Susan Sarandon and Bryan Brown Tangle in First Clip From Sean Penn-Produced ‘C*A*U*G*H*T’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Russell Brand has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, opting for a simpler and quieter life with his wife of six years, Laura Brand, formerly Gallacher. The couple's love story is an intriguing one.They first crossed paths in 2007 when introduced by Laura's famous sister, Kirsty Gallacher. A brief romance ensued, but Russell, at the time, wasn't quite ready for a serious commitment.Their paths diverged, and Russell went on to have a high-profile marriage with pop star Katy Perry.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Tabu-starring spy thriller, “Khufiya” has been set as the opening title of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Oct. 11-15).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Blue Ant Media, the Canadian-owned group with operations spanning TV production, distribution and channels management, is creating a new Asia-Pacific base in Sydney, Australia. It has hired Jon Penn as its Asia-Pacific MD and Jason Soh as VP of distribution, based in Singapore.Penn is a veteran with ten years in Asia with BBC Studios and 11 years of experience at Fremantle. Latterly, he has been a partner at ACT Media Ventures and advised Blue Ant on its expansion in Australia. “The appointments signal the expansion of Blue Ant Media’s channel and program distribution business in Asia Pacific, combining the company’s channel distribution and content sales in the region into one unit.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Top actor Asher Keddie will co-produce and star opposite David Wenham in Paramount+ Australia’s freshly-commissioned “Fake” drama-thriller series. Keddie has a long TV career with recent credits including “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart,” “Nine Perfect Strangers” and “Stateless.” Her movie credits include smaller roles in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and eccentric comedy “Rams.” Wenham’s filmography includes “SeaChange,” “Elvis,” “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers & The Return of the King.” “Fake” follows Keddie’s character, a smart and brilliant writer who thinks she has found her ideal match when she meets a successful rancher, portrayed by Wenham, on a dating app. But after she commits, she discovers that her boyfriend isn’t all he has led her to believe. The show is inspired by the book “Fake” by Stephanie Wood and was created for television by renown screenwriter, Anya Beyersdorf with award-winner director, Emma Freeman (“Secret City,” “Glitch,” “The Newsreader”). The eight- part series is produced by Kindling Pictures’ Imogen Banks (“Safe Home,” “Offspring”) and Emelyne Palmer (“Safe Home,” “RFDS”).

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer In his new documentary “Superpower,” Sean Penn assesses Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia and the meaning of the word “freedom” in a world gone mad. He’s also revisits his own past with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a moment that Penn calls a dark memory from decades before he would meet up with embattled Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the doc, Penn recalls a 2001 visit to the Moscow Film Festival where his directorial effort “The Pledge” was premiering.

Naman Ramachandran Jessica Chastain will receive the Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Icon Award. Chastain will present her latest film “Memory” at the festival alongside director Michel Franco and co-star Peter Sarsgaard on Oct. 1.

Sean Penn’s house. Small talk is made about how the coffee table in his living room looks like a junk drawer just exploded on it. There are sunglasses, prescription bottles and a device that shoots salt at mosquitoes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Indian channels aggregator, Tata Play Binge, is soon to incorporate Apple TV+, a first-of-its-kind collaboration for Apple TV+ in India. The move means that series such as “Ted Lasso,” “Shrinking,” “Silo,” “Hijack,” “Foundation,” “Tehran,” “Servant,” “Platonic,” “Severance,” “The Morning Show,” “Bad Sisters,” “Slow Horses” and “Prehistoric Planet,” and Apple Original Films including “CODA” and “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” “Ghosted,” and the recently premiered “The Beanie Bubble” will be available on the platform.

Andrew Flintoff has been pictured for the first time since his horrific crash while shooting Top Gear. The former Lancashire all-rounder and England captain was hospitalised last December after the incident at an airfield in Surrey.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kim Jee-woon’s black comedy “Cobweb,” which debuted this year at Cannes, is set for a U.S. theatrical release in early 2024.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Abacus Media Rights has pre-sold the feature documentary “The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee,” to Sky Arts, SBS Television Australia; to NonStop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Iceland and the Baltics and to Movistar for Spain. Lee is known as the Dracula character and for transitioning from 1960s Hammer horror films to a distinguished acting career that encompassed James Bond films, the “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” franchises. Less well-known are his aristocratic Italian roots, a close family connection to James Bond novelist Ian Fleming, Lee’s wartime experiences in the British and Finnish military, post-war Nazi-hunting adventures and a side career as a heavy metal rock singer. As an actor, Lee achieved a Guinness world record for the highest number of screen appearances. Produced in association with the British Film Institute and Trigger Films by Canal Cat Films, “Life and Deaths” is an innovative documentary which uses fresh interviews, archive material and multiple forms of traditional and cutting-edge animation, including marionation, to bring one of the world’s leading actors back to life on screen.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan International Film Festival put aside many of its recent internal and local political problems to Tuesday unveil a large selection ranging from bleeding edge art titles to international festival favorites. “The difficult times are not behind us, but hard work has made this year’s festival better than ever,” said programmer and interim festival chief Nam Dong-chul, speaking at an online press conference. International guests expected to attend the festival include Luc Besson, Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, Japanese directors Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Kore-Eda Hirokazu, Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Korean Americans Justin Chon (“Gook”) and Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”). Hong Kong-based superstar Chow Yun-fat has been named as Busan’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year and will be in person to receive the award.

Daddio is a knockout, the sort of breakthrough by a virtual unknown that many might dream about but only rarely takes place. Entirely set in a taxi stuck for a long time at night on a jammed highway heading from New York City’s JFK airport to Manhattan, debuting writer-director Christy Hall has created a marvelous two-hander between a veteran New York cabbie who’s seen it all and a young woman trying to figure things out.

we think of her successful career in the film industry. However, we also have to mention her impeccable style, which has become a hallmark for the actor, model, and businesswoman—including her classic, yet timeless haircut featuring long auburn treses with caramel highlights and matching bangs.So when images of her character in the independent film directed and written by Christy Hall, (in which she shares credits with American actor Sean Penn), showed her with a , we thought for a moment that it would be the end of her signature look.

Marta Balaga Mika Gustafson’s “Paradise Is Burning” – sold by Italy’s Intramovies and previously known as “Sisters” – has debuted a trailer and exclusive first clip ahead of its premiere in Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section. Set in Sweden, it sees young sisters Laura, Mira and Steffi trying to get by on their own after their mother leaves. When social services call, Laura comes up with a plan: in order to avoid foster care, she needs to find someone to impersonate their mom.

Naman Ramachandran Paris-based sales company Charades has boarded international sales on “Stolen,” the only Indian feature selected at the Venice Film Festival. The film, which will bow within the festival’s Horizons Extra strand, tells the story of the havoc that ensues when opposite worlds collide after two urban young men become embroiled in an impoverished mother’s desperate journey to be reunited with her child. It is described as a “breathtaking action thriller” and the “hidden gem in world cinema” by Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wim Wenders’ acclaimed “Perfect Days” will open the Tokyo International Film Festival in October. The event will close with “Godzilla Minus One,” the latest addition to Toho’s iconic monster movie franchise on Nov. 1. “Perfect Days” follows the routine and revelatory chance encounters of a simple toilet cleaner in Tokyo.

EXCLUSIVE: Stan has ordered a trio of original drama series as part of its content boss Cailah Scobie has called “a massive week” for the Australian streamer.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Triple Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border,” which will premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, before going onto Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival, has sold to multiple territories. Variety has been granted access to an exclusive clip from the film, and Holland’s notes on the production, which we quote from below, again exclusively.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief HYBE Corp., the K-Pop powerhouse behind BTS, and the U.S.’s Geffen Records are to bring their global girl group audition efforts to Netflix as a docuseries that will launch next year. The two music companies announced the 2024 series and a companion-piece online show that kicks off on Thursday as their “The Debut: Dream Academy” moves up a gear. Having begun the selection process in November 2021 and screened some 120,000 submissions from young women hopefuls from around the world, they have now narrowed the field to just 20 candidates.