TV One Sets Test Of ‘Chat & Chew’ Daytime Talk Strip

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music To put the rather overheated hype around the new Rolling Stones album in superfan-quibbling terms, “Hackney Diamonds” is not their best work since “Some Girls,” released some 45 years ago — but it is their best since “Tattoo You,” which is just three years younger. That the Stones have reached such a peak while grappling with what an octogenarian rock band should sound like — one that recently lost their drummer of nearly 60 years, no less — is perhaps the most impressive feat of all.

Viewers of Coleen Rooney's new Disney+ documentary have hailed her 'the greatest WAG of all time' as they proclaimed 'don't mess with a northern lass.'

Harry Potter and Twilight are two of the biggest young-adult film franchises of all time, and they put Daniel Radcliffe and Robert Pattinson on the map.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Acclaimed film-making duo Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah take a calculatedly side-on approach to Indonesian societal history in “Cigarette Girl,” a new Netflix series that releases on Nov.1 and which premiered its first episodes at the Busan International Film Festival earlier this month. Starting with a wealthy family about to lose its aging patriarch in 2001, the series uses flashbacks to the 1960s to uncover not only the origins of the family’s herbal cigarette or ‘Kretek’ fortune, but also the hidden romance underlying it. And it highlights the overbearing and only slowly changing societal pressures placed on women, from high and low ranks, even as Indonesian politics and government underwent tectonic shifts. Ahead of the Busan premiere Andini and Isfansyah told Variety how their lush and romantic treatment is both a product of changing society and a way of facing up to recent Indonesian history.Watch the new trailer here.

Coleen Rooney said she was bracing herself for an "emotional" night at the screening of her Wagatha documentary in Liverpool. She was accompanied by her footballer husband Wayne and eldest son Kai, 13, for the screening of Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story at the Everyman cinema in Liverpool on Wednesday, 18 October.

EXCLUSIVE: Some of Hollywood’s biggest names met with the leadership of SAG-AFTRA today to get the lowdown on the breakdown of talks with the studios and streamers last week.

EXCLUSIVE: Pierce Brosnan (Fast Charlie), Samuel L. Jackson (Argylle), and Brandon Lessard (Murder at Yellowstone City) are in Montana shooting Unholy Trinity, a Western helmed by Richard Gray (Robert the Bruce), which has secured a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement.

Jody Cundy CBE and Jowita Przystal have become the latest pair to leave Strictly Come Dancing. The couple were axed after Eddie Kadi and Karen Hauer were saved by judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke, and Shirley Ballas.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Kensday” may soon be everyday. “Community” star and “The Masked Singer” panelist Ken Jeong is eyeing a daytime talk strip for 2024, to be developed and produced by Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury shingle.

EXCLUSIVE: Indonesian actor Reza Rahadian and director Yosep Anggi Noen are attending Busan International Film Festival with their dystopian crime drama 24 Hours With Gaspar, which is receiving its world premiere in the festival’s Jiseok competition. 

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Awards contender “Poor Things” will open EnergaCamerimage, the cinematography-focused film festival that will take place in Torun, Poland, on Nov. 11-18. The film, starring Emma Stone and directed by Greek helmer Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dogtooth,” “The Lobster”), won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Bets are already being placed left, right and centre in the celebrity arena as to who is most likely to walk away from the ongoing series of Strictly Come Dancing holding the glitterball trophy. And following a second shock elimination this weekend, the odds of a win are getting higher for the remaining contestants. Catching up with OK! this week, former Strictly star and The One Show frontwoman Alex Jones exclusively predicted who she thinks will bag the top spot this year, and plans to meet up with the potential winner soon to offer them some words of wisdom.

Naman Ramachandran The Indonesian film industry is poised to spread its wings globally as the country’s filmmaking boom is the subject of a focus at the Busan International Film Festival. Films from the country now routinely get selected and win prizes at major international festivals. The local market in Indonesia, which has the fourth-largest population in the world with 277 million, is rapidly expanding with homegrown productions accounting for a significant share.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taiwanese actors King Jieh-wen and Hsueh Shih-ling and Indonesia’s Angga Yunanda are set to star in “Malice,” a multinational Asian thriller that will shoot next year. The film’s producers, actors and government backers presented the fully-assembled package to press and industry on Monday at the Busan International Film Festival. The film, pitched as “a road movie at sea,” is a dark tale of three men who put out to sea in search of a particular, large swordfish that had been rumored to have died out.

Naman Ramachandran Distribution in Indonesia was the subject of a lively debate at the Busan International Film Festival‘s Asian Contents and Film Market. With 277 million people, Indonesia has one of the largest populations in the world. However, geographically it is an archipelago and for its population, the country is under-screened with just 2,300 cinema screens.

Naman Ramachandran The renaissance in Indonesian cinema is being celebrated at the Busan International Film Festival this year with 15 films, shorts and series being showcased. Hilmar Farid, Director General of Culture at Indonesia‘s Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, is leading a 50-strong delegation of filmmakers, committee members and media to the festival. Variety spoke with Farid about the country’s boom and its upcoming opportunities and challenges.

Naman Ramachandran Korean powerhouse CJ ENM is set to continue its already extensive investment in Indonesia. The company will announce a slate of Indonesian films imminently. It is also planning to produce films and series that can be remade in other international territories, said Justin Kim, head of international productions at CJ ENM, which has production and distribution businesses in Indonesia.

Sharon Stone has revealed that she suffers from seizures if she doesn’t get eight hours of sleep a night.The Basic Instinct star was given a one percent chance of survival after she suffered a bleed on her brain in 2001. The actress has been taking medication ever since, but admits she’s lost out on a lot of work due to her condition.“I’ve become more comfortable with publicly saying what’s really happened to me now,’ she told People magazine. “For a long time I wanted to pretend that I was just fine.”She continued: “I need eight hours of uninterrupted sleep for my brain medication to work so that I don’t have seizures.

Academy Awards. The film had its debut in the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes film festival in May and was directed by first-time feature filmmaker Amanda Nell Eu. The announcement was made on Thursday by Malaysia’s Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil following selection by the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS). The film was a eight-way coproduction involving companies from Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Indonesia and Qatar, and emerged from a succession of labs, project markets and international funds. Since winning the Grand Prix at the Critics’ Week, “Tiger Stripes” has been a popular choice on the festival circuit, with stops so far at Neufchatel, The Hamptons, Sitges, London, Fantasia, Taipei and next week’s Pingyao events.Dir. Amanda Nell Eu. International sales: Films Boutique. All submissions and materials for the 2023 race must be received by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences by 5 p.m. on Oct. 2. And films must meet all the qualifying conditions between Dec. 1, 2022, and Oct. 31, 2023. A shortlist of 15 will be announced on Dec. 21. Final nominees will be announced on Jan. 23, 2024. The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024. Argentina, the South American country with the best Academy Awards history, has chosen as its Academy Awards submission “The Delinquents,” Rodrigo Moreno’s incorrigibly playful heist movie, which world premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard, delighting critics.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Netflix has made two significant appointments to its C-suite, elevating Eunice Kim to chief product officer and Elizabeth Stone to chief technology officer. Kim will oversee all worldwide product efforts for the streamer, and Stone will manage its data and engineering teams. “Elizabeth and Eunice have strong track records at Netflix and more broadly within the technology industry,” said Greg Peters, co-CEO of Netflix.