Raquel Leviss is sharing some more bombshells about her affair with Tom Sandoval.
19.05.2023 - 22:47 / variety.com
Jessica Kiang Late on in Kaouther Ben Hania’s compelling, ambitious hybrid “Four Daughters,” Olfa Hamrouni — the film’s focus, its fixation and its most charismatically contradictory character — strokes a purring, heavily pregnant ginger cat. Sometimes, she tells us, a cat will be so scared for her babies that she eats them. It’s Olfa’s covert acknowledgement that her own misguided protective urge, forged by her hard history with men and mother alike, might have contributed to her life’s great, rupturing tragedy: when, in 2015, the elder two of her four girls ran away to join ISIS. But it also recalls one of her earlier to-camera segments, when she described her daughters, as though shielding herself from the pain of the real with the language of fable, as having been “devoured by the wolf.” So which is it: Were Ghofran and Rahma, 16 and 15 at the time of their disappearance, eaten up by their cat-mother or consumed by the predatory wolves of religious fundamentalism, cultural indoctrination, ISIS itself?
Of course, it’s neither one nor the other entirely, which makes the form of “Four Daughters” — neither fiction, nor documentary; neither memoir, nor reportage — oddly fitting, even when it keeps bumping up against Ben Hania’s oddly romanced filmmaking. Her approach is, from the outset, Brechtian: The real Olfa appears throughout but is also played by well-known Egyptian-Tunisian star Hend Sabri; her two remaining daughters, Eya and Taysir, play themselves; and the roles of pre-disappearance Ghofran and Rahma are performed by actresses Ichraq Matar and Nour Karoui respectively. As an additional flourish, all the male parts, from Olfa’s husband to her lover Wissem to the police official who refuses to help, are embodied
Raquel Leviss is sharing some more bombshells about her affair with Tom Sandoval.
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Jennifer Coolidge got into the thick of things for a conversation with The Bear star Jeremy Allen White in Variety where they discussed their rise to the top of the industry, particularly over the last year. The actress, 61, opened up especially about the means through which she found early success with her work as a character actress and why she feels it was the wrong decision to not capitalize on them. When asked by Jeremy, 32, if she chose roles for longevity or because she found people she liked and wanted to work with, Jennifer responded: "Now that I'm old enough to really look back at my life and certainly my mistakes, I see a lot of those. Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan share reactions to Outlander ending with season eightWhy Princess Eugenie's baby's birth is a huge royal firstRobin Roberts will leave Good Morning America in 2023 temporarily for very special reasonInside the 2023 Oscars goodie bagSean Penn and Charlize Theron grace the red carpet together"But I never had any strategy. I just went job to job. I have to say I made the terrible mistake of not riding the wave that I had early on. "The acclaimed comedienne continued: "It was sort of in the '90s when I had Legally Blonde, Best in Show, and American Pie.
Tom Holland is opening up about what sounds like his hardest role to date.
Tom Holland is very grateful for the opportunity to have starred as Peter Parker in three Spider-Man movies, but says he is open to passing on the baton to another actor.
Two films by Arab women directors are sharing the L’Oeil d’or (Golden Eye) prize for the best documentary in Cannes. Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa) by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania and The Mother of All Lies (La Mère de tous les mensonges) by Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir were announced as the winners at a joint ceremony this morning at the Palais in Cannes.
CANNES: Docudramas are inherently difficult to master. You’re attempting to meld real-life footage or people with actors and, often, fictionalized accounts that may substantially differ from the truth.
Not about the “what ifs.” Ariana Madix confessed there are aspects of her relationship with ex Tom Sandoval she misses — but she wouldn’t have done anything differently post-split.
Shutting the rumors down. Ariana Madix explained why she isn’t looking any further into the speculation that Tom Sandoval and Billie Lee had an affair.
Kaouther Ben Hania’s powerful drama “Four Daughters” which mixes documentary and fiction to tell the story of Tunisian mother whose two elder daughters joined ISIS is scoring a slew of sales following its well-received Cannes competition premiere. French company The Party Films Sales has sealed deals on “Four Daughters” for: Benelux (Cineart); Spain (Caramel Films); Italy (I Wonder); Switzerland (Trigon); Sweden (Triart); Denmark (Camera Film); Norway (Arthaus); Finland (Cinemanse); Poland (New Horizons); Greece (Ama Films); former Yougoslavia (Discovery) and Turkey (Bir Film). Rights to the film for multiple other territories are under negotiations, the company said.
The Warehouse Project will be back in September, with the likes of Bicep, Honey Dijon, The Blessed Madonna and Jamie Jones on the bill for its 2023 season. It’s also revealed that it will be opening up two new areas of its Depot Mayfield home, including the roof.
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor About an hour after Bravo released the ratings for the Season 10 finale of “Vanderpump Rules” on Tuesday, producers Lisa Vanderpump and Alex Baskin were in Hollywood campaigning for Emmy consideration at an FYC event. The finale scored big, ending on a series-high with a combined audience of 4.1 million viewers on Bravo, on-demand and the Peacock platform within three days of its May 17 airing. No doubt interest in the show skyrocketed because of #Scandoval, the drama stemming from Tom Sandoval cheating on his girlfriend of a decade, Ariana Madix, with her best friend, Raquel Leviss.
Lise Pedersen Moving towards a more equitable and accountable curation in film programming and selection processes, ethical representation in storytelling and the challenges posed by the lack of awareness and accountability was at the heart of a panel discussion at Cannes Docs, the Cannes Film Market event dedicated to documentary film, on May 20. Panelists included Egyptian director and producer Nada Riyadh, British-Chinese writer and director Paul Sng, Brazilian producer Yolanda Maria Barroso and Swedish producer Malin Hüber; it was moderated by the BFI’s Race Equality Lead Rico Johnson-Sinclair. Opening on a positive note, Riyadh said that, “as an Arab woman,” she welcomed the presence in the official selection at Cannes this year of docs by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (“Four Daughters,” main competition) and Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir (“The Mother of All Lies,” Un Certain Regard), even though “in the real world I still get asked whether I do docs or real films,” she added with a smile.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Kirsten Niehuus, CEO at Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, which funds films and TV series production in the Berlin region, and Simone Baumann, managing director of German Films, which promotes and supports the release of German films abroad, welcomed a wide array of guests to their garden party at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday. Three Medienboard-funded films are in this year’s Competition: Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters,” Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero,” and U.S. helmer Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City.” Niehuus told Variety: “Those are three very different productions, but it shows the spectrum [of films] that Medienboard supports.” Tunisian films, like “Four Daughters,” need international co-production funding to get made, she said, and “we believe in world cinema, so were very happy [to back it].” Hausner is “one of the most impressive female filmmakers [in the world], and I think there should be more female filmmakers on the Croisette and every other ‘A’ festival,” she said. “Asteroid City” is “the best of American arthouse filmmaking; very stylish, with a great narrative – so we love it,” she said.
Ariana Madix is opening up about life after Season 10 of Vanderpump Rules.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kaouther Ben Hania, the Oscar-nominated director of “The Man Who Sold His Skin” whose latest film “Four Daughters” is competing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will next direct “Mimesis,” an epic love story set in Tunisia. While the plot is under wraps, the story is set in two different periods, the 1990s and the 1940s, paying tribute to cinema and Arab-Muslim cultural heritage. It’s being produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha at Tanit Films, who produced Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” and her previous film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” which world premiered at Venice where it won best actor for Yahya Mahayni and was nominated for best international film at the Oscars in 2021.
Using actors to bring to life story elements within documentary film is becoming a more widespread practice, if one that’s still viewed with skepticism by some purists.
Lisa Vanderpump is addressing Raquel Leviss following the intense Vanderpump Rules finale.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Oscar-nominated Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania (“Beauty and the Dogs,” “The Man Who Sold His Skin”) is back in Cannes with “Four Daughters” a powerful drama that mixes documentary and fiction to delve into the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni who rose to international prominence in April 2016 when she publicized the radicalization of her two teenage daughters who had left Tunisia to fight with ISIS. The film, which is the only Arab entry in competition, stars Egyptian-Tunisian star Hend Sabri in the lead role of an actor who must play Hamrouni and gets coaching from the real Olfa on how to prepare for the role. Ben Hania spoke to Variety about the bold choice she made.
Lisa Vanderpump is still reeling from Wednesday night's epic finale. The show ended season 10 with a look at the affair between Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss, and the fallout that ensued.ET's Brice Sander spoke to Vanderpump at the 2023 Vanderpump Dogs Gala, where she revealed she hasn't spoken to Leviss in quite some time.«I haven't had any contact with Raquel,» Vanderpump revealed before sharing what she thinks Leviss and Sandoval's future on the show will be. «I think she really needs to discuss with us what's going on in her life, but Sandoval's been part of that group for 15 years prior.