Zack Sharf Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Zack Sharf Digital News Director An episode of the “Powerful Truth Angels” podcast from earlier this year has resurfaced in recent days for featuring actor Lola Glaudini recounting a story from the set of the movie “Blow,” where Johnny Depp allegedly berated her for laughing during a take. Glaudini, who was in the background of a scene in which Depp gives a monologue, said that she was instructed by “Blow” director Ted Demme to “burst out laughing” when Depp said one of his lines during the take. “[Depp] says his monologue.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Nicole Kidman said in a recent interview with Elle magazine that her daughter, Sunday Rose, was partly responsible for getting “Big Little Lies” Season 3 off the ground. She demanded another season after finishing Season 2 and even had some criticisms to share about her mother’s character arc. “My daughter is the one who watched both of the series and went, ‘Okay, there’s just no question, there has to be a third,’” Kidman said, adding that Sunday gave her notes on character development.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jake Gyllenhaal was a serious contender to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, and it appear losing the role to Christian Bale has never impacted Gyllenhaal’s desire to play the Caped Crusader on the big screen. Making the press rounds in support of his new Amazon Prime Video action movie “Road House,” Gyllenhaal was asked by Screen Rant if he was still interested in playing Batman. “Oh, man.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Rebel Moon” star Sofia Boutella made headlines earlier this month when she told Vulture that critics bashing on Zack Snyder‘s space epic impacted her emotionally. The same wasn’t exactly true for Snyder. The writer-director recently spoke to Empire magazine ahead of the second “Rebel Moon” film coming to streaming and said he doesn’t have much of a reaction to the negative reviews for “Part One.” He seems a bit perplexed over how anything in the first “Rebel Moon” could warrant such hostile reviews.

Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter Within 24 hours of this year’s Academy Awards, total views on Variety social video covering the show hit 138 million, becoming the biggest day of Oscars social traffic in publication history. The previous record was held by coverage of the 2023 Oscars, which generated over 122 million views in just one day.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jeremy Strong‘s Emmy-winning tenure as Kendall Roy on HBO’s “Succession” is over, and he told The New York Times Magazine in a recent interview that “there was a moment when the show ended where I felt a profound sense of, ‘Was this the thing? Was this the event of my life?’ And then a great determination to achieve exit velocity from it so I could attempt to do more.” That “more” is now coming into focus. Strong is currently on Broadway headlining the play “Enemy of the People” alongside Michael Imperioli and Victoria Pedretti. He’s also set to play Roy Cohn in the upcoming biographical drama “The Apprentice,” which features Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Michael Keaton has some great news for “Beetlejuice” fans. During a recent interview on SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show,” the actor said he has watched a first cut of Tim Burton’s upcoming sequel, officially titled “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” and he has nothing but raves for it. “I’ve seen it now.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Al Pacino has issued a statement amid questions surrounding his appearance during the 2024 Oscars ceremony, where he awkwardly presented the best picture category. Pacino, who won an Academy Award for best actor in “Scent of a Woman,” did not list any of this year’s 10 nominees for best picture.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Spider-Verse” star Shameik Moore found himself in hot water on X (formerly Twitter) during the 2024 Oscars when he seemingly reacted to “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” losing the Academy Award for best animated feature to Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” by posting a one word reaction: “Robbed.” Many fans were quick to criticize Moore, who voices Miles Morales in the animated franchise, and pointed out that Miyazaki is a master of animation who directed an equally acclaimed movie. “Respect to the winner,” Moore posted in a follow-up response. “It’s true, I’m definitely a sore loser, but we didn’t lose, ‘Spider-Verse’ has impacted A LOT of lives.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “The Fall Guy” stars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt brought the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon to the Oscars stage while presenting a special tribute to stunt performers. The two co-stars, who were both nominated for supporting actor Oscars this year — Blunt for “Oppenheimer,” Gosling for “Barbie” — playfully roasted the rivalry between the two blockbusters, which famously opened in the theaters on the same date last summer. “I’m just happy that we can finally put this ‘Barbenheimer’ rivalry aside,” Gosling told Blunt.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director It was but one year ago when Jamie Lee Curtis became an Oscar winner, taking home the trophy for best supporting actress thanks to her work in the night’s eventual best picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Back at the Oscars this year as a presenter, Curtis said during Variety On the Carpet presented by DIRECTV that last year’s win changed her career in ways that can’t even be measured. “In really incalculable ways,” Curtis said when Variety’s Marc Malkin asked how the Oscar win changed her career. “I’m making a movie with James L.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” notably features the acting return of Christoper Walken, who hasn’t been seen on the big screen in four years. The Oscar winner had a trio of films released in 2020 (“The War with Grandpa,” “Percy” and “Wild Mountain Thyme”) and then went on a hiatus from moviemaking (he did show up in the 2022 television series “Severance.”) Now, he joins “Dune: Part Two” as Shaddam IV, aka the Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. Why did Walken decide to make “Dune: Part Two” his comeback? It’s a question Vanity Fair asked the Oscar winner in a new interview, to which Walken responded: “I had, of course, seen the first ‘Dune’ a number of times.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zack Snyder said in a recent interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience” that he doesn’t understand when fans’ hatred of his work becomes personal. Amid poor reviews for his latest directorial effort, Netflix’s “Rebel Moon,” Snyder read one article that referred to him as a “love him or hate him” filmmaker. “I have no issue with you not liking the movie,” Snyder said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Kristen Stewart is not a fan of many of the sex scenes she watches in movies these days. Ahead of the release of her A24 crime thriller “Love Lies Bleeding,” Stewart told NBC News that she’s “so sick” of methodical movie sex scenes that aren’t remotely close to how sex happens in real life.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Oprah Winfrey has set an hour-long ABC primetime special about weight loss drugs following her exit from the board of WeightWatchers after revealing her personal use of them. The special, titled “An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution,” will air later this month. Oprah recorded the special in front of a live studio audience and gathers medial experts to discuss weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zack Snyder appeared on “The Joe Rogan Experience” and championed his recent pivot to Netflix. The 58-year-old filmmaker spent the bulk of his career making movies at Warner Bros., but he made the jump to streaming starting with the 2021 release of his zombie action movie “Army of the Dead.” Snyder’s latest Netflix original was “Rebel Moon,” which debuted in December and kicked off a new space saga for the streaming giant. A second “Rebel Moon” film arrives this spring.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Robert Downey Jr. revealed last summer that his audition for Nancy Meyers’ “The Holiday” went poorly after Kate Winslet roasted his accent work. Now Winslet herself is admitting to hating Downey Jr.’s interpretation of the character ultimately played by Jude Law.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Léa Seydoux is a superstar in her home country of France and has successfully crossed over to Hollywood in franchises such as James Bond (“Spectre” and “No Time to Die”) and “Dune” (she debuted as Lady Margot Fenring in “Part Two” and will likely return for the third movie if it moves forward). But Seydoux recently told Harper’s Bazaar U.K. that it’s much easier being a female actor in Europe than it is in America.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Deadpool” star Karan Soni (Dopinder) told Variety this week that a ton of surprise cameos were filmed for the upcoming third installment, “Deadpool and Wolverine,” adding: “Let’s just say a lot of people traveled to London [for filming].” One actor who apparently did not make it to London was Vinnie Jones, who debuted as Juggernaut in “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Jones recently told Yahoo Movies UK that he turned down a request to reprise the character in “Deadpool and Wolverine” because getting in his Juggernaut suit isn’t the best experience. “Funnily enough I just got asked to do ‘Deadpool,’ the new one now, and I spoke to the director and I just said it’s such a drama putting that suit on mentally and physically,” Jones said. “I mean it had its mental toll as well because you’re in it and you can’t do anything all day, you can only drink through a straw.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Kirsten Dunst said in a new interview with Marie Claire that she’s finally at a stage in her career where she no longer feels “nervous” speaking her mind, adding: “I feel at home sharing everything on set now.” It’s a far cry from the version of Dunst who was on the “Spider-Man” set decades ago. As a young actor, Dunst didn’t have the confidence to speak up when things bothered her. Case in point: Being repeatedly called a “girly-girl” on the “Spider-Man” set.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Kate Winslet championed intimacy coordinators in a recent interview with The New York Times. The Oscar winner said having an intimacy coordinator on set would’ve benefitted her every time she was required to perform a sexual situation on camera, be it more graphic scenes featuring full frontal nudity or far tamer scenes with just kissing. “I would have benefited from an intimacy coordinator every single time I had to do a love scene or be partially naked or even a kissing scene,” Winslet said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director It sounds like Daniel Day-Lewis is serious about his retirement from acting and won’t be returning, at least according to his longtime director Jim Sheridan. The Irish filmmaker directed three of Day-Lewis’ most prominent films: “My Left Foot” (1989), “In the Name of the Father” (1993) and “The Boxer” (1997). Day-Lewis won the Oscar for best actor with “My Left Foot” and was also nominated for “In the Name of the Father.” “He says he’s done.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Dune: Part Two” features one of the starriest casts in recent memory. From Timothée Chalamet to Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista and more, there’s rarely a scene in the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel that isn’t filled with star power. The cast was supposed to be even bigger, however, but the filmmaker had to make some cuts to the final edit that left at least one actor “heartbroken.” Tim Blake Nelson, a regular of the Coen Brothers thanks to films such as “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” was announced as a cast member for “Dune: Part Two” in January 2023.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Rebel Moon” star Sofia Boutella told Vulture that it was hard to endure the critical beating the film took when it arrived on Netflix late last year. A passion project for writer-director Zack Snyder, “Rebel Moon” is a two-part space opera starring Boutella as a former soldier who recruits warriors to fight back against the evil Imperium when her farming colony is threatened. “Part One: A Child of Fire” earned pans and boasts a 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, while “Part Two: The Scargiver” is coming in April.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Chris Evans made a recent appearance at Emerald City Con 2024 (via Total Film) and threw his support behind comic book movies, a genre he’ll be forever associated with after playing Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for nearly 10 years. “Comic book movies in general, for whatever reason, don’t always get the credit I think they deserve,” Evans told the audience. “They are these big, giant movies.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Paul Dano is familiar with the comic book movie genre thanks to his acclaimed performance as Riddler opposite Robert Pattinson in “The Batman.” The Matt Reeves-directed tentpole was a box office hit with $772 million worldwide. That’s a mighty sum for the superhero genre, which took more than a few punches last year as entires like “Shazam: Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash,” “The Marvels,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” either disappointed at the box office or outright flopped.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Austin Butler confirmed in an interview with Access Hollywood that his kiss with co-star Stellan Skarsgård in “Dune: Part Two” was improvised on his behalf. The kiss between Butler’s Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and Skarsgård’s Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is unexpected and creepy as the characters are nephew and uncle, but it reaffirms Feyd-Rautha’s devotion to his uncle and deep desire to be him. That’s also why Butler mimicked Skarsgård’s speaking voice while crafting his own accent for Feyd-Rautha.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Stellan Skarsgård revealed to Business Insider that he spent eight hours in the makeup chair in order to transform into the villainous Baron Vladimir Harkonnen for “Dune: Part Two.” That might seem like an awful experience to some, but for Skarsgård it’s preferred to relying on any kind of VFX for transforming into his characters. “It was painful, but it was worth it,” Skarsgård said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director No one was shocked more than Hayden Christensen when he landed the role of Anakin Skywalker in George Lucas’ “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” and “Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith.” Christensen was far from the biggest name that Lucasfilm was trying to lure into its galaxy far, far away. When he had heard that Leonardo DiCaprio was being courted, Christensen thought “Star Wars” was a lost cause for him. “I had heard that they’d met with Leonardo and a bunch of other actors,” Christensen recently told Empire magazine.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director James Gunn announced that Feb. 29 marked the start of filming on his new “Superman” movie, which will kick off the rebooted DC Universe under the supervision of him and his DC Studios co-boss Peter Safran. Gunn also revealed that his movie, which had been titled “Superman: Legacy,” is now simply called “Superman.” “Overjoyed to be announcing the start of principal photography on SUPERMAN today, February 29, which just so happens to be – coincidentally and unplanned – Superman’s birthday,” Gunn wrote in a caption to a photo of what appears to be a close-up of his version of the Superman costume.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jake Gyllenhaal is trying to cool the controversy surrounding his upcoming action movie “Road House,” a remake of the 1989 cult favorite starring Patrick Swayze. The Amazon Prime Video movie has been slammed by none other than its director, Doug Liman, who is boycotting the film’s release due to Amazon’s decision not to open the movie in theaters. The new “Road House” launches on streaming via Prime Video in March.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director J.K. Rowling criticized Sky News on X (formerly Twitter) after the British television news channel posted a story about a 26-year-old being jailed for murder and referred to her as a “woman” and not a transgender woman. Scarlet Blake was found guilty last week of murdering a man four months after she live-streamed a video in which she killed a cat.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Denis Villeneuve recently told The Times of London that “movies have been corrupted by television.” His opinion comes from his growing desire to make a movie without any dialogue. “Frankly, I hate dialogue,” the filmmaker told the publication. “Dialogue is for theatre and television.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Natalie Portman revealed on a recent episode of the “Smartless” podcast (via People) that Jodie Foster once reached out to her after she heard Portman giving a speech about being sexualized as a young actor. Foster famously skyrocketed at 12 years old when she was cast in Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” as a child sex worker. Portman, meanwhile, was 11 years old when she was cast in “Léon: The Professional,” which served as her own acting breakthrough.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Rachel Brosnahan spoke to Variety On the Carpet presented by DIRECTV at the 2024 SAG Awards about gearing up to start filming James Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy,” in which she’s taking on the role of Lois Lane. The filmmaker posted the first cast photo last week after a table read of the script, and then Warner Bros. execs confirmed filming would officially begin next week.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Moana” voice actor Auli’i Cravalho attended her first SAG Awards this year and spoke to Variety On the Carpet presented by DIRECTV about the hit Disney animated movie becoming a full blown franchise. The studio surprised fans earlier this month by announcing the “Moana” television series it had been developing was now a movie sequel set for a theatrical release this November. “It feels like the ‘Moana’ universe is expanding and I love that,” Cravalho told Variety’s Angelique Jackson.