Netflix’s sports documentary series, “Untold”, is back with a third season, with “Vol. 3” kicking off with a look at one of the most controversial figures in the world of professional boxing, Jake Paul.
10.07.2023 - 15:57 / variety.com
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Netflix has released first-look images of limited series “The Leopard,” based on the classic Sicily-set novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa that marks the streamer’s most ambitious Italian original to date. Production on the lavish historical tapestry with elements comparable to “Downton Abbey” or “The Crown” – and potential to make a global mark – is currently underway in the Sicilian cities of Palermo, Syracuse and Catania. The show is a modern take on the sensual Sicilian saga famously adapted into a film by Luchino Visconti starring Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon and Burt Lancaster. The movie, now an Italian cinema classic, won the 1963 Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Published posthumously in 1958, “The Leopard” chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the 19th century unification of Italy, known as the Risorgimento. It became the top-selling novel in modern Italian literature of its day and was translated into more than 40 different languages. The six-episode epic set against the backdrop of social revolution in 1860s Sicily stars top model Deva Cassel — who is Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel’s daughter — as Angelica Sedara, the young, stunning middle class woman who becomes a catalyst of social disruption and was played by Cardinale in the original. It’s a big breakout role for Cassel, seen below, who recently made her acting debut in Laura Luchetti’s Locarno-bound “The Beautiful Summer.” Italy’s Kim Rossi Stewart (“Romanzo Criminale”) plays Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, who in the masterpiece movie was played by Lancaster. The show’s key cast also includes Saul Nanni (“Love & Gelato”) as the prince’s nephew Tancredi Falconeri,
Netflix’s sports documentary series, “Untold”, is back with a third season, with “Vol. 3” kicking off with a look at one of the most controversial figures in the world of professional boxing, Jake Paul.
So what’s Nicolas Winding Refn been up to lately, besides advocating for WGA and SAG guild members to “burn it all down”? He’s hard at work in the UK shooting his next TV series after “Copenhagen Cowboy.” And it’s a strange project for Refn to do, to say the least. The Danish director is adapting Enid Blyton‘s “The Famous Book” children’s book series for the BBC.
Zac Efron had fans amused last November when he was photographed rocking an incredible wig on the set of the upcoming Von Erich family biopic. Months later, we have the first-look image of the upcoming film. The photo shows Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, and Stanley Simons, who play the Von Erich brothers, Kevin, Kerry, David, and Mike.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent An underhanded move by members of Italy’s right-wing government to try and take over the management of Rome’s Centro Sperimentale Film School is prompting an uproar by its students and a strong show of support from the country’s top directors. Earlier this week, students of the Centro Sperimentale — which is the oldest film school in the world, and among the finest — staged a demonstration in front of the country’s parliament just as a piece of legislation that would change the school’s management was swiftly being approved by a parliamentary committee.
, and looking as relaxed as ever. This summer, stars have fully embraced the allure of in sensuous LBDs. From Kim Kardashian’s gothic bridal moment at the Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda show in Sicily to Alexa Chung’s , A-listers have been doing their best Monica Bellucci.Now, Gigi Hadid is bringing the trend to California.
Ariana Madix is the latest “bombshell” hitting Fiji.
Despite an ongoing SAG strike, which could mean that the event features no major stars, the Venice Film Festival announced an incredibly star-studded slate of films for 2023. Seriously, even by Venice standards, the festival features an absolutely ridiculous number of major films that will have an impact on the rest of the year, especially during awards season.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Spanish director J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow,” a reconstruction of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes that forced survivors to take extreme measures, including cannibalism, has been set as the Venice Film Festival’s closing film. The deeply immersive Spanish-language saga is a Netflix original film shot in Andalusia’s Sierra Nevada, mainland Spain’s highest mountain range, using a 300-person crew. “Society of the Snow” will world premiere on the Lido out-of-competition on Sept. 9th. Its official screening will be held in the Palazzo del Cinema after the awards ceremony. In 1972 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to bring Montevideo’s Old Christians Rugby Club team to Chile, crashed at an altitude of 11,712 feet in the Andes. Of its 45 passengers – which consisted mostly of the rugby team, friends and family – 29 survived. Without food, the survivors, who belonged to Uruguay’s elite, were forced to eat the flesh of the deceased to stay alive. 19 survived an avalanche. 72 days after the crash, 16 finally made it out alive.
Stars of Love Island are in for a shock on Sunday as some unsuspected guests are set to arrive in the villa. In a twist from the usual running order of the show, the show’s ‘meet the parents’ episode will make an early appearance.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Tony Vinciquerra, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures, took a guarded tone in talking about the SAG-AFTRA strike during an industry panel in Italy on Friday. But it was clear that he hopes it will be over soon. “We are very dismayed about having these strikes” said Vinciquerra, referring to the combined WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that mark the second time in Hollywood history that actors have joined writers on the picket lines. “We want to make a deal,” the Sony chief went on, adding: “Even though there have been a lot of headlines saying the opposite.”
Mask Girl. Watch the clip above.Mask Girl will follow the adventures of Kim Mo-mi (Reflection of You‘s Go Hyun-jung), an unremarkable office worker who had childhood dreams of becoming a celebrity.
Love Island's first look has teased an explosive row between Mitchel Taylor and Scott Van-der-Sluis on tomorrow night's episode (Thursday 20 July).The drama kicks off because producers have decided to bring back one of the most tense challenges of the season - a game of truths.The islanders in their couples will be tasked with guessing the answers about their rivals in the villa - based on what the public think about them. As a result of some hard-to-hear answers, the boys end up having a huge argument in the middle of the argument.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent In March, several months before SAG-AFTRA actors went on the warpath in Hollywood, Italy’s dubbing industry workers staged a protracted strike demanding higher wages, less frenzied work conditions and protection against artificial intelligence. The Italian dubbing industry workers – many of whom are voice actors – returned to work after three weeks as local unions entered a phase of negotiations that seemed promising enough, even though their issues are not yet resolved. Cut to the present day. Italian unions representing the country’s film and TV industry workers are at “a very critical, almost historic juncture” in a broader labor dispute with the country’s motion picture association ANICA and other industry trade orgs, according to Sabina Di Marco, leader of SLC CGIL, the biggest union at the bargaining table.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Placebo singer-guitarist Brian Molko is ruffling political feathers in Italy after lashing out against the country’s right-wing Prime Minster Giorgia Meloni, calling her a “fascist” and a “racist” during a packed concert near Turin. Prosecutors in Turin have now opened an investigation against the U.S.-born frontman of the British alt-rock band following his performance last week in front of 10,000 fans at the Sonic Park festival in Stupinigi outside Turin, according to multiple press reports. Molko’s insults at Italy’s prime minister from the stage also included calling Meloni a “piece of shit.” Meloni leads the Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots and heads Italy’s most right-wing coalition government since World War II. She scored victory last September while running on anti-immigration policies, as well as plans to limit LGBTQ rights.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Federico Fellini’s post-war immigration story “Napoli-New York,” which was penned for the big screen by the famed director but never produced, is set to become a graphic novel written by French comic book writer Jean-David Morvan. Meanwhile, as previously announced, cameras are rolling in Naples on the movie version by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores. Fellini co-wrote the tale with his frequent collaborator Tullio Pinelli, a writer on the Italian maestro’s “La Dolce Vita” and “8 1/2,” as well as other titles. Turin-based media company Arancia Studio has now attached the prolific Morvan – who has written more than 250 books that have sold millions of copies – for the graphic novel adaptation.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Jane Campion, Laura Poitras, Mia Hansen-Løve and Martin McDonagh are among high-caliber members of the Venice Film Festival’s main jury. The prominent directors, most of whom are Venice regulars – Poitras last year scored the Golden Lion with documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” – will be joined on the Venice jury panel by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri (“Wajib”); Chinese star Shu Qi (“The Assassin”); Italian director Gabriele Mainetti, who was at Venice last year with “Freaks Out”; and Argentinian auteur Santiago Mitre whose “Argentina, 1985” also launched from the Lido last year. They will join Damien Chazelle who – as previously announced – will serve as president of the Venice competition jury.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rome’s iconic monuments are getting lots of mileage in Hollywood movies this summer. Since May, the Eternal City has hosted the world premieres of “Fast X” and “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” two blockbusters that burned rubber and wreaked havoc on its cobblestoned streets. Universal held its “Fast X” red carpet in the Roman Forum’s Temple of Venus, with the Colosseum as a backdrop, in early May. Weeks later, Paramount descended for the June premiere of “M:I 7,” with Tom Cruise prancing down the same Spanish Steps that serve as the setting for spectacular car chases in both movies.
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Hugh Jackman promised fans that his return as Wolverine in the upcoming “Deadpool 3” would not screw with “Logan,” the 2017 “X-Men” tentpole that brought an end to the superhero’s movie arc by killing him off. It appears Jackman was telling the truth, as a first look at “Deadpool 3” shared on Jackman and co-star Ryan Reynolds’ Instagram finds Wolverine sporting his classic yellow and blue costume from the comic books. This appears not to be the iteration of Wolverine that Jackman previously brought to the screen as the superhero has never worn this costume on the big screen before. “Deadpool 3” is currently in production. The film is being helmed by Shawn Levy, who last directed Reynolds in “Free Guy” and the Netflix tentpole “The Adam Project.” Not much is known about the film’s plot, but it clearly involves the multiverse as Deadpool joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time after a string of solo movies produced under Fox.
Tom Sandoval is officially back in the Vanderpump Rules orbit.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Unlike in the U.K., Spain and Sweden — where kings and queens are still formally heads of state — Italy’s royal family, the House of Savoy, no longer rules. The last heir to the Italian throne, Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy and his family were forced into exile in 1946, when the prince was 9. That year, the Italian people voted in a referendum about whether the monarchy should continue. They chose to create a republic and punished the royals for failing to save their country from Mussolini’s fascist regime. The Savoys were allowed to return in 2003 after 57 years of exile. In 1978, Vittorio Emanuele – the king who never was – got into trouble while he and his wife and kids were living on the island of Cavallo, on the south coast of Corsica, France. As reconstructed from eyewitness interviews in a new Netflix documentary, on a hot August night he became enraged when some loud “shitty Italians” “borrowed” the dinghy off his yacht and tied it to another nearby boat. Fuming, he took a rifle, went to one of their boats and, after shots from his rifle rang out – that were just meant to scare – someone got hurt. Dirk Hamer, a 19-year-old sleeping on another boat nearby, died of gunshot injuries in early December. Though it was never legally proven that Vittorio Emanuele killed Hamer, this incident had a big impact on the prince’s life.