Steven Spielberg Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Steven Spielberg has shared his thoughts on the treatment of the Jewish community amid the current conflict in Gaza.In a speech marking the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the USC Shoah Foundation, a nonprofit organisation providing information and support surrounding Holocaust survivors and witnesses, Spielberg shared his concern at the ongoing global anti-Semitism (via The Guardian).The Schindler’s List director said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. I am increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history – to once again have to fight for the very right to be Jewish.”He continued: “The echoes of history are unmistakable in our current climate.

Steven Spielberg has made no secret of his support for Joe Biden’s reelection, and now the Oscar winner is rolling up his shirt sleeves for the team.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor In order to deliver authenticity to every ace, volley, serve and rally, the stars of Luca Guadagnino‘s tennis drama “Challengers” each trained for up to six hours a day for three months on the court. In the film, two former friends and double partners Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) face off in a challengers match years after falling out over their pursuit of Tashi Duncan (Zendaya). Brad Gilbert, tennis coach to Andy Murray and Coco Gauff, worked extensively with the actors to make sure they could convincingly become sports stars.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix just boarded a buzzy one. The streamer has joined The Thursday Murder Club, the Chris Columbus-directed feature adaptation of Richard Osman’s bestselling novel.

With his new highly-anticipated film Challengers bowing this weekend, Mike Faist looks to have found a new agent and manager as he as signed with WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners for representation. He will continue to work with former agent Samantha Stoller, who transitioned to management in February.

Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley are set to star in The Thursday Murder Club, with Chris Columbus attached to write and direct.

EXCLUSIVE: Apple Studios has announced the three participants selected for its inaugural Directors Program, described as an inclusive, new initiative focused on expanding opportunities for mid-career directors across the U.S.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Paramount has delayed “Aang: The Last Airbender” to 2026 and moved “Transformers One” back by one week. The animated “Avatar: The Last Airbender” spinoff was previously set for Oct. 10, 2025 and will now open on Jan.

Selena Kuznikov Autobots, assemble: Paramount has released a trailer for “Transformers One,” the animated prequel film led by the voices of Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johansson. Hemsworth voices young Optimus Prime, when he was just known as Orion Pax. Henry is D-16, before he became Optimus’ rival Megatron.

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg always moves fluidly from genre to genre, and perhaps there’s no better example than the recent 30th anniversary of 1993’s “Schindler’s List,” which was released the same year as the couldn’t-be-totally-different “Jurassic Park.” And so, coming off his grounded and very personal family drama, “The Fabelmans,” for his next film, Spielberg might be going back to the sci-fi genre again.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Participant, the 20-year-old film and television production company whose mission was to inspire social justice and humanitarian action, is shutting down. Founder Jeff Skoll broke the news to a staff of roughly 100 on Tuesday.

EXCLUSIVE: Following his acclaimed role in the Showtime series Fellow Travelers, Jonathan Bailey may have found his follow-up, and it’s a big splash. Sources tell Deadline that he is in early talks to star in Universal and Amblin Entertainment’s new Jurassic World movie. Scarlett Johansson is also in talks to star. Gareth Edwards will direct.

EXCLUSIVE: Djimon Hounsou, the actor known for his Academy Award-nominated performances in Ed Zwick’s Blood Diamond and Jim Sheridan’s In America, has signed with Buchwald for representation.

Masters of the Air is the third World War II miniseries from Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, following Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Goetzman said Spielberg’s father had been pushing them to do the series about WWII pilots since their first.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Marco Mueller has been appointed artistic director of Italy’s Taormina Film Festival, which will have a top notch selection committee comprising British film curator and former London fest chief Sandra Hebron and former Cannes Directors’ Fortnight boss Edouard Waintrop. As anticipated by Variety, Mueller, who over the past decades has headed both the Venice and Rome fests — among several other events — is taking the reins of the storied Sicilian event that has had its ups and downs over the years. Held since the mid-1950s in the Sicilian resort known to U.S.

Carolyn Giardina Chris Hemsworth, the voice of a young Optimus Prime, and Brian Tyree Henry, the voice of a young Megatron, got an enthusiastic welcome at CinemaCon as they introduced a first look and 3D scene from “Transformers One,” Paramount‘s animated origin story based on the Hasbro toys. “This origin story is how they transformed from brothers in arms to sworn enemies,” said Henry from Las Vegas on Thursday. In the clip, Optimus Prime, Megatron and their friends “proven worthy” are given their powers to transform — and awkwardly get accustomed to using those powers.

CinemaCon this morning got a first look at the extended trailer for and a 3D scene from Paramount’s animated Transformers One. The origins story is due for release on September 13. From Paramount Animation and Hasbro; in Association with New Republic Pictures, it’s directed by Josh Cooley. 

We knew this was coming as indicated in the coda of last summer’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, but the G.I. Joe team and Transformers are getting together. It was a storyline played out for the Hasbro brands in their 1980s Marvel published comics.

Twisters might be all tornadoes wrecking the Earth, but at the heart of it is a good banter romance, and that’s what Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell have got going on in the latest trailer shown Wednesday at CinemaCon.

Angelique Jackson In a competitive situation, Warner Bros. has landed “The Color Purple” director Blitz Bazawule’s next project, which takes on the legendary Yasuke, an African warrior who became the first Black samurai.

EXCLUSIVE: John Magaro (Past Lives) and Jeannie Berlin (You Hurt My Feelings) have been tapped for supporting roles in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein film, The Bride!, starring Christian Bale.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor When Jason Reitman announced that he’d bought the Fox Village Theatre in Westwood, film fans were stunned that some of the world’s most prominent directors, from Steven Spielberg to Chloé Zhao to Christopher Nolan, wanted a stake in the classic movie palace. But it’s a strange time for the theatrical exhibition business. Moviegoing always sees an uptick when blockbusters come to town, but for independent theaters, the past four years have been dreadful.

Star Wars franchise filmmaker George Lucas has been revealed as the richest celebrity in the world.The director, 79, who has accumulated a $5.5billion fortune, topped the annual Forbes list of celebrity billionaires.Lucas, who was the executive producer, writer and director of the Star Wars franchise up until Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith in 2005, also produced the Indiana Jones film series.His production company, Lucasfilm was sold to Disney in 2012 for $4billion, and has produced the later films in the Star Wars series, along with other projects.In his early career, Lucas wrote and directed the 1973 hit, American Graffiti, for which he received Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.But it was 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, the first film in the franchise, which would secure his success, becoming the highest-grossing film at the time and winning six Oscars, as well as nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.Lucasfilm have also produced two upcoming Star Wars spin-off series, The Acolyte, and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, both scheduled for release this year.Sitting at second place on the list is celebrated director of Jaws, E.T: The Extra Terrestrial and Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg, with a hefty $4.8billion.Others in the top 20 list include NBA star Michael Jordan, broadcaster Oprah Winfrey, Lord Of The Rings creator Peter Jackson, and singer Taylor Swift.Swift appeared on the annual list for the first time, in 14th place, following reports by Bloomberg last October that she had become a billionaire.The singer, 34, has broken multiple streaming, box-office and ticket sale records in the past year with the success of her global tour and the release of the concert film, Tay

Marco Mueller, who over the past decades has headed both the Venice and Rome fests – among several other events – is back in Italy where he is expected to be appointed artistic director of Sicily’s storied but troubled Taormina Film Festival. According to several sources Mueller, who in more recent years relocated to China, is expected to sign a contract on Thursday to become Taormina fest chief. The event is run by the Fondazione Taormina Arte Sicilia foundation currently being managed by Sergio Bonomo.

It’s a knighthood for the man behind The Dark Knight.

Steven Spielberg has shared high praise for Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune: Part Two – see what Spielberg had to say below.Both Spielberg and Villeneuve recently appeared together on the March 26 episode of The Director’s Cut podcast, during which Spielberg shared his thoughts on Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic, Dune.“It’s an honour for me to sit here and talk to you,” Spielberg said to Villeneuve. “Let me start by saying there are filmmakers who are the builders of worlds.

It’s a rare treat when two genre filmmaking giants like Steven Spielberg and Denis Villeneuve come together to share their insights. In a recent episode of The Director’s Cut—A DGA Podcast, these visionary filmmakers sat down for a conversation that was both entertaining and enlightening.

Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune: Part Two is getting Steven Spielberg‘s seal of approval. The Oscar-winning director is praising not only the film, but the Canadian filmmakers vision and creativity.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose is set to star in 87North’s With Love for Universal Pictures opposite Ke Huy Quan. Universal Pictures will release With Love wide on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. The film marks Huy Quan’s first starring role since winning the Oscar for best supporting actor with 87North’s Kelly McCormick and David Leitch, who also produced Atomic Blonde, Nobody and the upcoming summer pic The Fall Guy, will produce.

Jack Dunn Celina Biniaz, who at 93 is the youngest of the 1,200 people saved by Oskar Schindler in 1944, slowly walked her way to the podium as the ballroom fell still. In her presence, the audience of about 265 people who gathered Monday on the USC campus were eager to watch living history unfold on stage, no doubt with memories of friends and family lost during World War II on their minds. The audience at included 30 Holocaust survivors.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said Steven Spielberg today. “I am increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history–to once again have to fight for the very right to be Jewish,” the Schindler’s List director added at an event Monday celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Spielberg founded Shoah Foundation.

Jennifer Hudson, who guest starred on NBC’s Smash, is now joining the producing team of its upcoming stage musical adaptation.

One of America’s most celebrated writers and one of Steven Spielberg’s go-to collaborators spoke out today on the Haaretz Podcast about the controversy over Jonathan Glazer‘s speech after Zone of Interest won Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

Katcy Stephan Actor and comedian Zach Woods has signed with the Gersh Agency for representation in all areas. Woods is best known for his work on critically acclaimed series “Silicon Valley” and “The Office.” He played Donald “Jared” Dunn for six seasons on “Silicon Valley” and joined “The Office” as Gabe Lewis starting in Season 6.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Sufjan Stevens is bringing his musical talents to Broadway. The singer-songwriter’s show “Illinoise,” based on his album of the same name, will open at the St. James Theatre in the spring.

EXCLUSIVE: Vault Entertainment has added industry veteran Craig Baumgarten as a manager/producer.