian co-star Simone Ashley, where they talked about their instantly beloved roles as sisters in the second season of the hit Netflix series.“Bridgerton” has been praised for its diverse cast, but the applause amplified even more when Chandran and Ashley joined Season 2 because they have darker skin than the Indian actors who are traditionally cast in Hollywood for significant roles.“Coming to L.A., it was a profound moment because I spent my life avoiding the sun,” Chandran, who plays Edwina on “Bridgerton,” tells me during a joint interview with Ashley and co-star Nicola Coughlan. “I spent my whole life going outside with a hat on or being fully covered up so I didn’t tan. This is the first time in my life that I walked out and I was like, ‘I can feel it.
‘Bridgerton’ Star Nicola Coughlan Teases Possible ‘Barbie’ Role, Addresses the ‘Doctor Who’ Rumors (EXCLUSIVE)
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorWelcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”Is “Bridgerton” star Nicola Coughlan going to be in the Margot Robbie-led “Barbie” movie? Sure sounds like it.It all begins with the speculation that Coughlan would be on the next season of “Doctor Who” after she was photographed at the BAFTA TV Awards with Ncuti Gatwa. Just minutes before, it was announced that the “Sex Education” actor would be the new Doctor.
Anthony Mackie-Led ‘Twisted Metal’ Series at Peacock Casts Stephanie Beatriz
Joe Otterson TV ReporterStephanie Beatriz is set to star opposite Anthony Mackie in the “Twisted Metal” series currently in the works at Peacock, Variety has learned.The show was ordered to series at the NBCU streamer back in February. It is an adaptation of the video game series of the same name.In the half-hour show, Mackie will play John Doe, a motor-mouthed outsider who is offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
‘Twisted Metal’: Stephanie Beatriz Joins Cast Of Peacock’s Live-Action Video Game Adaptation
Stephanie Beatriz (Encanto, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) will star in Peacock’s , the live-action video game adaptation starring Anthony Mackie.
‘The Valet’ Star Eugenio Derbez on How the Hulu Rom-Com Is a ‘Love Letter to Latinos and Working Class Immigrants’
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorEugenio Derbez has been working on getting “The Valet” made for quite some time.“When we started writing this, Barack Obama was the president. Then Trump came in and we decided to change everything, because it was a different country,” the actor told me at the film’s premiere on Wednesday night at The Montalbán in Hollywood. “So it took us like, seven years to get the final draft.
‘Hacks’ Star Jean Smart on What Deborah Vance Would Do If She Was Attacked During a Stand-Up Set: ‘Her Heels Would Come in Handy’
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorJean Smart and her “Hacks” co-stars are under pressure. A lot of pressure.After an award-winning first season of the HBO Max series, they’re back for their sophomore outing.“Season 2 for any show means you have to prove yourself,” Smart told me at the second season premiere earlier this week at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. “It’s like, ‘You gotta now show us that wasn’t just a fluke.’”It wasn’t long after “Hacks” became a critical darling that Smart learned the streamer was green lighting another season.“As soon as I started getting the scripts for Season 2, I was said, ‘Oh, my god.