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Marcus Anthony Thomas, who completed a directing mentorship on “House of the Dragon,” has started production on his directorial feature debut. Now shooting in London, psychological thriller “Cast Me!” will be led by rising star IIniki Mariano in her debut feature role, with Samue

Hayden Panettiere was a seasoned professional by the time she auditioned for “Heroes” at the age of 16. But unlike many actors who start working as kids, Hayden had no sense of jaded child actor quality to her. Although confident in her abilities, she was still guileless, sweet a

Ken Corday, the executive producer of “Days of Our Lives,” knew John Oliver needed to make an appearance on his series. The host of the Emmy-winning HBO series “Last Week Tonight” publicly declared his desire to star in a soap opera during a March episode of his talk show, and Co

This year, an unprecedented number of genre and fantasy shows broke into the Emmys race, including “Widow’s Bay,” “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” “It: Welcome to Derry,” “Fallout,” “Spider-Noir” and “Alien: Earth,” which were all recognized across multiple below-the-line catego

The “2 Broke Girls” are getting back together. Variety has learned that Beth Behrs is set to guest star in the upcoming third season of the ABC sitcom “Shifting Gears,” which stars her former co-star Kat Dennings. Behrs will guest star as Dr. Johnson, who is described as a beauti

Frank Beard, ZZ Top’s longtime drummer for the past 56 years, has died. He was 77. A representative for Beard confirmed that he died while in hospice care at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, with his family by his side. Just last week, ZZ Top abruptly canceled their performance at t

Hollywood’s top showrunners and creatives snuck out of their respective writers’ rooms for Variety’s annual Showrunner Breakfast on August 14. The intimate gathering was held at Oleander at The Sun Rose Hotel in West Hollywood, California, honoring top showrunners, including some

Kevin Hart and Henry Cavill’s spy comedy at Netflix has added three to its cast. Jason Isaacs (“Harry Potter,” “The White Lotus”), Justine Lupe (“Nobody Wants This,” “Succession”) and Aja Naomi King (“Lessons in Chemistry,” “How to Get Away With Murder”) have joined the yet-to-be

Catherine Zeta-Jones’ highly anticipated thriller series, “Kill Jackie,” has set a premiere date on Prime Video. The Fremantle and Steel Springs Pictures production will release all eight episodes Oct. 2 on the streamer in the U.K., Ireland, Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, Austria,

El Gouna Film Festival has revealed the first 10 titles for its ninth edition, set to run Oct. 15-23, in the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna, Egypt. The lineup spans work from established auteurs and first-time feature directors, drawing from festivals including Cannes, Berlin, S

The Beatles rights-holding company Apple Corps has come together with Universal Music Group to ink a wide-ranging licensing and merch deal for all things related to the fab four. It will include physical and digital merchandise, licensing, and e-commerce. “The Beatles embody musi

Amazon MGM Studios and Colour Yellow have set “Nayyi Navelli,” an Indian fantasy family entertainer starring Yami Gautam Dhar, for release in cinemas this October, timed to the Dussehra festival period. Balaji Mohan directs from a script by Himanshu Sharma and Divy Nidhi Sharma.

“Ghost Song” (“Geister”), from multi-prized German auteur Fatih Akin (“In the Fade”), has been set as the opening night film at this year’s San Sebastián Film Festival. A world premiere, “Ghost Song” is hailed by the San Sebastián Festival as “a poetic drama about loss and longin

Marcus Anthony Thomas, who completed a directing mentorship on “House of the Dragon,” has started production on his directorial feature debut. Now shooting in London, psychological thriller “Cast Me!” will be led by rising star Iniki Mariano in her debut feature role, with Samuel

“Flapjax,” Rocko Zevenbergen’s sci-fi horror comedy, has landed a worldwide sales deal with Blue Finch Films ahead of its world premiere at Fantastic Fest next month. The U.K. sales and distribution company will launch sales on the title at the newly formed industry market at the

Australian hybrid-AI studio Red Empire Productions and international production and distribution company Organic Media Group are developing “Alishan Escape: A Mandopop Ghost Adventure,” an original animated musical inspired by Taiwan’s Ghost Month traditions, Buddhist philosophy,

The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has selected “The Table: Day and Night,” directed by Kim Jong-kwan, as its opening film for the 2026 edition, marking the feature’s world premiere. The film tracks four couples moving through different stages of love inside the sa

David Krumholtz, who played Kor-El in this year’s “Supergirl” and appeared in “Oppenheimer” and “The Studio,” said on Threads Monday that he’s done with acting and ready to start a “new life.” However, he later deleted the posts that spoke of his frustration with getting jobs in