‘The Whale’: Darren Aronofsky Says He Couldn’t Find An Obese Actor Who Could ‘Pull Off The Emotion’ Before He Cast Brendan Fraser

Variety examines the Oscar selection process in an array of international markets to see what works, what’s broken and what needs fixing. Despite being over-represented in competition lineups at major festivals like Cannes and Venice, France has had a cursed track record in the international feature film race, and has been overshadowed by smaller countries like Denmark in recent years. The French haven’t been able to claim an Oscar victory in the category since 1993 with Regis Wargnier’s win for “Indochine.” In the past 15 years, only four French films submitted have landed a nomination: Ladj Ly’s “Les Miserables” in 2020, Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Turkish-language film “Mustang” in 2016, Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” starring Tahar Rahim in 2010 and Laurent Cantet’s Palme d’Or-winning “The Class” in 2008. Ironically, some French-language films repping other countries in the international feature race have been more successful, such as Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” which was submitted by Austria in 2013 and won. In the upcoming race, France is vying for a nomination with Alice Diop’s Venice Golden Lion-winning “Saint Omer,” a politically minded feature debut based on the real-life trial of Fabienne Kabou, a Senegalese immigrant accused of murdering her 15-month-old baby. This year’s Oscar committee, which included the likes of Audiard (“A Prophet”), Philippe Rousselet (“CODA”) and Hengameh Panahi (“Persepolis”), was bitterly split between “Saint Omer,” acquired by Neon’s Super label after Toronto, and “One Fine Morning,” Mia Hansen-Løve’s romance drama starring Lea Seydoux, which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics in Cannes. The heated deliberations ended with a vote, as it almost always does.

EXCLUSIVE: Beta Cinema has unveiled a raft of first deals for German director Kilian Riedhof’s drama You Will Not Have My Hate, inspired by the experiences of French writer Antoine Leiris, whose wife was killed in the November 13, 2015 terror attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.

EXCLUSIVE: France tv distribution has unveiled a first round of deals for best-selling French writer Gilles Legardinier’s feature directorial debut Mr. Blake At Your Service!, reuniting John Malkovich and Fanny Ardant on the big screen.

Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and Twin Peaks: (ies).The singer tweeted a trailer for the music videos that accompany her new album, , explaining that they are “to explore visually the world of this record,” and ensuring Twitter stayed up another five hours laboriously screenshotting the footage. In the credits for the album, Dern is named alongside the likes of the Haim sisters and, intriguingly, Dita Von Teese.

Meghan Markle is still struggling with the fact that someone may play her on screen. The Duchess of Sussex was previously named as one of Variety’s Power of Women honorees, but her cover story was postponed during the mourning period of Queen Elizabeth II's passing. Britain’s longest-reigning monarch passed away on Sept.

Zack Sharf Meghan Markle announced in her new Variety cover story that she does not plan to return to acting in the future, saying, “No. I’m done. I guess never say never, but my intention is to absolutely not.” But that doesn’t mean there won’t be versions of Meghan Markle on screen. Several Lifetime movies have already cast actors as the Duchess of Sussex, and surely more film and TV projects will be made in the vein of Netflix’s “The Crown” that include Markle as a central character. “I haven’t given that much thought, to be honest. It’s all weird,” Markle told Variety when asked how it feels knowing actors will play her on screen one day. “You have to compartmentalize. Anyone talking about me or casting an actor to play me, that will be a caricature of me that has been created for a business that makes people a lot of money. Once you can separate that out, it’s much easier to go: ‘OK. That actually has nothing to do with me.’ It genuinely doesn’t. It’s a hard lesson to come to grips with.”

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount+ has set launch dates for France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Mark Wahlberg and his funky bunch have left California!

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent On the outskirts of Paris, in a vast, industrial-looking studio in Bry-sur-Marne, the clocks have turned back to the 1770s. Opulent decor — gilded furniture, flower-adorned curtains and marble everywhere — fills the soundstage. The atmosphere is studious on the set of “Marie-Antoinette,” a lavish French-produced costume drama created, co-written and executive produced by Deborah Davis. She’s delivering a feminist take on an infamous historical figure, best-known for apocryphally advising the starving masses to eat cake. We all know how that ended. On screen, Marie-Antoinette hasn’t been treated better than she was at the guillotine, where she’s often depicted as a villain or a frivolous airhead.

Lauren Dern is rooting for a “Big Little Lies” return. ET’s Cassie DiLaura spoke to Dern at the 2023 Spring-Summer Ralph Lauren fashion show Thursday night, where she said that she’s “keeping hope alive” for the third season of the beloved HBO series.

Lauren Dern is rooting for a  return. ET's Cassie DiLaura spoke to Dern at the 2023 Spring-Summer Ralph Lauren fashion show Thursday night, where she said that she's «keeping hope alive» for the third season of the beloved HBO series.«I'm gonna be shy about it,» Dern teased.

A Florida bodybuilder is accused of killing and cremating his ex-wife after federal investigators say they found bone fragments in a 50-gallon drum on his property that "reeked of decaying flesh." Ian Christopher Baunach, 43, an International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness competitor, faces a slew of charges, including first-degree premeditated murder, illegally cremating a body, drugs possession and violating federal firearms law. Deputies allegedly found stockpiles of both steroids and unregistered silencers when they searched his house for missing ex-wife Katie Baunach, who was a 39-year-old nurse, according to a Facebook profile.The couple shared two children, according to investigators.

Brendan Fraser is already earning Oscar buzz for his performance in The Whale, but his casting as a 600-pound gay man has also been met with some backlash.

Folks might have forgotten now since it’s been nearly 20 years since the original reports, but way back when, Darren Aronofsky was attached to a reboot of the “Batman” franchise that would have been incredibly unique. This was before Matt Reeves and Christopher Nolan took their shots at the character and would have featured a much more adult version of the Caped Crusader.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky and his longtime creative partner, Ari Handel, are on a mission. At their production company, Protozoa Pictures, the two want to use movies and television to make science cool at a time when it’s under attack. “There’s a lens that we look at things through,” says Handel. “A lot of our work is pro-science or involves technology or the environment. Morally, we think the world can use that right now.” Some of that has to do with the backgrounds of the pair — Aronofsky did field research as a student at Harvard, and Handel has a Ph.D. in neuroscience. But that embrace of empiricism was also something the two felt had become important during the Trump era, when the government was often at odds with experts.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Both Brendan Fraser and Darren Aronofsky have had some high-profile setbacks when it comes to the comic book genre. The two men, who are collaborating on the acclaimed indie drama “The Whale,” opened up about their struggles during recent interviews with Variety. Fraser spent months in Glasgow, Scotland portraying Firefly, a pyromaniac who faces off against Leslie Grace’s costumed heroine in “Batgirl.” That film was supposed to debut on HBO Max, but it was scrapped, a victim of the merger between Discovery and WarnerMedia, the streaming service’s parent company. “It’s tragic,” Fraser told Variety as part of a cover story on “The Whale.” “It doesn’t engender trust among filmmakers and the studio. Leslie Grace was fantastic. She’s a dynamo, just a spot-on performer. Everything that we shot was real and exciting and just the antithesis of doing a straightforward digital all green screen thing. They ran firetrucks around downtown Glasgow at 3 in the morning and they had flamethrowers. It was a big-budget movie, but one that was just stripped down to the essentials.”   

Duran Duran have announced a new, 75-minute documentary, entitled A Hollywood High. You can watch the trailer for it below.The docu-concert film will feature footage of the band performing live on a rooftop in Los Angeles, as well as interviews and archival footage that tells the story of their long-time love affair with the city.Their performance was shot on the roof of The Aster in Hollywood, overlooking the Capitol Records building, the home of Duran Duran’s first record label.Directed by Gavin Elder, Vincent Adam Paul and George Scott, A Hollywood High will be released in cinemas around the world on November 3, 2022.“For our first US show in several years we wanted to do something really special and intimate,” Keyboardist Nick Rhodes said in a statement.“After considering many options, a rooftop performance quickly became the frontrunner.

Brendan Fraser was the recipient of a very rare event at the 2022 BFI London Film Festival.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Duran Duran have confirmed details of a brand-new, 75 minute docu-concert film titled “A Hollywood High,” that captures the band performing live on a rooftop in Los Angeles, alongside interviews and archival footage that tells the story of their long-time relationship with the city. The film will be released in theaters on November 3, 2022.  “For our first US show in several years we wanted to do something really special and intimate,” explains keyboardist Nick Rhodes.  “After considering many options, a rooftop performance quickly became the frontrunner. It was post-pandemic, we had never done anything like that before, and we had just released a new album.  Somehow it seemed like a magical doorway to the next part of our journey.”