MPTF To Host Food Drive; Nears $1M In Financial Assistance Payouts During Strikes

Ferrari has defended the casting of Adam Driver against claims of cultural appropriation.Andrea Iervolino, an Italian-Canadian film producer on the Enzo Ferrari biopic, rebuked claims made against Driver’s casting by actor Pierfrancesco Favino, who questioned why Italian actors were not cast more often in Hollywood films.In response, Iervolino said Italy had failed in comparison to other countries in producing Hollywood stars with worldwide visibility, citing examples like Javier Bardem and Antonio Banderas from Spain, and Marion Cotillard and Vincent Cassel from France.Speaking at the festival (via the Telegraph), Ierovlino said: “Italian cinema needs to look beyond Italy and come up with synergies with the international film industry, which wants to invest in Italian icons. Films like Ferrari, which will be distributed in 150 countries, promote Italy and Italian genius.”The producer called on the Italian film industry to “make films based on stories that speak to the whole world, with international stars who work side by side with our own talent”.In his original comments, Favino, who stars in a movie called Comandante which opened this year’s festival, asked why actors on the level of Toni Servillo (The Great Beauty) were not cast more often in Hollywood productions.“There’s an issue of cultural appropriation,” Favino said.“Instead, the parts are given to foreign actors who are distant from the story’s real protagonists, starting with the exotic accents,” he added.

Hollywood loves sequels, but in the nonfiction space it’s rare for a documentary to get a follow up. However, 15 years after Food, Inc. landed with huge impact, the sequel Food, Inc. 2 premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, bringing a fresh perspective on America’s spoiled food system.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest, Evil Does Not Exist, received a 7-minute, 50-second ovation at its Venice Film Festival world premiere on the Lido on Monday. The applause for the director of last year’s Best International Feature Oscar winner Drive My Car only ended when Hamaguchi and his team got up to leave.

Bob Odenkirk is feeling a bit left out.

PEN America, the 101-year-old organization dedicated to “the freedom to write,” is offering grants to help early-career screenwriters during the Writers Guild strike, which is now in its 122nd day. Its new Screenwriters Emergency Assistance Fund is offering short-term grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 to eligible screenwriters on a first come-first served basis.

Adam Driver has criticised Amazon and Netflix for refusing to meet the demands of actors amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes.READ MORE: Hollywood on strike! Every question about the actor and writer protests answeredThe actor shared his criticism while promoting his new film Ferrari at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday (August 31). Prior to the festival, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) agreed to grant interim agreements to certain productions so they could promote their films.“I’m very proud to be here to be a visual representation of a movie that’s not part of the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) and to promote the SAG leadership directive, which is an effective tactic, which is the interim agreement.”Driver continued: “The other objective is obviously to say, why is it that a smaller distribution company like Neon and STX International can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for — this is pre-negotiations — the dream version of SAG’s wish list, but a big company like Netflix and Amazon can’t?“And every time people from SAG go and support a movie that has met the terms of the interim agreement, it just makes it more obvious that these people are willing to support the people that they collaborate with, and the others are not.”Driver has previously worked closely with Netflix, starring in 2019’s Marriage Story alongside Scarlett Johansson.

The Venice Film Festival is now underway, albeit without a lot of actors on the Lido thanks to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. But Variety reports that “Ferrari” star Adam Driver is at the festival to support Michael Mann‘s latest film (as it’s not part of the AMPTP), and he didn’t hold back about certain companies refusing to meet guild demands.

The Directors Guild Foundation is contributing $100,000 in new financial assistance to the Motion Picture & Television Fund for industry workers affected by the ongoing strikes. The Writers Guild has been on strike since May 2 and SAG-AFTRA since July 14.

Sophia Scorziello editor Amid Hollywood’s summer of strikes, the Directors Guild Foundation is pledging $100,000 in financial assistance to the Motion Picture & Television Fund for crew members affected by strike-related production halts. “Our film crews are our work family.

Eighty years young, filmmaker Michael Mann (“Heat”) shows no signs of slowing down. Meticulous, precise, and muscular in his filmmaking, the American auteur often takes several years between films, but he’s seemingly been moving slightly faster these days.

In what was to be expected, Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros’ highly anticipated sequel, Dune: Part Two, from Denis Villeneuve is moving off its Nov. 3 theatrical release to March 15, 2024 due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. The sequel based on the Frank Herbert penned novel will also play Imax on its new date. Don’t be surprised if Dune: Part Two fires off either the Berlin Film Festival or SXSW in the late winter/early spring.

A pair of former production assistants-turned-assistant directors have created a nonprofit in hopes of providing financial aid to PAs who’ve been put out of work due to the strike.

Being at the bottom of the Hollywood ladder, production assistants are often overlooked and particularly vulnerable — especially in hard times like the current Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Several cast and production members at Chicago P.D. are stepping in to help the 13 set and office PAs on the popular NBCseries, pitching in to give each of them $1,500. The money was distributed a week and a half ago, with a second payment on the way.

Husslup, the talent discovery platform founded by former Amazon exec H Schuster, has established a number of initiatives designed to help writers and freelance creatives during the writers and actors strikes.

Dax Shepard is being open and honest with his feelings of financial insecurity.

slated to return for the show’s 27th season Sept. 5, but a new promo had fans freaking out that one star had been phased out. Joy Behar, 80, Sunny Hostin, 54, Ana Navarro, 51, Sara Haines, 45, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, 34, all star in the 80-second segment, which sees them each listing three words to describe their top-rated talk show.

The Motion Picture & Television Fund has sent out an urgent plea for donations to help below-the-line crew members effected by the ongoing Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes – workers whom MPTF President & CEO Bob Beitcher says, “Have become the forgotten casualties during these strikes.” Many of those seeking assistance, he says, “are at risk of losing their homes, their cars, and their ability to pay utility or medical bills.”

The View will start its 27th season next month with all of the co-hosts returning.

Elizabeth Wagmeister Chief Correspondent “The View” will welcome back all of its co-hosts next season, keeping moderator Whoopi Goldberg at the table alongside fellow returnees Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro for Season 27, Variety has learned exclusively. The co-hosts’ return for another season comes as “The View” ended the 2022-2023 TV season on a high note, ranking No. 1 among all daytime talk shows among both households and total viewers.

“We all have our stories; they aren’t there to pull us down, they’re there to push us forward.” Often, we push forward by reflecting on our own lives, taking in the world around us, and attempting to understand the human condition. It is clear that Paul Middleditch is an artist that does just that; as the director from New South Wales, Australia, pulls from his youth in his new film “Uproar.” READ MORE: TIFF 2023: Lulu Wang’s ‘Expats,’ Shawn Levy’s ‘All The Light’ & More Lead Primetime Programme Set in New Zealand in the early 1980s, the film follows Josh Waaka, a 17-year-old who is trying to discover who he is.