Carole Horst Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Carole Horst “Minions: The Rise of Gru” may be filled with familiar, uh, faces of the lovable yellow creatures, but it transports them back to the 1970s, when Gru (still voiced by Steve Carell) was a supervillian in training and the Minions were looking to fit into his burgeoning world.The latest installment of the popular franchise from Universal and Illumination was directed by Kyle Balda, himself a veteran of the world of the Minions and a child of the ’70s. The animation team had to distill tons of research of the colors, the music, the architecture, clothes and hairstyles of the mid-1970s for the film, which follows elementary school student Gru as he applies to join the Vicious 6, a team of supervillians, but of course, events, with the help of the Minions, go awry.

Carole Horst In Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” Cailee Spaeny goes from a 14-year-old high schooler courted by Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi), the most famous man on Earth, to a liberated woman freeing herself from an oppressive marriage to that same man (whose fame was somewhat eclipsed by that point). Production designer Tamara Deverell, costume head Stacey Battat, hair department head Cliona Furey and makeup department head Jo-Ann MacNeil created looks that take Spaeny’s Priscilla on that long journey from schoolgirl on a U.S. army base in Germany to Memphis, Tenn., where Elvis installed his future wife at his Graceland mansion, to her finding independence in early 1970s. “In the beginning, it’s pinks and soft textures, and the fuzzy sweaters,” says Battat, noting that the film spans 1959-1972 in 1 hour and 50 minutes, requiring lots of changes in silhouettes, hair and makeup — it’s an era of revolutionary changes in fashion. “I took the real photos of her and looked at them in a spectrum and then just kind of filled in the gaps and in my mind.

Carole Horst Writer/director David Ferino’s feature directorial debut, “Wardcliffe,” starring Joel McKinnon Miller (“The Staircase,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Big Love”) and Shane Coffey (“Pretty Little Liars,” “Good Girls”). Inspired by real events, Ferino’s script takes place over the course of a single day as Dennis (Miller) and his son Ronnie (Coffey) quarantine together during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. Decades of tension escalate to a boiling point when the two find themselves confined inside.

Carole Horst “Unicorns” explores a world not seen much in feature films — the world of “gaysians,” the South Asian gay community in the U.K. The film, directed by Sally El Hosaini (“The Swimmers”) and James Krishna Floyd and written by Floyd, follows Aysha/Ashiq (charismatic newcomer Jason Patel) a queer, Muslim, South Asian drag queen living a double life who sparks a friendship then romance with white, straight mechanic and single father Luke (“Eastenders’ ” Ben Hardy, equally charismatic). The film bowed to rave reviews at the Toronto Intl.

Carole Horst The Exchange has picked up world sales rights to “The Islander,” starring Harry Connick Jr. Variety can share an exclusive first look of the romantic feature. The Exchange will be introducing the title to buyers at AFM, which kicks off Oct.

Carole Horst Minhal Baig’s “We Grown Now,” which bowed Sept. 8 at TIFF, follows Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez), two 12-year-old boys living in Chicago’s Cabrini Green housing project. It’s 1992 and the boys have loving homes overzealous and racist police, crime and an unthinkable tragedy burst through their childhood bubble.

Carole Horst “Outlaw Posse,” a Western being sold by Highland Film Group, stars Mario Van Peebles, Whoopi Goldberg, Edward James Olmos and Cedric the Entertainer. Highland Film Group shared an exclusive first look at the films with Variety. Van Peebles wrote and directed the actioner.

Carole Horst Capstone Global is selling “Don’t Move,” starring Kelsey Asbille (“Yellowstone,” “Fargo,” “Wind River”) and Finn Wittrock (“American Horror Story,” “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” “Ratched”). Capstone shared a first-look exclusive still of the horror thriller, which is currently in post-production, produced by Raimi Prods.

Carole Horst Actor Jack Huston makes his directorial debut with the drama “The Day of the Fight,” starring Michael Pitt, in Venice’s Horizons Extra. The black and white film, set in the early 1980s, follows Mikey (Pitt) through his day as he prepares for a comeback fight at Madison Square Garden that night. But Mikey is preparing for something much bigger, as the screenplay – written by Huston – delves into his past, his relationships and all the pain, sorrow and joy they bring.

Carole Horst “Top Chef” last won an Emmy in the competition category in 2010 (it won an editing Emmy in 2008) but it’s been shut out of wins for too many years.  Until “RuPaul’s Drag Race” took over the reality competition category, trophies tended to go to the most familiar — albeit well-crafted options — rather than the best shows.   Now, reality competition is, well, super competitive. Last year’s winner, “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” was an empowering and joyful series that captured the mood of America, while nominees such as “Nailed It!,” and perpetual nominees “The Voice,” “The Amazing Race” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” crowd out worthies such as “Making the Cut,” “Next in Fashion,” “American Ninja Warrior,” “Dancing With the Stars,” “America’s Got Talent” and any number of Gordon Ramsay cooking series. (For that matter, many Food Network series fail to make the cut as well.) 

Carole Horst Animation producer and distributor GKIDS has acquired all North American rights to the music-driven anime feature “Blue Giant.” The film, an adaptation of the manga of the same name, is directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa (“Mob Psycho100,” “Death Parade,” “Detective Conan: The Black Iron Submarine”). Number 8, the editor of the original “Blue Giant” manga written by Shinichi Ishizuka, penned the script. In “Blue Giant,” former high school basketball player Dai Miyamoto discovers a love for jazz, and determines to learn the saxophone. He hits the jazz clubs of Tokyo in his quest to be the best sax player in the world. Dai launches a trio with cocky but talented pianist Yukinori, with Dai’s friend Shunji on the drums. But he soon learns that life as a professional musician is harder than it looks from the outside.

Carole Horst “Nimona” took a twisty road to the big screen. But now it’s ready for its debut at Annecy Animation Film Festival. Pictured above is an exclusive still from the anticipated fantasy adventure. Based on the graphic novel by N.D. Stevenson, the feature follows Ballister Boldheart, a knight in a futuristic medieval world who is framed for a crime he didn’t commit. The only one who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona, a mischievous teen who happens to be a shapeshifting creature he’s sworn to destroy. “Nimona” started out at 20th Century Fox’s animation shingle Blue Sky Studios, which optioned the novel in 2015. Nick Bruno and Troy Quane were brought onboard in 2020 when creative direction of the film changed. The film continued production apace even after Disney completed its $71.9 billion merger with 20th Century Fox in 2019.

Carole Horst “Those About to Die,”AGC Television’s upcoming gladiator series from Roland Emmerich, stars Anthony Hopkins and boasts a cast drawn from across Europe and the Middle East. It’s also financially innovative.  Rather than rely on a single, deep-pocketed streamer to write the check for the pricey series, budgeted at $145 million for the first season, AGC adopted a split rights structure: U.S. rights are licensed to Peacock, European rights to HEP, the Herbert Kloiber Sr./Constantin joint venture, and AGC International distributing in the rest of the world.  AGC chairman and CEO Stuart Ford takes pride in proving the naysayers wrong with financing for the project set in ancient Rome and based on Daniel P. Mannix’s book of the same name.

Carole Horst The new head of the AFCI has big goals for the organization, and looks to promote stability within the leadership, which has seen a few presidents come and go in the past handful of years. “I really want to reassure people that I’m in this for the long haul and I feel like I have the right skill set to take the organization through and develop a really good strategy for it for the next 10 years,” says Jaclyn Philpott, the recently installed AFCI exec director. “I’ll be ready and willing to answer any questions that they may have. You know, I’ve had a very good look under the hood at the organization, from the financials through the previous strategies to what’s happening in the market right now, and I feel like I have a good idea of what they want based on what they’ve told me and in my own research.”

Carole Horst Matthew Von Der Ahe stars in “Champions,” Bobby Farrelly’s refreshingly unsentimental, hilarious and rather gritty remake of the 2018 Spanish hit “Campeones.” The story follows a disgraced minor league basketball coach (Woody Harrelson) who, after a DUI, is sentenced by a judge to coach a local Special Olympics basketball team, the Friends. Von Der Ahe, who has Down syndrome, plays the saucy Craig, who loves the game, his teammates and the ladies, and stars with Kaitlin Olson, Cheech Marin and a large cast of actors with intellectual and developmental disabilities [IDD]. Von Der Ahe has been acting since he was 7, and his credits include “Code Black,” “Weeds” and “Yo Gabba Gabba.” He’s also a state ambassador for IDD advocacy and volunteer organization Best Buddies, works at a restaurant called the Village, paints watercolor art, takes drum lessons and works out with a personal trainer, “who pushes me to do my best.” He’s also a musician: Stick around through the jubilant closing credits sequence of “Champions” and you’ll see him on the drums.

Carole Horst Kerry Condon earned her first Oscar nomination for Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” in which she plays Siobhán, the complex sister of Colin Farrell’s simple Pádraic. Condon has worked with McDonagh for two decades; her first major role was in his play “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” and in 2009, she starred in his drama “The Cripple of Inishmaan.” She also appeared in his film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” which won Academy Awards for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell. The actor, who hails from Thurles, Tipperary, Ireland, also shared that she shaved her head twice for McDonagh — once for “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” in London and four years later for the play’s New York premiere.

Variety shines a light on the teams you may have missed this Emmys season.“Abbott Elementary”CAMERA OPERATORSAs fans of “The Office” know, half of the humor of a mockumentary is the camera angles, swiftly cut-ting to a reaction shot or zoom-ing in on a ridiculous moment. The cameras on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” never miss a beat, and the operators feel like just another hilarious scene partner. — Sasha Urban“The Great”FOOD DESIGNERFood, sumptuous food.

Carole Horst Anita Gou’s producing career focuses on helping filmmakers and creatives bring their personal passions and visions to the screen. With Focus Features’ Cannes Un Certain Regard entry “The Silent Twins” from director Agniezska Smoczynska, her streak producing singular visions — such as Lula Wang’s “The Farewell” and “Honeyboy,” the collaboration of writer-actor Shia LeBeouf and Alma Har’el — continues. She started in the business right out of school getting her feet wet in post-production on bigger studio films. “I kind of quickly realized through that experience — though very fruitful and eye-opening — that my passion was really about more independently driven films, more idiosyncratic storytelling, storytellers and stories.

Carole Horst Morgan Freeman and Josh Hutcherson star in “57 Seconds,” a thriller based in the world of tech and big pharma. The film is directed by Rusty Cundieff (“Tales From the Hood,” “Chappelle’s Show”), and written by Macon Blair (Netflix’s “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance), and is based on the acclaimed story by British author E.C.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorVariety has promoted veteran editors Diane Garrett, Carole Horst and Terry Flores, giving the trio expanded oversight of the weekly magazine and more than two dozen Extra Editions published annually.Garrett and Horst have been promoted to Deputy Editor. Flores has advanced to Senior Production Editor.

Carole Horst Dominique Fishback earned acclaim in “Judas and the Black Messiah” playing Deborah Johnson, the wife of murdered Black Panther leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya, who won an Oscar for the role). She’ll next be seen in the Apple TV Plus limited series “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,” which bows March 11 on the streamer. It’s a heavyweight project: The series is based on Walter Mosley’s novel (he exec produces) and stars Samuel L.

Carole Horst Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth and Ving Rhames star in thriller “The Locksmith,” which has just wrapped principal photography in Las Cruces, NM. Variety has been given access to a first-look exclusive image of the film, being sold at the European Film Market by Arclight Films.Veteran first assistant director Nicolas Harvard makes his feature film debut on “The Locksmith,” which follows Miller (Phillippe), an expert locksmith fresh out of prison after a job gone bad.

Carole Horst Timed to the Screen Actors Guild Awards’ voting period, Variety is rolling out a digital Voters’ Guide on Feb. 7, called Awards Circuit Down to the Wire, focused solely on the SAG Awards nominees. Use the Screen Actors Guild Awards’ Voters’ Guide to help navigate the nominations.

best picture race continues to narrow, Variety staffers take a look at some of the individual scenes that made us laugh, cry and think — sometimes at the same time.“Being the Ricardos”(Amazon) Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) pulls Madeline (Alia Shawkat), the only female writer on Ball’s “I Love Lucy,” out of the writers room for a little one-on-one discussion about a scene that Lucy has been trying to make funnier — or at least make logical, and therefore funny. Like Madeline, Lucy is a smart, funny, strong women in the early 1950s — a unicorn in this man’s world in which they have mastered “work-arounds.” This scene from writer-director Aaron Sorkin is an honest yet sharp and somewhat frustrating talk about the TV character, the way the character is treated on the show and what type of comedy works.

Carole Horst When Brian O’Shea founded the worldwide film sales and finance company The Exchange in 2011, streaming was still in its infancy, release windows were numerous and robust and DVD pre-sales could still provide a big chunk of a movie’s budget.

Carole Horst Has Jeffrey Wright worked nonstop since he fell in love with acting in college in the late 1980s? It seems like it. From indie hits to blockbusters to weighty TV series to Broadway, the actor, who can next be seen in Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” will justifiably be honored with Variety’s Legend and Groundbreaker award at the Newport Beach Film Festival, which this year runs from Oct.

Carole Horst The Napa Valley Film Festival, which returns this year as a virtual event running Nov. 10-14, has announced its lineup that includes almost 60 full-length features and shorts.

Carole Horst The costumes in Denis Ville­neuve’s “Dune” tell a rich story on their own.Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan teamed up to create the 1,000 or so looks needed for the three main worlds of the movie: Arrakis, Caladan and Giedi Prime. “For research, I looked at David Lean films — ‘Dr.

Carole Horst Filmmaker Michael McGowan brings “All My Puny Sorrows,” his adaptation of beloved writer Miriam Toews’ novel, to the Toronto International Film Festival. The book, which McGowan adapted for the screen, tackles family bonds, religion, grief and suicide.

Carole Horst Filmmaker Ruth Paxton makes her feature debut with psychological horror film “A Banquet,” set to world premiere at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival.

Carole Horst Josh Duhamel (pictured above), Mel Gibson, Elisha Cuthbert and Nestor Carbonell star in “Bandit,” which Highland Film Group is selling at Cannes.  Allan Ungar directs.

Carole Horst Singaporean producer Jeremy Chua has amassed an impressive body of work in a relatively short period of time. Adullaah Mohammad Saad’s “Rehana,” a Singapore/Bangladesh co-production led by Chua’s Potocol, will pay at Un Certain Regard.

Carole Horst Women in Animation has launched WIA Talent Database, currently featuring more than 5,000 women, trans and non-binary candidates in the animation industry looking for work in the booming global toon biz.

Carole Horst Aidan Turner already has legions of fans for his turn as Kili in “The Hobbit” feature film series and earned a whole lot more — in a different demographic — as Ross Poldark in the long-running BBC series “Poldark,” a fixture on PBS’ “Masterpiece” in the States.

Carole Horst The Women in Animation (WIA) 2021 spring mentorship program will be taking applications starting March 31, with a special focus on mentoring women of color through its Mentor Circles series. In a new development, the WIA mentorship program is collaborating for the first time with Black N’Animated, LatinX in Animation, and Rise Up Animation to directly advance career opportunities for women of color in the animation industry.

Carole Horst “Best Sellers,” a Berlinale Special Gala screener and debut feature from Lina Roessler, has scored deals from major territories, which were announced by film’s sales outfit Foresight Unlimited at the European Film Market.Universal Pictures Content Group has acquired major markets including the U.K., Germany, France and Latin America, among others.