‘Frenchie Shore’ Sparks Criticism From Country’s Culture Minister for Being Too Sexually Explicit: ‘Borderline Porno’

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.

https://t.co/LDG6uNfoBE— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) December 6, 2023As “Letterkenny” is set to wrap up its 12-season run later this month. Meanwhile, “Shoresy” has been picked up for a third season and fans are dying to find out what’s next for the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs.

Denzel Washington’s casting as ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal in a new Netflix movie has sparked a race controversy in Tunisia, the home country of the military commander.Washington’s casting in Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming Netflix movie was announced recently. Washington has worked with Fuqua previously on The Equalizer and Training Day.It was also confirmed the film will be written by John Logan, the three-time Academy Award winner who has written films including Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.According to the official synopsis, the movie will be “based on real-life warrior Hannibal, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in history.

The 2023 series of the much loved I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here is now over, with Sam Thompson crowned 'King of the Jungle'. It was an all-male final on Sunday night (December 10) which saw Tony Bellew come runner-up, with Nigel Farage in third place.

Ferne McCann is counting down to Christmas - especially as this year will be her second daughter Finty's first one - but the star has one strict rule she abides by every year. The former TOWIE icon, 33, has opened up about one of her unique Christmas traditions – including the strict rule she has for when the children can open their presents. The reality TV star, who welcomed daughter Finty in July 2023 with her businessman fiancé Lori Haines, revealed she has a pre-breakfast gift ban in her house.The children, including her six-year-old daughter Sunday, can only open their gifts once they've all had breakfast together.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Gerard Depardieu, who has already been indicted on rape charges in connection to a 2018 case, is facing more sexual assault allegations in a new complaint, Variety has confirmed. Hélène Darras, a French actor, has filed a police complaint alleging that Depardieu sexually assaulted her during the filming of “Disco” in 2007.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Former French President François Hollande is part of the voice cast for “Silex & the City – The Movie,” a big-screen spinoff of the popular short-format animated series set in the Stone Age. “Silex & the City” is adapted from the comic book series by the same name created by French cartoonist Jul, which has sold over a million copies.

K.J. Yossman Juniper TV CEO Samir Shah is set to become the new chair of the BBC, the U.K.’s culture secretary Lucy Frazer said today. Shah, who has worked in broadcasting for more than 40 years, will appear before the Culture, Media and Sport committee in the U.K.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music How does a six-year-old song become a hit? In 2023, of course the short answer is TikTok, but it takes a lot more than that to make a song into a genuine hit single — let alone take the longest climb to No. 1 for a non-holiday song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. That’s the story of the Weeknd’s “Die for You” — No.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s obvious from SZA’s music that she has a wide range of influences, from classic R&B to Joni Mitchell, jazz to pop-punk and beyond. But just how far those influences range becomes dramatically clear when she talks about the music in her house and at school growing up, and best of all, when starts looking at the playlists in her phone. For much more from this remarkable interview, see our “SZA: Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year” article. What kinds of music were playing in your house when you were growing up? My mom has a lot of church music; my dad has a lot of jazz and abstract music; my sister plays a lot of melodic hip-hop and rap. And I love classical music, I love jazz, I love music with color.

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).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent In one of the biggest co-production deals unveiled at Content London, Mediawan‘s label Atlantique Productions has joined forces with Participant to make an ambitious limited espionage thriller series based on the Pegasus spyware scandal. Amit Cohen (“False Flag,” “Bad Boy”) and Ron Leshem (“Euphoria,” “No Man’s Land”) are on board as creators and showrunners for the mini-series which will adapted from the bestseller “Pegasus: How a Spy in Our Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy.” The book charts the sprawling international investigation conducted in 2020 and 2021 which revealed how governments used Pegasus spyware technology to spy on politicians, activists and business executives.

The New York Times and more wrote critical reviews of a new book on the royal family, including a chapter on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which one review described as a "press release cooked up by ChatGPT." The book, by Omid Scobie, is titled "Endgame," and picks up on the royal family after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. A review, written by Eva Wolchover for the New York Times, said the book did Harry and Meghan "no favors." "Whether or not Scobie actively collaborated with Meghan and Harry for this book, he does them no favors.Their chapter reads like a press release cooked up by ChatGPT, and does little to shed light on them as humans," the Times review read.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After being convincingly portrayed by Marion Cotillard in the 2007 film “La Vie en Rose,” legendary French singer Edith Piaf will come to life in an animated biopic “Edith” that looks to break new ground by using AI to recreate her voice and image. When Warner Music, which is producing the feature-length movie with Paris-based company Seriously Happy, broke news of the project last week, it stirred an avalanche of reactions — many of them skeptical — across social media. To clear up some concerns and shed light on the decisions behind the creative endeavor, Variety spoke to Julie Veille, who came up with the original idea, and Gilles Marliac who are co-producing through their banner Seriously Happy and co-wrote the script.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Green Border,” Agnieszka Holland’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winning refugee drama, has been acquired by Kino Lorber in the U.S. (“Scrapper”) and Modern Films in the U.K. (“Drive My Car”).

Ridley Scott has fired back at French film critics after they published a series of negative reviews of his new biopic, Napoleon.Despite receiving generally positive reviews by UK critics, several high-profile French publications have been less kind, with French GQ saying it was “deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny”, while Le Figaro likened it to “Barbie and Ken under the Empire”.In an interview with the BBC, Scott retorted: “The French don’t even like themselves”.“The audience that I showed it to in Paris, they loved it.”Joaquin Phoenix plays Napoleon Bonaparte in the film, which hits UK cinemas on Wednesday (November 22). It follows the French leader’s rise to power and his relationship with Empress Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby). Other cast members include Tahar Rahim, Ben Miles and Rupert Everett.It is not the first time that Scott has made headlines during the promotion for Napoleon.

Ridley Scott is a man who has earned the right to be a bit… brash with his comments. This is a right given to someone who has created multiple iconic films over the course of his career, literally inspiring generations of filmmakers with works like “Alien” and “Blade Runner.” So, when critics start taking him to task because of “Napoleon,” he clearly couldn’t care less.

EXCLUSIVE: Shantel VanSanten is moving from FBI to FBI: Most Wanted for the latter show’s fifth season. She will reprise the role of Special Agent Nina Chase.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Ridley Scott is shrugging off the negative reviews coming out of France for his new historical epic “Napoleon,” which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous French emperor and Vanessa Kirby as his wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. Reviews are all over the place for the biographical drama.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Oscar winner Jeremy Irons has joined the cast of Palme d’Or-winning director Bille August‘s prestige limited series “The Count of Monte Cristo,” which also stars Sam Claflin. A sprawling adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel, the English-language series is produced by Mediawan’s banner Palomar, the leading Italian company behind “Inspector Montalbano” and “The Name of the Rose,” in collaboration with another Mediawan label, France’s DEMD Productions.