Neon’s Elissa Federoff, Paramount’s Sejin Croninger, Among Keynotes at Locarno’s StepIN Think Tank

Manori Ravindran International EditorSalma Hayek and Annie Murphy are in talks to star in the new season of “Black Mirror,” Variety can reveal.The dystopian Netflix series is slowly assembling a star-studded roster of talent for its long-awaited Season 6, with Hayek and Murphy the latest actors set to join the cast.Variety previously revealed that the new season has signed Zazie Beetz, Paapa Essiedu, Josh Hartnett, Aaron Paul, Kate Mara, Danny Ramirez, Clara Rugaard, Auden Thornton and Anjana Vasan. Elsewhere, Deadline reported that Rory Culkin, who was most recently seen in FX’s “Under the Banner of Heaven,” is also joining the show.Hayek recently wrapped on Angelina Jolie’s new movie “Without Blood,” which has been filming in Italy, and stars in Steven Soderbergh’s forthcoming “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.” She also starred in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” and Marvel’s “Eternals.” A Hayek-produced series on the death of Argentina’s Eva Perón, titled “Santa Evita,” aired on Disney’s Star last month.

— or maybe we should say Benvenuto! For fans who fell in love with HBO's hit dark comedy, the show's second season can't come soon enough.While viewers await the premiere, reportedly slated for this October, HBO and the season's cast members have been dropping some crumbs as to what's in store when the show heads to the south of Italy. As one of the new faces joining the show, Aubrey Plaza told ET's Cassie DiLaura she's been wanting to work with ' creator, Mike White. «To be brought into that family,» Plaza says,"...it’s everything to me." Plaza will reportedly play Harper Spiller, a woman vacationing with her husband and some friends. In the midst of continued hype around the show more than a year after its debut (hello, 11 Emmy nominations), Plaza assured fans will be getting something fresh with the second season in Sicily. «I know it’s a lot to live up to, but Mike is so good about making the second season different,» she says. «It's still , but now it’s in Italy, so it has a totally different vibe and so, I think people are going to be surprised.»One thing fans love about the show that is going to be back? Another performance from Jennifer Coolidge.

Ben Affleck’s eldest daughter Violet didn’t attend her dad and Jennifer Lopez’s wedding in Las Vegas to respect her mom Jennifer Garner, there seems to be no bad blood between the singer and the teenager. Recently the pair were seeing bonding in New York City.

Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka are stepping out for a dinner date.

HBO’s hit TV show The White Lotus debuted last year to stellar reviews and the limited series was quickly renewed for a second season.

Former Love Island star Shaughna Phillips has shed some light on rumours that contestants are bound by a 'secret contract' to stay together for a certain amount of time after leaving the show. Speaking in her final exclusive OK! column this week, the 28-year-old 2020 star shut down the idea of restrictions having been put in place by producers. "Everyone always asks me if it’s true that there’s a contract in place where they have to stay with each other," she revealed.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMichele Vannucci’s “Delta” has debuted its trailer ahead of its world premiere on the Piazza Grande at the Locarno Film Festival. True Colours is handling world sales.The Po Delta in Italy is the setting of the clash between fishermen and poachers. Osso wants to save the river from overfishing at the hands of the Florians, a family on the run from the Danube.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFor its 75th edition, Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival, long known as a global indie cinema temple, is looking to the future while repositioning itself as a forward-thinking hub for a wider range of movies, including studio and streamer titles, with broad audience appeal.“We believe that entertainment can be both serious and fun: I don’t see an opposing scenario where entertainment is only cheap, and seriousness is only extremely highbrow,” says the fest’s artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro.Now on his second edition at the fest’s helm, the Italian critic is putting his stamp on Locarno with a lineup that, along with straightforward auteur movies of various kinds, increasingly includes comedies and genre films.

Fans of Love Island are convinced that ITV has inadvertently revealed the winners of the show, days before the final is set to air on Monday 1 August.Three of the five couples went on dates on Thursday night's episode of the show, and ITV2 went all out with the budget, sending Paige Thorne, 24, and Adam Collard, 26, on a boat trip and Dami Hope, 26, and Indiyah Polack, 23, on a street fiesta with an intimate dinner. It was the date of Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, 27, and 'Italian Stallion' Davide Sanclimenti, 28, that got people talking though, as it looks like the producers really pushed the boat out for the on-off couple.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentVenice artistic director Alberto Barbera is smiling and looking relaxed after unveiling the festival’s strongest lineup in recent memory, a rich mix of hotly anticipated pics from the U.S. and elsewhere around the world that’s likely to bolster the Lido’s power as an Oscars kingmaker.Venice’s program of high-profile titles is especially impressive in a year that sees the Toronto International Film Festival roar back to life after two COVID-stricken years. As in pre-pandemic times, there will be a few days of overlap between the Canadian and Italian festivals.Although Venice struggled with ticketing last year due to theaters remaining at 50% capacity, Barbera informed Italian media that this year’s festival is expected to shed COVID measures altogether, meaning there should be ample space for delegates.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentNew York-based real estate entrepreneur and producer Noam Baram (“Walking to Paris”) has joined forces with Italian film exec Augusto Pelliccia to launch Valiah Entertainment, a new production company that will tap into Italy’s generous film production incentives.The new outfit, called Valiah Entertainment, has also forged a joint venture with veteran Hollywood producer Mark Lipsky (“Coming to America,” “Beverly Hills Cop III”) whose WOF Entertainment will help finance the production and handle distribution of Valiah’s multi-picture slate.The first film out of the Valiah gate will be “The Curfew,” a rom-com directed by Australia’s Nadia Tass who is known for directing Australian cult comedies such as “Malcolm,” “The Big Steal” and more recently the doc “Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story.” Shooting on “Curfew” is planned to start this fall at Valiah’s studio facilities in Rome. The film centers on an utterly unremarkable man named Raphael Di Stefano whose mediocre life suddenly gets a jolt when women begin to find him utterly irresistible.