Wrap Roundtable: Franklin Leonard Says Making Indie Films Isn’t an ‘Altruistic Impulse’ – ‘It’s Exactly the Opposite’ (Video)

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent This year at Cannes Iran being repped by just one film, the timely underground drama “Terrestrial Verses,” co-directed by Canada-based Alireza Khatami and Iran-based Ali Asgari, premiering in Un Certain Regard. Shot in Tehran after the Mahsa Amini movement started, “Verses” consists of 12 tableaus depicting the increasingly absurd and tragic plight that Iranians face in their everyday life with a scathingly ironic deadpan tone. Variety spoke to the directors about how they teamed up and decided to capture the zeitgeist in turbulent Tehran. How did the project germinate?

Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” premiered to the biggest and most thunderous standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival so far on Saturday night. The 3 hour and 26 minute epic look at greed, racism and a dark and largely unexplored chapter of American history, stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. It kept the crowd so enraptured that they sprang to their feet and started applauding for 9 minutes after the credits ended and the lights came up. Cannes clearly loved what Scorsese, returning to the festival for the first time since 1985’s “After Hours,” had brought to the South of France. And that’s good news for Apple Original Films, which gave the auteur a reported $200 million budget to realize his vision, hoping he’d deliver one of his signature explorations of criminality. Many of those movies, however, unfolded on the mean streets of New York. This movie is set in northeastern Oklahoma as members of the Osage Nation are murdered in a systematic fashion.

Offering her opinion. Bethenny Frankel has plenty of suggestions for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after claiming they “alienated” their fans amid news of their recent car chase.

Daniel Bruhl is nearly unrecognizable on set of his new show!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Amanda Nell Eu’s “Tiger Stripes,” which had its premiere this week in Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, is being celebrated as a punchy female-driven debut feature and as the first film by a Malaysian woman director in any section Cannes. The story focuses on a small group of 11 or 12-year-old girls. When one of the friends enters puberty she finds her body changing in unexpected ways. Relations with her friends and family start morphing too. Eu’s finished film straddles the metaphorical drama and body horror genres. “Tiger Stripes” is also a triumph for the now highly-developed global network of project markets, talent development programs, script and production workshops (often labelled as ‘labs’) and grant schemes. These are intended to encourage diversity and nurture film-making talent in countries where that is a rarity or where commercial films crowd out more experimental art-house titles.

Blake Lively is back in action.

Refresh for updates Amid all the noise here at the Cannes Film Festivals about festival sexual predators, Johnny Depp’s return in Jeanne du Barry tonight and the admitted assaulting history of that movie’s director Maiwen; the WGA Strike is not forgotten.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Filming HBO’s “The Idol” led to something of a breakdown for Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, the global pop star whose starring in the upcoming series as a self-help guru named Tedros who takes aspiring pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) under his wing. Back in September, Tesfaye cut short a concert in Los Angeles because he lost his voice. “I don’t know what just happened… but I just lost my voice,” the singer told the crowd from the stage. “This is killing me, I don’t want to stop the show but I can’t give you the concert I want to give you right now. I’m gonna make sure everybody’s good — you’ll get your money back — I’ll do a show real soon for you guys. But I wanted to come out and personally apologize.”

Donald Trump’s town hall was the hot topic across Sunday political talk shows, including on ABC’s “This Week,” where former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the audience of Trump supporters looked awfully similar to the ones he saw when he was running for president in 2016.“I don’t care how they introduced them. I know a lot of those people in that audience.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher has told her members that as the union prepares for its upcoming contract negotiations, which start June 7: “We must focus on modernizing our outdated and conservative contract. It is essential that we reshape our agreement to better reflect the new digital and streaming business model that is rapidly changing our industry.”

Halle Bailey leans into Javier Bardem as the two share a sweet moment at the premiere of The Little Mermaid held at Parque Toreo on Thursday (May 11) in Mexico City.

EXCLUSIVE: Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies), Cara Delevingne (Carnival Row) and Noémie Merlant (Portrait Of A Lady On Fire) are set to star in a genre biopic of celebrated author Patricia Highsmith, which is being produced by Carol and Past Lives outfit Killer Films.

Michael Nordine author Some straight-to-streaming offerings inspire viewers to bemoan the movie’s fate, wishing it had received a proper theatrical release — to be seen the way movies are meant to be seen, and by the widest audience possible. “Crater” isn’t one of those, but neither is this Disney+ original mere algorithm-created dross. Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s lunar adventure follows five young friends as they hijack a rover to visit an enigmatic crater for one last hurrah before one of them leaves the moon forever. It’s sci-fi informed by a Gen-Z sensibility, with a particular focus on those Zoomers who can’t imagine a bright future on the planet they actually inhabit — an ever-expanding demographic, one imagines.

Myleene Klass has once again proven that age really is just a number, after she recreated her iconic I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! shower scene 16 years after first appearing on the show.The much-loved musician, 45, slipped into her signature white bikini - identical to the one she wore during the 2006 jungle series, when she placed as runner-up behind Matt Willis - during Tuesday's episode to show off her physique.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Nearly 10 years after his death, Peter O’Toole is making a return to the screen in a BritBox documentary from Jim Sheridan.The revered Irish director, known for narrative films including “My Left Foot” and “In the Name of the Father,” interviewed colleagues and family about the “Lawrence of Arabia” star for “Peter O’Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba.” They range from Kenneth Branagh, Brian Cox, Anthony Hopkins, Derek Jacobi and Stephen Fry to ex-wife Siân Phillips and daughter Kate O’Toole. Each interview helps shed light on the actor’s complicated yet brilliant life and career. O’Toole, who grew up in England with Irish heritage, was nominated for eight Oscars, winning an honorary Academy Award in 2003. The actor was also known for his stage work and fondness for alcohol.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points, including the ending and the post-credits scenes, for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” currently playing in theaters. James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

Jane Goodall‘s path to becoming the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees started with one of the most relatable experiences of all time: having a crush on a fictional character. While promoting her new Apple TV+ series “Jane,” Goodall stopped by “The Kelly Clarkson Show” Tuesday and spilled on what led her down her groundbreaking path. “I read ‘Tarzan of the Apes’ and fell in love with him,” Goodall said.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish addressed the writers strike during Paramount’s Q1 earnings call Thursday, stating that writers are “an essential part of creating content” and “we hope we can come to a resolution that works for everyone fairly quickly.” However, the Paramount chief added, “it’s also fair to say there’s a really big gap.” “Obviously, we’ve been planning for this, we do have many levers to pull and that’ll allow us to manage through the strike, even if it’s for an extended duration,” Bakish said. “In terms of those levers, we have a lot in the can, so to speak, content in the can. So with the exception of things like late-night, consumers really won’t notice anything for a while. Add to that a broad range of reality, unscripted, where we’re definitely a leader, as well as sports, and that’s not effected, so we can do more in those areas, if necessary.”

EXCLUSIVE: Producer Greg Lauritano has today announced the launch of Adrenaline, a new below-the-line and alternative media management company that will rep clients for film, television, commercials, music videos and alternative media.

Naman Ramachandran India’s official entry to the 2023 Oscars, Pan Nalin’s “Last Film Show,” and Rima Das’ acclaimed 2017 festival favorite “Village Rockstars,” are amongst the films screening at the inaugural Nirvana – Festival de la Culture et du Cinema Indiens. Taking place in Saint-Tropez May 26-28, the festival will also screen Shubhashish Bhutiani’s 2016 Venice winner “Hotel Salvation” and Rajat Kapoor’s “RK/RKAY” (2022). On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, the director’s cut of the international version of Ketan Mehta’s freedom fight themed “The Rising” (2005) will be screened. Indian filmmakers Sundaram Tagore, Deepa Sahi, Surina Narula and Sanjay Bhutiani will speak at a roundtable on Indo-French cinema.