Len Blavatnik Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Altitude has picked up international sales and UK and Irish distribution rights to Mad About The Body — The Noël Coward Story, a feature documentary about the life of Noël Coward from Barnaby Thompson (St. Trinian’s).

Tatiana Siegel More than 450 Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals have signed an open letter denouncing Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” Oscar speech. The co-signees cover a broad swath of the industry including actors (Debra Messing, Tovah Feldshuh), executives (Gary Barber, Gail Berman, Amy Pascal), creators (Amy Sherman-Palladino), directors (Eli Roth, Rod Lurie), producers (Lawrence Bender, Hawk Koch, Sherry Lansing) and representatives (UTA’s Jake Fenton, Gersh’s Jeffrey Greenberg, attorney Craig Emmanuel).

K.J. Yossman “The Zone of Interest” executive producer Danny Cohen has become the first member of the film’s production team to publicly address director Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech, saying “I just fundamentally disagree with Jonathan.” While accepting the Academy Award on Sunday evening for best international film, Glazer delivered a set of pre-written remarks in which he compared his Holocaust film to the current conflict in Gaza.

Focus Features has firmed up release plans for Conclave, the papal thriller marking filmmaker Edward Berger‘s follow-up to his 2022 Oscar winner All Quiet on the Western Front. An adaptation of Robert Harris’ same-name bestseller, penned by Peter Straughan, the film releases in theaters in New York and L.A. on November 1st, before expanding on the 8th.

‘The Zone Of Interest’ Teaser Trailer 

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer The biceps and bro love will flow freely this December, as a new sports drama starring Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White has been given the greenlight to conduct publicity from striking union SAG-AFTRA. “The Iron Claw,” about the ill-fated American pro wrestling family the Von Erichs, has received an interim agreement from the actors guild – meaning its stars are clear to promote the film around the world before it sees a wide release this holiday season.

Sean Durkin’s wrestling drama, The Iron Claw, is the latest in a string of upcoming A24 theatrical releases to get cleared for a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.

Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes-winning Holocaust drama The Zone Of Interest has been selected as the UK’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Jonathan Glazer’s Nazi drama “The Zone of Interest” has sold into major international territories following its buzzy Cannes world premiere. The film centers on the family of a high-ranking SS official that lives next door to Auschwitz concentration camp. The pic has sold into: Austria and Germany (Leonine), Benelux (Cineart), France (BAC), Greece (Spentzos), Italy (I Wonder), Japan (Happinet Phantom Studios), Scandinavia (SF Studios), Spain (Elastica) and Switzerland (Filmcoopi). In Poland — a significant sales market for the film given it is set there — Gutek has come on board as distributor. (A24 was selling worldwide rights for the film, but did not handle the Polish sale.)

Rebel Wilson is set to direct her first feature, The Deb, a musical set in Australia “that brings the bush into the city.”

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Rebel Wilson is directing her first feature film with musical comedy “The Deb,” a big-screen adaptation of an Australian musical set in the outback. The film is produced by Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik, and Gregor Cameron via their company Unigram, which recently produced Apple TV+ movie “Tetris,” and sister outfit AI Film (“I, Tonya”). The project was launched around the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, at a private event aboard billionaire investor Blavatnik’s yacht, where cast members from the Aussie musical performed a number of songs on the vessel’s upper deck. Blavatnik, sporting a baseball cap with branding for the movie, introduced the singers, making it clear to the intimate gathering aboard his three-floor yacht that he was an enthusiastic backer of the project and, indeed, Wilson.

EXCLUSIVE: Red Skies, the Israeli drama that counts Euphoria and Shtisel execs behind it, has landed a renewal a month before the first season has launched.

Vertical announced today that they have acquired the US rights to the Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway romantic comedy “She Came to Me,” which opened the Berlin Film Festival in February of this year. “She Came to Me” is written and directed by Rebecca Miller (“Maggie’s Plan”) and, per the official synopsis, “follows Steven Lauddem (Dinklage), a composer who is plagued by a creative block which leaves him unable to finish the score for his big comeback opera.

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical has nabbed U.S. rights to the romantic comedy She Came to Me, starring Emmy winner Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway (Ocean’s 8) and Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei (Spider-Man: No Way Home), with plans to release the film in theaters nationwide on a date that has yet to be determined.

REFRESH FOR UDPATES: The nominations for the 76th Annual Tony Awards will be announced on CBS Mornings today by Funny Girl star Lea Michele and MJ‘s Tony Award winner Myles Frost. The complete list of nominations will be posted here at 9:10 a.m. ET./6 a.m. PT.

Marta Balaga High-flying Access Entertainment, a division of Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries and equity investor in A24 and “His Dark Materials” producer Bad Wolf, is investing in “Red Skies,” one of the biggest titles set to world premiere at this year’s Series Mania, in main International Competition.   Blavatnik and Danny Cohen, Access Entertainment president, will serve as executive producers on “Red Skies,” a position they also hold one upcoming movies such as Beau is Afraid, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Jonathan Glazer’s “Zone of Interest,” “Iron Claw,” starring Zac Efron, and “Conclave,” from Edward Berger, director of “All Quiet on the Western Front.”  

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Tony-awarding-winning choreographer Sonya Tayeh behind the stage adaptation of “Moulin Rouge!” has joined the creative team of the upcoming “Gatsby” musical. The show’s producers Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik, Jordan Roth and American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) also announced that the stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel will have its World Premiere at A.R.T. in 2024. With “Hadestown” alum Rachel Chavkin on board to direct. As previously announced, Florence Welch, the force behind Florence + the Machine will write the lyrics. Welch will be joined by Thomas Bartlett to work on the show’s music.

EXCLUSIVE: In a seven-figure deal finalised over the last week, Sony Pictures’ Stage 6 Films has beaten out competitors for UK rights to Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid, which A24 is releasing in the U.S. on April 21.

Gatsby, the Broadway-aimed musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby first announced a year into the Covid pandemic shutdown, will make its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge in 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: Pig and Manodrome producer Ben Giladi is formally launching his production banner Liminal Content at this year’s Berlin Film Festival where Manodrome debuted in Competition.

EXCLUSIVE: Leonine Studios and A24 have closed an all rights-deal for Ari Aster’s upcoming movie Beau Is Afraid for Germany and Austria.

EXCLUSIVE: BAFTA winner Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd) has been set to direct and stars in The Semplica Girl Diaries, written by Ayoade and Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders.

HEADLINERSBig names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film events with major and rising names in cinema.BottomsDirector: Emma Seligman, Producers: Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman, Alison Small, Screenwriters: Emma Seligman, Rachel SennottDirected by Emma Seligman and written by Seligman and Rachel Sennott, Bottoms follows two unpopular girls in their senior year who start a fight club to try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders. Cast: Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Ruby Cruz, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicholas Galitzine, Miles Fowler, Marshawn Lynch, Dagmara Dominiczyk, Punkie Johnson (World Premiere)TetrisDirector: Jon S.

The 73rd Berlin International Film Festival will open on February 16, 2023, with the world premiere of She Came to Me, by Rebecca Miller.

Lurid mysteries abound in Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio’s latest feature, “The Wonder.” Starring “Don’t Worry Darling” and “Little Women” Oscar nominee Florence Pugh as an nurse tasked with caring for an ailing 11-year-old girl who’s inexplicably not eaten in four months, the first trailer showcases an atmospheric, 19th century tale with eerie twists and turns as Pugh nurse, the girl’s family and the townspeople around them fights to determine the young girl’s secret. Per a logline from distributor Netflix, which debuted the film Sept.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Live sports streaming service DAZN has struck a deal to buy global sports media business ELEVEN Group, which holds rights to the top soccer leagues in Portugal and Belgium.  The deal, for an undisclosed sum, will boost DAZN’s offerings in Italy, German-speaking markets and Spain, where it already holds top league domestic soccer rights. Additionally, ELEVEN has a presence in Taiwan and other Southeast Asian markets, which will give DAZN a greater foothold in that region where the service is already market leader in Japan, the company said in a statement. The deal also includes ELEVEN-owned Team Whistle, which is a short-form original social media content provider said by DAZN to have over 700 million followers across its channels. Team Whistle is estimated to bring total revenue of around $300 million a year, DAZN said.

Robert Kyncl, a 12-year veteran of YouTube’s senior executive team, will become CEO of Warner Music Group on January 1.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor After a fast courtship, outgoing YouTube head of business Robert Kyncl has been named CEO of Warner Music Group and will replace Steve Cooper when he steps down next year.  According to the announcement, Kyncl and Cooper will serve as co-CEOs for the month of January 2023. As of February 1, 2023, Kyncl will become sole CEO of WMG and assume Cooper’s board seat on WMG’s Board of Directors. Kyncl brings strong music-industry experience to the job: YouTube is both the world’s largest video-streaming platform and the largest music-streaming platform, and he played a huge role in its negotiations with labels and publishers and generally received high marks (remarkably, considering the often-contentious relations between the two sides). He’s also pioneering force in the streaming business: Before he was chief business officer of YouTube, he led Netflix from DVDs to digital.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Recorded Music has announced a global joint venture with Lee Daniels Music, headed by the acclaimed director/writer/producer. Daniels was behind the films “Precious,” “The Butler” and “Monster’s Ball,” the long-running TV series “Empire” and many others.The agreement encompasses recorded music projects, including soundtracks, as well as artist signings. Its first project – the original motion picture soundtrack for “The United States vs.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Recorded Music has unveiled a new global joint venture with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lee Daniels’ (The United States vs. Billie Holiday) company, Lee Daniels Music.

Warner Music Group said Wednesday that it has begun planning for the succession of chief executive Stephen Cooper and expects to announce a new CEO by the end of 2023.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSteve Cooper, CEO of Warner Music Group for the past 11 years, will step down next year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that was confirmed to Variety by a rep for the company.The transition will be a gradual one, the rep emphasized, as the company seeks a suitable successor.Warner is the third-largest major music group, after Universal and Sony, and Cooper has run it with a firm, calm and non-flamboyant hand through the first decade of the streaming era and as it went public for a second time in the early months of the pandemic in 2020. The company earnings were declining at the time of his arrival and he not only reversed that trend but doubled its revenue and embraced new technologies and business opportunities.

It’s been a busy few months for Lizzo and there’s no sign of slowing down.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Music Group has suspended all of its operations in Russia, the company has confirmed to Variety. “Warner Music Group is suspending operations in Russia, including investments in and development of projects, promotional and marketing activities, and manufacturing of all physical products,” according to a statement from the company. “We will continue to fulfill our agreed upon obligations to our people, artists, and songwriters as best we can as the situation unfolds.

EXCLUSIVE: Mars Media’s Ruben Dishdishyan and Amedia Production’s Len Blavatnik, two of the most significant figures in the Russian biz, have entered into a five-year agreement to co-produce and co-finance feature films.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentBillionaire Len Blavatnik’s live sports streaming service DAZN, which recently secured TV rights to all Serie A live soccer matches in Italy for the next three seasons, has come under fire across the country after a string of technical outages.These have now prompted DAZN to offer a one-month refund to subscribers who request it.The ongoing streaming snags are believed to be caused by Italy’s insufficient broadband infrastructure, which has caused some