Former French President François Hollande Joins Voice Cast of ‘Silex & the City’ Animated Movie (EXCLUSIVE)

When December rolls around, people are reaching for their all-time favorite Christmas movies to get them in a holly and jolly mood. For many of them, that winter-time favorite is The Holiday.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French broadcaster France Televisions has been blamed by supporters of Gerard Depardieu, the Oscar-nominated actor of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” for contributing to the downfall of one of country’s most iconic actors with a bombshell documentary about his history of sexual abuse allegations which aired on Dec. 7.

EXCLUSIVE: Coming off five successful seasons on FX’s Mayans M.C., Clayton Cardenas has set up his next project.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent In a comeback worthy of “Succession”‘s patriarch Logan Roy, French billionaire Vincent Bolloré has re-emerged from a fictive retirement to engineer a strategic overhaul of his listed media empire, Vivendi. After seemingly passing on the reins of Vivendi to his sons Yannick and Cyrille last year, Bolloré stepped back in with a plan to split the French conglomerate into three businesses – pay TV group Canal+, advertising banner Havas and an investment vehicle comprising Lagardere Group — that would each be listed separately at the Paris stock exchange.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Spoilers ahead! Do not watch until you have seen episode 8 of “Julia.” “Julia” might put a strong focus on the food, but it’s a show that also has a lot more on its mind. The Max comedy series takes on a wide range of 1960s-era social issues, including feminism, homosexuality, civil rights and the anti-war movement. “Julia” wraps up its second season Thursday with an eventful finale that includes filming an ambitious crustacean segment — in the “Lobster a l’Americaine” episode.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Count of Monte-Cristo,” the new period epic from the team behind “The Three Musketeers,” is getting ready to hit the market after its five-month shoot wrapped this month. Producers Dimitri Rassam at Mediawan-owned banner Chapter 2 and Pathé have unveiled a first still of the movie (above), which stars Pierre Niney as the iconic title character.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Two-time Oscar nominee Naomi Watts has joined the cast of “Emmanuelle,” Audrey Diwan‘s highly anticipated erotic drama, Variety has confirmed. Diwan’s follow-up to the Venice-prizewinning “Happening,” the film is inspired by Emmanuelle Arsan’s novel and is based on a script co-developed by Diwan and Rebecca Zlotowski (“Other People’s Children”).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Next Step, a program organized by Cannes Critics’ Week whose recent alumni include Molly Manning Walker (“How to Have Sex”), has unveiled the participants of its milestone 10th edition. Spearheaded by Thomas Rosso, a producer turned artistic director, the workshop selects emerging directors who have had their short films play at Cannes’ parallel section, Critics’ Week, and helps to develop their feature debuts.

George Clooney steps out to attend the New York screening of his new movie, The Boys In The Boat!

K.J. Yossman Aimee Lou Wood and David Morrissey have been tapped for the lead roles in new BBC Studios comedy “Daddy Issues.” Wood is best known for her turns in “Sex Education” and “Living” (the latter opposite Bill Nighy) while Morrissey has starred in “The Walking Dead,” where he played The Governor, and James Graham’s series “Sherwood.” The duo are now set to play daughter and father in “Daddy Issues,” which follows the story of hard-partying Gemma (Wood), who lives for the weekend when she gets down to let down her hair in Manchester.

Jack Black made a surprise appearance at the Jonas Brothers‘ concert in New York last night (December 9), to perform ‘Peaches’ from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.The track, which is sung by Black’s character Bowser in the movie, entered the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year.During the intermission at last night’s show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Black came onstage dressed as Bowser and sang Peaches live.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Justine Triet‘s “Anatomy of a Fall” missed out on being chosen as France’s Oscar entry, but the movie has been a critical and commercial hit — including in the U.S., where it’s become the highest-grossing specialized foreign-language release post-pandemic, according to distributor Neon. Released in the States on Oct. 13, “Anatomy of a Fall” has pulled in $3.5 million so far, putting it ahead of Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” and on track to match last year’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness,” another Neon movie.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Summer With Carmen,” Zacharias Mavroeidis’ queer comedy, has been acquired in major territories since world premiering at the Venice Film Festival. The movie, which is represented by Be For Films and had its North American premiere at AFI, recently won three prizes at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. It will be released next year by Cinobo in Greece, Epicentre in France and Xenix Filmdistribution in Switzerland.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ridley Scott‘s “Napoleon” is a movie that French people love to hate. But despite harsh criticism in France, the historical epic smashed the box office and grossed over $9.76 million from 1.15 million tickets sold in its first two weeks in theaters.

The new Mean Girls movie is just one month away from hitting theaters and the cast just gathered for their first major event!

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Nabil Ayouch, a leading Moroccan filmmaker whose latest movie as a producer “The Blue Caftan” became the first Moroccan film to ever make it to the Oscars shortlist, is wrapping up his next directorial effort, “Everybody Loves Touda.” Now in post-production, “Everybody Loves Touda” follows the journey of a strong-willed woman, along the lines of some of Ayouch’s best known films, such as “Much Loved” and “Razzia,” which played at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and Toronto, respectively. The movie will mark Ayouch’s directorial follow up to “Casablanca Beats,” which competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021 and marked the first Moroccan feature to vie for a Palme d’Or.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Following in the footsteps of U.S. guilds, French TV crew members are poised to go on strike amid a battle with producers over minimum wages. Labor union CGT-SPIAC has sought a 20% increase on basic salaries for crew members working in production and post-production of TV shows, documentaries and unscripted content in France.

Victor J. Kemper, the former president of the American Society of Cinematographers whose career spanned four decades and included films as diverse as Dog Day Afternoon and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, has died according to the ASC. He was 96.

Adam Sandler has returned with his latest project Leo, an adorable animation which follows the life of a school's pet lizard.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Somewhat mysterious and fearless, Oscar-winning British actor Jeremy Irons has played a host of different characters during his decades-long career, from Adrian Veidt in Damon Lindelof’s TV series “Watchmen,” to Rodolfo Gucci in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci,” British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in “Munich: The Edge of War” and Alfred Pennyworth in the DC Extended Universe films, including the latest “Justice League.” Reteaming with Palme d’Or winning Bille August for the third time, Irons will next play Abbé Faria, a noble and wise character, in the prestige limited series “The Count of Monte Cristo,” starring opposite fellow British actor Sam Claflin as Edmond Dantès. The premum limited series is distributed worldwide by Mediawan Rights, in cooperation with CAA (for North America).