Paolo Taviani on Returning to Pirandello Without His Brother in ‘Leonora Addio’ (EXCLUSIVE)

A Juventus legend has claimed he would welcome back Paul Pogba but has sent a warning to his former club.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFremantle has acquired a 70% stake in Italy’s Lux Vide, the prominent TV production company that has been steadily raising its standing in the international arena, most recently with the high-end TV series “Medici,” “Devils” and “Leonardo.”The long-gestating Lux Vide deal, which closed on Thursday, marks the latest acquisition by the expanding RTL-owned production and distribution giant. Fremantle, which has been on a buying spree, now owns or controls a panoply of independently operated production shingles across Europe, as well as in Israel, Australia and the U.S.Their stated goal is to invest and grow in the global scripted arena where, by their count, Fremantle delivered 81 scripted shows in 2021, including BBC One hit “The Responder,” HBO Max series “Lust,” from Sweden’s Miso Film, and Italian dystopian drama “Anna.” Previous Fremantle investments include acquiring the 12 former Nent Studios production labels in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark (now rebranded This is Nice Group); Australian-American television production company Eureka Productions; U.K.-based Naked Entertainment; French label Kwai; and Israel’s Abot Hameiri, among others.The Lux purchase also marks Fremantle’s third acquisition of a production company in Italy, where the company already owns Wildside and The Apartment, the outfit behind Paolo Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated “The Hand of God.” Fremantle also recently inked a pact with Italy’s Cinecittà involving the long-term rental of six sound stages at the iconic Rome studios.Founded in 1992 by Ettore Bernabei, who was a long-time former chief of Italian pubcaster RAI, Lux Vide has since been headed by his progeny, Matilde and Luca Bernabei.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAlba Rohrwacher (“The Lost Daughter,” “The Wonders”) is set to play Elena, aka Lenù, in the fourth and final season of RAI/HBO show “My Brilliant Friend.”Just as season three of the Elena Ferrante adaptation, directed by Daniele Luchetti, kicks off in the U.S. where it debuted on Feb.

Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries has revealed its original movie lineup for April, collectively premiering six new films, ET can exclusively reveal. Hallmark Channel's «Spring Into Love» programming slate will continue Saturday, April 2, while Hallmark Movies & Mysteries' movies begin airing Sunday, April 3.ET exclusively reveals one of Hallmark Channel's upcoming films, the music-centric , which will star Broadway veterans Krysta Rodriguez and Santino Fontana, who will perform duets «Fly Me to the Moon” and “Something Stupid.» Fontana will also sing covers of “It Had to Be You,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “New York, New York” and “Over the Moon.”The film, which debuts April 2, follows college literature professor Mia (Rodriguez) and Tony (Fontana), a headliner at a Manhattan supper club, who, unbeknownst to them, find themselves at the center of their mothers' matchmaking magic.

estrellas we love. This week, celebs shared photos of their trips and accomplishments, including their performances in Premios lo Nuestro and amazing looks on high end fashion shows. Scroll down to have a look.

Milan Fashion Week there was a new air of glamour, joy and lots of style. One of our favorite Latina Powerhouses, Danna Paola arrived in Italy as an ambassador for Fendi, and from day one she has provided us tons fashion inspiration.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentWhile Netflix has been praised for being the first and only global streamer so far to have signed a windowing deal with French film orgs, a comeback at the Cannes Film Festival — in or out of competition — just isn’t in the cards for 2022.A Netflix rep confirmed to Variety that the streamer isn’t planning to world premiere its films at the festival’s 75th edition, meaning movies such as Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde,” a Marilyn Monroe biopic starring Ana de Armas, will likely be skipping the French Riviera.Dominik recently told journalists at the Berlinale that he hoped his film would play on the Croisette, but it appears that discussions with Netflix have stalled due to Cannes’ rule, which dictates that every competing movie must have a theatrical release in France. Netflix, meanwhile, has certainly been open to having select festival movies open in European theaters.

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani directed films together from the early 1950s until Vittorio died in 2018, leaving his now 90-year-old brother to carry on alone. Leonora Addio, the second film Paolo has made without Vittorio, is not only dedicated to him but picks up many of the themes that ran through their earlier work, including their enthusiasm for theater in general and the writings of Nobel laureate Luigi Pirandello in particular. The Berlin Film Festival competition entry looks and sounds sumptuous, but its two stories — both of which raise questions about what the living owe the dead — are disappointingly slight.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentDubai-based independent film distributor and producer Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired global rights – excluding theatrical, which is limited to the MENA region – for Lebanese drama “Death of a Virgin and the Sin of Not Living” that launched last year from Berlin’s Panorama section.Produced by Beirut-based Bee On Set Productions, “Death of a Virgin” marks director George Peter Barbari’s feature debut. It stars newcomers Etienne Assal, Adnan Khabbaz, Jean-Paul Franjieh and Elie Dankoura Saad.

Kendrick Lamar is set to perform new music during a headline show in Milan, Italy, this summer.The Compton rapper is thought to be working on the long-awaited follow-up to his April 2017 album ‘DAMN.’, though speculation about a possible new single emerging before his performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show last weekend went unfounded.Lamar has now announced a new live date at the Ippodromo SNAI San Siro in Milan as part of the Milano Summer Festival. The rapper is set to perform on June 23, where he will showcase new material.When translated from Italian, a description on the festival organisers’ website reads: “Kendrick Lamar returns to Italy with a super anticipated show which, produced and distributed by Vivo Concerti, will see him perform – after 8 years from his first performance in Italy, in 2014 – at the Milan Summer Festival (Ippodromo Snai) [on] Thursday 23 June 2022”.A post shared by Milano Summer Festival (@milanosummerfestival)The description then promises that Lamar “will play the pieces of the new album, long awaited by the fans” during his Milan show.You can find tickets and more information about Lamar’s Milan gig by heading here.The rapper has not announced any further tour dates at the time of writing.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticIt’s no spoiler to say that Luigi Pirandello dies nine minutes into “Leonora addio.” This alternately playful and lugubrious work of reflection isn’t really about the controversial Italian writer’s life at all, but rather his legacy, and in a less literal yet ineluctable sense, that of film directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.Over the course of half a century, the two cinematic siblings made movies together — including 1985’s “Kaos,” an omnibus-style collection of five Pirandello stories — bookending their career together by winning top prizes at the Cannes and Berlin film festivals (for “Padre Padrone” and “Caesar Must Die,” in respectively). And then, in 2018, Vittorio died.

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince believes Jadon Sancho has struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League because it is a step up in quality from the Bundesliga.

Jamie Lang AMC Networks’ genre-focused streaming platform Shudder has acquired the rights to horror maestro Gustavo Hernández’s “Virus: 32” in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.The deal was closed between Shudder and Pip Ngo from XYZ, CAA Media Finance and Juan Torres from Latido Films. Spanish sales powerhouse Latido is selling the film and has been showing it to buyers at this year’s European Film Market.A high-profile title to track since it was first unveiled at the virtual Cannes Market in 2020, “Virus: 32” stars Paula Silva (“In the Quarry”) and former Berlin Silver Bear winner Daniel Hendler (“Lost Embrace”) in a story about a rapidly spreading virus which transforms people into intelligent, ultra-violent, extra-fast zombie hunters.

K.J. Yossman Actor Janet Montgomery (“This is Us”) and producer Tricia Small (“Salem”) have teamed with Blackbox Multimedia on a female-led period crime drama written by “Dracula” scribe Cole Haddon, Variety can reveal.Billed as a female version of The Godfather trilogy, “Aqua Tofana” was co-created by Montgomery and Small, who will also executive produce the high-end television series, which is set is 17th-century Italy.

Manchester City have entered the race to sign Paulo Dybala from Juventus - according to reports.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel returns. in Midge's world, including this: After three seasons of Amazon Prime Video releasing all episodes at once, they'll be dropping only two new episodes each Friday until the finale on March 11.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian director Roberta Torre, known for campy Mafia musical “Tano to Die For” and other anarchic pics, is making “Le Favolose,” about a group of transgender women who reunite after 20 years to commemorate a dead friend and do right by her after her identity has been violated.“Le Favolose,” which translates as “The Fabulous Ones,” is being produced by Donatella Palermo, who is at the Berlinale with auteur Paolo Taviani’s competition entry “Leonora Addio.”Palermo, who has a longstanding rapport with Torre, is the Italian producer behind two Berlin Golden Bear winners: the Taviani brothers’ “Caesar Must Die” and Gianfranco Rosi’s “Fire at Sea.” “When a person decides to face the [gender] transition from man to woman it can be a very painful process in several different ways: social, physical, etc.,” said Palermo, who notes that “when a trans dies, most of the time their body is returned to their families.” Torre’s new pic is based on a real-life story of Antonia, one of the “Fabulous Ones,” who is buried by her family dressed as a man under her original name, Giampaolo, amid the indifference of most.

Hallmark Channel is back with another installment of The Wedding Veil trilogy.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian director Matteo Garrone, who was at the 2020 Berlinale with Roberto Benigni-starrer “Pinocchio,” is set to return to the director’s chair in March with coming-of-age adventure drama “Io Capitano,” on which France’s Pathé will be handling international distribution.Garrone’s new pic, whose title translates as “I, Captain,” will be shot in Italy, Morocco and Senegal, marking the first time, Garrone –– a two-time Cannes jury prize-winner, with “Gomorrah” in 2008 and “Reality” in 2012 –– sets a feature film outside of Italy.As is customary with Garrone, story details of “Io Capitano” are being kept under wraps, besides the fact that he wrote the screenplay with regular collaborators Massimo Gaudioso and Andrea Tagliaferri and actor Massimo Ceccherini (“Pinocchio”), who also contributed to the “Pinocchio” screenplay.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentFilmax has swooped on international rights to “Irati,” an action adventure feature set in the eighth-century Pyrenees.Produced by Spain’s Bainet, Ikusgarri Films, Kilima Media with France’s La Fidèle Production, “Irati” weighs in as one of the most ambitious new Spanish movies being brought onto the market at Berlin. Filmax will present a promo at the EFM.Featuring battles, mythological creatures and fantasy elements in a mix of Basque legend and historical events, it also marks director Paul Urkijo’s follow-up to “Errementari: the Blacksmith and the Devil,” which Filmax sold to Netflix for the world.Now in post-production, “Irati” turns on a pagan girl who guides a young Christian lord called Enekoon a journey into an ancient, mythological world. Eneko hopes to recover lost treasure, key to his defending his valley from Charlemagne’s marauding army, which is devastating the Pyrenees.