Alexander Payne Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Ben Croll Noé Debré, the co-writer of “Dheepan” and “Stillwater” and creator of the European Parliament sendup series “Parlement,” marks his feature directorial debut with the bittersweet comedy “A Good Jewish Boy.” Produced by Moonshaker, sold by Charades and making its world market premiere at this year’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, the freewheeling film follows a 27-year-old man-child Bellisha (Michael Zindel) and his ailing mother, Giselle (Agnès Jaoui), who together make up the last remaining Jews living in a working class neighborhood that all of their friends and family have long since fled. At first that’s just as well for the easy-going Bellisha, but health concerns, prejudice and most of all an acute sense of alienation soon begin to creep in.

EXCLUSIVE: Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) has been tapped for a role in Lionsgate‘s Good Fortune, the debut feature of Master of None and Parks and Rec star Aziz Ansari, in which he also stars alongside Seth Rogen, Keanu Reeves, and Keke Palmer.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Longtime TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will be returning for more in-depth tête-à-têtes with noted filmmakers. Mankiewicz’s “Talking Pictures: A Movie Memories Podcast” has been renewed for Season 2 by TCM and Max. He announced the renewal on the Season 1 finale featuring guest Bill Hader, star, co-creator and director of HBO’s “Barry” and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member.

Oscar nominated film The Holdovers has been accused of plagiarism.

The Holdovers‘ screenplay has been accused of plagiarising a well-known, unproduced script.Yesterday (March 9), Variety reported that screenwriter Simon Stephenson (Luca) sent a complaint to the WGA. He alleged that the Alexander Payne-directed film had “brazen” similarities to his own script, Frisco – a drama between a middle-aged children’s doctor and his 15-year-old patient.Meanwhile, The Holdovers is about a surly classics professor (Paul Giamatti) at an all-male boarding school, forced to look after a 15-year-old student (Dominic Sessa) over the holiday break.In the email, Stephenson reportedly wrote he could demonstrate “beyond any possible doubt” that the “meaningful entirety” of The Holdovers had been plagiarised “line-by-line” from his own script.

that were obtained by Variety.The screenwriter alleges in the missives that “The Holdovers” director Alexander Payne likely read a script for his eerily similar movie “Frisco” when it made the rounds around Hollywood in 2013 on the industry’s “black list” of most like scripts, where it peaked at number three.“The evidence the holdovers screenplay has been plagiarised line-by-line from “Frisco” is genuinely overwhelming – anybody who looks at even the briefest sample pretty much invariably uses the word ‘brazen,’” Stephenson wrote in the email he sent to the WGA’s director of credits Lesley Mackey, after speaking with him about the movies’ similarities.“Frisco” is a drama that follows a cranky children’s hospital worker who gets stuck watching after his 15-year-old student — similar to how Paul Giamatti plays a prep-school classics teacher who spends a Christmas break a troubled teen, played by Dominic Sessa, and the school’s cafeteria manager, played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph.Stephenson meticulously compared the two films scene by scene as well as important sequences and dialogues. He alleges Payne reviewed the Frisco script in 2013 and had it again in late 2019 before he approached first-time film writer David Hemingson about “The Holdovers.” Hemingson also received producing credits on the movie.In a Feb.

Simon Stephenson sent an email to the Writers Guild of America’s senior director of credits Lesley Mackey asking to set up a call to discuss an important matter. The CAA-repped writer, whose credits include Pixar’s “Luca” and StudioCanal’s “Paddington 2,” wrote, “I’ve encountered a credits-related issue on quite a high profile WGA-covered project.” According to the email exchange reviewed by Variety, a call between the two took place, and, in a follow-up missive, Stephenson wrote, “the evidence the holdovers screenplay has been plagiarised line-by-line from frisco is genuinely overwhelming – anybody who looks at even the briefest sample pretty much invariably uses the word ‘brazen.’” Stephenson was referring to his own screenplay “Frisco,” a drama centered on a world-weary middle-aged children’s doctor and the 15-year-old patient he gets stuck looking after, and David Hemingson’s “The Holdovers” — a drama revolving around a world-weary middle-aged boarding school teacher and the 15-year-old pupil he gets stuck looking after.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph is a winner tonight at the SAG Awards!

The Holdovers collaborators, director Alexander Payne and screenwriter David Hemingson, are working on another film together—a Western, in fact—and during a Q&A following a screening of The Holdovers at Soho House in West Hollywood on Friday, Hemingson revealed there’s a part earmarked for Paul Giamatti.

In perhaps one of the best feel-good stories in Hollywood this year, a coalition of 35 filmmakers have invested in a coalition to save Los Angeles’ fabled Westwood Village Theater. Organized by Jason Reitman, the group will book first-run features and repertory programming from the theater’s directors/caretakers.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor UPDATED: Jason Reitman has gathered more than two dozen filmmakers to help acquire Westwood’s historic Village Theater, which will program first-run and repertory programming. The group includes JJ Abrams, Judd Apatow, Damien Chazelle, Chris Columbus, Ryan Coogler, Bradley Cooper, Alfonso Cuarón, Jonathan Dayton, Guillermo del Toro, Valerie Faris, Hannah Fidell, Alejandro González Iñárritu, James Gunn, Sian Heder, Rian Johnson, Gil Kenan, Karyn Kusama, Justin Lin, Phil Lord, David Lowery, Christopher McQuarrie, Chris Miller, Christopher Nolan, Alexander Payne, Todd Phillips, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Jay Roach, Seth Rogen, Emma Seligman, Brad Silberling, Steven Spielberg, Emma Thomas, Denis Villeneuve, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao.

EXCLUSIVE: Dominic Sessa, the 21-year-old rising star, didn’t win a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA award Sunday night – that went to Oppenheimer’s Robert Downey Jr. – but he did pick up his first post-The Holdovers role that will see him starring with Rose Byrne in director Stephanie Laing’s drama Tow.

Deadline has launched the streaming site for Contenders Film: The Nominees, the Oscar nominees panel showcase that took place Saturday.

Ellise Shafer Hugh Grant channeled his inner Oompa Loompa at the BAFTA Awards on Sunday night, where the “Wonka” actor was on hand to present the award for best director. After taking the stage, Grant dryly recited a spoken-word version of his character’s song: “Oompa Loompa doompity dee/ now the best director category.

Christopher Nolan has won the BAFTA Award for best director for “Oppenheimer.” In his acceptance speech, he said that while his film ended on a “dramatically necessary note of despair,” he wanted to spotlight the “individuals and organizations who have fought long and hard to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world.” “In accepting this I do just want to acknowledge their efforts and point out they show the necessity and potential of efforts for peace,” he added. The British director also said that it was an “incredible honor to be back home, to get this from BAFTA, in the festival hall where my my mum and dad used to drag me to make me have some culture.

Refresh for latest…: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has rolled out the red carpet for its annual BAFTA Film Awards here at London’s Royal Festival Hall. The ceremony is about to kick off on what began as a dreary day, but has since given way to blue skies. David Tennant is hosting the proceedings this year, and we’ll be updating the winners live below, so be sure to keep checking back.

“It genuinely feels like things are happening in real time.”

As we race to the Oscar finish line, it has certainly been a year to remember. The movie business all but shook off the last vestiges of the Covid era with the phenomenon that was Barbenheimer — collectively, Barbie and Oppenheimer earned more than $2 billion globally at the box office. Not only is cinema alive and kicking, but both of those box office behemoths are Oscar-nominated for Best Picture.

BAFTAs) this weekend.The 2024 ceremony takes place on Sunday (February 18) and will be broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall, with David Tennant set to host for the first time.Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer is expected to be the biggest winner on the night, going into the ceremony with a leading 13 nominations.The biographical drama, about the man who developed the first atomic bomb, has picked up the Best Film award at every major ceremony so far and is naturally tipped to claim the prize at the BAFTAs as well, with Bet365 valuing the odds at 1/7.Similarly, the Best Actor category appears to be a forgone conclusion, with Oppenheimer‘s lead star Cillian Murphy being the standout favourite. He too has taken home the award at every major ceremony this year, and is priced at 5/1 by Sky Bet to win once again.As for Best Actress, Emma Stone appears to be the frontrunner for her performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things.

Oppenheimer‘s steamroll of awards season continued with filmmaker Christopher Nolan walking off with the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film.

J. Kim Murphy Lights. Camera.

Addie Morfoot Contributor After a tumultuous year marked by Hollywood labor strife and cutbacks at major studios, the Directors Guild of America will celebrate helmers, including Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan, at its 76th annual DGA Awards on Feb.10. Gerwig and Nolan, the filmmakers behind last summer’s blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” are nominated for the top trophy alongside Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Yorgos Lanthimos for “Poor Things” and Alexander Payne for “The Holdovers.” Directors for popular shows such as “Succession” and “The Bear” were among those nominated for DGA trophies this year.

Jon Glickman is in talks to become the next CEO of Miramax Films. a post that has been vacant since Bill Block exited last fall.

A handful of indies bow or expand this weekend as Oscar hopefuls from Poor Things to The Holdovers and American Fiction crowd theaters after nominations earlier this week. Anatomy Of A Fall is getting a big bump. Oppenheimer is back on Imax.

The 2024 Oscars ceremony is less than two months away, and details about the show, the nominees and who may win are coming into focus.

is upon us as the 2024 Oscar nominations will be announced at 8:30 a.m. ET by Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid.

Awards Season finally has some twists and turns to contend with before the Oscar nominations are revealed on Tuesday. Today, the 2024 BATA Awards nominations were revealed and snubs and surprises were almost everywhere.

Studios, specialty labels, streamers and indies spread the field of BAFTA Film Awards nominations announced today. Universal‘s Oppenheimer leads with 13, followed by Searchlight‘s Poor Things at 11 and Apple Original Films‘ Killers of the Flower Moon at nine, tying with A24’s The Zone of Interest.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Put your pencils down, and pass your ballots to the front. The nominations voting period for the 96th Academy Awards is now closed. The latest influences on the race came from the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes, where Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” topped both groups.

Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers is set in the last weeks of 1970 and, if attention is paid, you’ll see Da’Vine Joy Randolph pay homage to Isabel Sanford, particularly how the tv legend wore her hair when she played Louise “Weezy” Jefferson in the classic TV comedy The Jeffersons.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Wonka” continued its reign over the U.K. and Ireland box office with £2.2 million ($2.8 million), according to numbers from Comscore. After six weekends at the box office, the Timothée Chalamet starrer has a sweet total of £56.1 million.

Ethan Shanfeld The American-Canadian Critics Choice Association has descended upon awards season for the 29th year, voting on the year’s finest in cinematic achievement. Hosted this year by Chelsea Handler, the Critics Choice Awards are broadcast live on The CW on Sunday, Jan.

The Directors Guild of America unveiled their final nominees for the 76th DGA Awards and there were few surprises. Making the cut were Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”), Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and Alexander Payne (“The Holdovers”).

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “The Holdovers” production designer Ryan Warren Smith pieced together five school locations for Alexander Payne’s latest. In the retro movie, set in the early 1970s at the fictional prep school Barton Academy, Paul Giamatti’s grumpy teacher Paul Hunham is left to look after students who have no place to go over the Christmas break. Smith studied Hal Ashby’s “The Landlord” and “The Last Detail,” both released around that period, while creating the production design for “The Holdovers.” He observed everything in those films were stripped down, at least when it came to production design.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The 29th annual Critics’ Choice Awards, honoring the year’s best in film and television, are set to air Sunday evening. The ceremony will broadcast live on the CW starting at 7 p.m.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The SAG Awards nominations provided an exciting blend of usual suspects and stunning omissions. For some awards season strategists — particularly the ones behind critically adored films like “Anatomy of a Fall” and “May December” — there’s no choice but to ask, “what happened?” The SAG Awards’ pearl anniversary brought expected mentions for Oscar contenders such as the two summer smash hits “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” leading the tally for all movies with four nominations each. In addition, the crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” and the satirical dramedy “American Fiction” managed three mentions.