Samantha Bee Boards Oscar-Qualifying Short ‘Red, White And Blue’ As Executive Producer

Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo and more have received mentions on the shortlist for the 2024 Academy Awards. Yesterday (December 21), the Academy announced its shortlists in 10 categories, including Best Original Song and Best Original Score.

American Symphony, the Obamas-executive produced documentary about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste, scored a remarkable hat trick today as the Oscar shortlists were revealed, but a couple of documentary icons were left on the bench.

While the Oscar original song shortlist is typically good about spreading the wealth around, three movies dominated close to half the spaces with Barbie cleared to be nominated for three songs, The Color Purple two and Apple Original Film’s Flora and Son two. Of the 15 spots, Warner Bros owns five of ’em between Barbie and Color Purple.

Jon Burlingame Oscar’s music branch has had its say, naming 15 original scores and 15 songs to its shortlist for possible nomination at the 96th Academy Awards, with few surprises. As expected, all three “Barbie” songs that were entered — Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For,” Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” and Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” — made the 15-song list.

Caroline Brew editor Josh Kramer, who worked as a film producer and financier and Amazon executive, died Nov. 27 in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 67.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Actor and producer Benjamin Bratt has joined the Oscar hopeful documentary short “Wings of Dust” as executive producer. The “Poker Face” star boards the project with his brother Peter Bratt and Alpita Patel, all under their production banner 5 Stick Films. “Wings of Dust” took the 2023 gold medal at the Student Academy Awards, telling the story of a Peruvian indigenous journalist who risks his life to protect the natural resources of ancestral lands.

At the beginning of the Netflix Oscar-contending short documentary Camp Courage, young Milana Abdurashytova takes out paper and makers and draws what she calls “a home of my dreams.” It’s a lovely cottage on a hill, with clouds dotting a sky of blue.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Activist investor Nelson Peltz, who’s looking to shake up Disney‘s board, plans to nominate two directors as candidates for directors of the Mouse House’s board: Peltz himself, and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo. Peltz’s Trian Fund Management said Thursday it submitted a notice of its intention to nominate the two independent director candidates at Disney’s 2024 annual shareholders meeting, expected to be held next spring.

EXCLUSIVE: On the opening day of Oscar shortlist voting, Hulu announced it has acquired one of the contenders for short documentary recognition – Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story, executive produced by Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone.

Amy Adams has booked her next TV role!

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor “The Pianist” and “King Kong” star Adrien Brody spoke at the Red Sea Film Festival Friday about a wide variety of creative pursuits, including making music from popcorn in the 1990s. “I liked the sound of the kernels of popcorn hitting the aluminium lid of the pan and so I set my microphone up and recorded it and then I sampled it and put on some reverb,” he told the audience in Saudi Arabia. “It went pok-a-pok-a-pok.” Something of a prodigy, he was cast as a lead in a TV movie “Home at Last” when he was only 15 and later became the youngest actor to win the best male lead Oscar.

Masters of the Air, a new series set for Apple TV+ from executive producers Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman.The limited series comes to the streamer next year and stars Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann, Rafferty Law, Academy Award-nominee Barry Keoghan, Josiah Cross, Branden Cook and Ncuti Gatwa.Apple TV+ will release the first two episodes of its nine-episode season on Friday, January 26, followed by one new episode every Friday through March 15, 2024.Based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, and scripted by John Orloff, “Masters of the Air” follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the “Bloody Hundredth”) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air. Portraying the psychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helped destroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich, is at the heart of “Masters of the Air.” Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded or killed. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless of individual fate, a toll was exacted on them all.Ranging in location from the bucolic fields and villages of southeast England, to the harsh deprivations of a German prisoner-of-war camp, and depicting a unique and crucial time in world history, Masters of the Air is said to be enormous in both scale and scope.

Donny van de Beek is apparently one of the names being considered by Barcelona as they look for midfield options in January.

Bolis Pupul has announced his debut LP ‘Letter To Yu’ and has shared its lead single ‘Completely Half’. Check out the video below.‘Letter To Yu’ has been described as a love letter to his mother, who died in a traffic accident in 2008. Pupul was born to a Belgian father and a Chinese mother.

EXCLUSIVE: Pop icon Sia has boarded The Journey, a reality series at the junction of music, healing and make-over TV.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor It’s a busy year for the Red Sea Souk, the market arm of the Red Sea Film Festival dedicated to discovering new Arab and African talent. The same could have been said of every year of the market’s three-year history, however, with Saudi Arabia’s lightning-fast film industry solidifying the Souk as the principal film market for the Middle East and North Africa. The third edition of the Souk, taking place between Dec.

Three police officers have been injured after missiles and flares were thrown at them outside a football stadium ahead of a Europa Conference League match tonight.

Coronation Street fans have predicted a shock twist in the storyline involving Gemma Winter-Brown and her step-son Joseph Brown while others are divided over the youngster's sickness. Viewers of the ITV soap know that Gemma has been convinced that her stepson is really ill, despite doctors saying that wasn't the case and having a word with Chesney about his wife.

Naman Ramachandran Ella Purnell (“Yellowjackets”) will star in and executive produce “Sweetpea,” a female driven original drama series from pay TV operator Sky. The series is adapted from C.J. Skuse’s novel of the same name by writer and executive producer Kirstie Swain (“Pure”), and written by Kirstie Swain (“Run”) and Krissie Ducker (“Killing Eve”), alongside Laura Jayne Tunbridge (“Nights”) and Selina Lim (“Sex Education”).

Naman Ramachandran International media consultant and producer Thomas Augsberger died suddenly on Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills, his publicist informed Variety. He was 60.