Author: Terry Flores

John Krasinski and Rosamond Pike on Vulnerability and Decompressing After Tense Scenes

John Krasinski and Rosamund Pike sat down for a conversation for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  In “Gone Girl,” Rosamund Pike proved she could put herself through anything. The British actress, a well-loved supporting player i…

John Krasinski and Rosamund Pike sat down for a conversation for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  In “Gone Girl,” Rosamund Pike proved she could put herself through anything. The British actress, a well-loved supporting player in “Pride & Prejudice” and “An Education,” took the lead and scored her first Oscar nomination. Four years later, […]

Glenn Close and Sam Elliott on the Power of Small Roles and the Allure of Westerns

Glenn Close and Sam Elliott sat down for a conversation for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  Sam Elliott may be a cinematic icon thanks to his craggy voice and résumé of cowboy roles, but he has yet to be recognized with an Osca…

Glenn Close and Sam Elliott sat down for a conversation for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  Sam Elliott may be a cinematic icon thanks to his craggy voice and résumé of cowboy roles, but he has yet to be recognized with an Oscar nomination. That will probably change with “A Star Is Born,” which […]

Inside ‘Scarface’s’ Sometimes Rocky Road to Becoming a Classic

“Scarface,” which opened Dec. 9, 1983, made money at the box office but wasn’t immediately profitable. In the 35 years since then, the film has been embraced as a classic. On April 6, 1982, Variety announced star Al Pacino and director Sidney Lumet wer…

“Scarface,” which opened Dec. 9, 1983, made money at the box office but wasn’t immediately profitable. In the 35 years since then, the film has been embraced as a classic. On April 6, 1982, Variety announced star Al Pacino and director Sidney Lumet were working on a remake of the 1932 film, but before long […]

Mississippi Beckons Producers With Southern Charm, High Incentives

Mississippi may not be the first state that comes jumps into the mind of a producer considering locations for an upcoming shoot, but the state has a lot going for it, including a picturesque Southern ambience, antebellum homes, rich farmlands, pine for…

Mississippi may not be the first state that comes jumps into the mind of a producer considering locations for an upcoming shoot, but the state has a lot going for it, including a picturesque Southern ambience, antebellum homes, rich farmlands, pine forests, Gulf coast sands and casinos – not to mention significant rebates on qualified […]

Key Grip Charlie Saldana Recalls His Long Career With Film/TV Greats

Interviewing Charlie Saldana in the quiet of his North Hollywood home, the 79-year-old working key grip still exudes the cool confidence of someone who’s spent a lifetime in partnership with one of Hollywood’s great directors: Clint Eastwood. Saldana s…

Interviewing Charlie Saldana in the quiet of his North Hollywood home, the 79-year-old working key grip still exudes the cool confidence of someone who’s spent a lifetime in partnership with one of Hollywood’s great directors: Clint Eastwood. Saldana still possesses an actor’s looks, with a salt-white mustache and a full silver mane. He began his […]

Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams on Their HBO Series and DC Franchises

Nicole Kidman and Amy Adams sat down for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  Few stars are more willing to take risks than Amy Adams. Her turn as Second Lady Lynne Cheney in “Vice” is only the latest in a series of on-screen transf…

Nicole Kidman and Amy Adams sat down for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  Few stars are more willing to take risks than Amy Adams. Her turn as Second Lady Lynne Cheney in “Vice” is only the latest in a series of on-screen transformations, following her startling work in the HBO limited series “Sharp Objects.” […]

‘Creed II’ Production, Costume Designers Worked Together to Get the Right Look

Below-the-line department heads who have the opportunity to work together on more than one film often develop a kind of communications shorthand. For production designer Franco-Giacomo Carbone and costume designer Lizz Wolf, “Creed II” marks their four…

Below-the-line department heads who have the opportunity to work together on more than one film often develop a kind of communications shorthand. For production designer Franco-Giacomo Carbone and costume designer Lizz Wolf, “Creed II” marks their fourth collaboration — a relationship that began with 2008’s “Rambo.” This worked to the great advantage of the eighth […]

Netflix, Amazon Face New Parameters and Challenges in Europe

In their quest for global domination, Netflix and Amazon view Europe as a key battleground. Both companies have dramatically ramped up operations on the continent in recent years to woo subscribers, creatives and talent. But tensions over content, cost…

In their quest for global domination, Netflix and Amazon view Europe as a key battleground. Both companies have dramatically ramped up operations on the continent in recent years to woo subscribers, creatives and talent. But tensions over content, costs and consequences for the region’s legacy players have been building, and in some cases have boiled […]

Emily Blunt and Hugh Jackman on Making Musicals (and Horror!) at the Movies

Emily Blunt and Hugh Jackman sat down for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  Anyone who’s ever seen “The Greatest Showman” or “Les Misérables,” or the Broadway musical “The Boy From Oz,” knows that Hugh Jackman can belt out a tune…

Emily Blunt and Hugh Jackman sat down for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  Anyone who’s ever seen “The Greatest Showman” or “Les Misérables,” or the Broadway musical “The Boy From Oz,” knows that Hugh Jackman can belt out a tune. This Oscar season, however, he’s resting his singing voice and taking on another […]

Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson on Sex at the Movies

Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson sat down for a chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  Dakota Johnson has become the muse for Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino. In this year’s remake of the horror thriller “Suspiria,” their secon…

Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson sat down for a chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.  Dakota Johnson has become the muse for Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino. In this year’s remake of the horror thriller “Suspiria,” their second collaboration after “A Bigger Splash,” Johnson plays a dancer who enrolls in a company from hell. […]

Interscope Records’ John Janick Named Variety’s Hitmakers Exec of the Year

Two of the biggest film soundtracks of the past several years. Massive chart successes from acts well into their second decade of stardom. One of the last rock bands still ruling the pop charts. An inescapable radio smash pairing a Russian-born DJ and …

Two of the biggest film soundtracks of the past several years. Massive chart successes from acts well into their second decade of stardom. One of the last rock bands still ruling the pop charts. An inescapable radio smash pairing a Russian-born DJ and a Nashville singer-songwriter. And a flurry of fast-breaking young acts, including two […]

Republic Records Named Variety’s Hitmakers Label of the Year

Republic Records chairman/CEO Monte Lipman takes the news that his company has been named Variety’s Hitmakers Label of the Year for the second time with all the humility, reserve and diffidence that we’ve come to expect out of one of the industry’s ind…

Republic Records chairman/CEO Monte Lipman takes the news that his company has been named Variety’s Hitmakers Label of the Year for the second time with all the humility, reserve and diffidence that we’ve come to expect out of one of the industry’s indisputable visionaries. “I am going to get so f–king hammered,” he jokes about […]

Drake Collaborator Noah ’40’ Shebib Named Variety’s Hitmakers Producer of the Year

Drake’s longtime collaborator, Noah “40” Shebib (his nickname is short for 40 days and 40 nights), has credits on three of the year’s biggest hits, “God’s Plan,” “In My Feelings” and “Nice for What.” Yet if you asked the Toronto native why these songs …

Drake’s longtime collaborator, Noah “40” Shebib (his nickname is short for 40 days and 40 nights), has credits on three of the year’s biggest hits, “God’s Plan,” “In My Feelings” and “Nice for What.” Yet if you asked the Toronto native why these songs took 2018 by storm, his self-effacing explanation is that, “Drake’s just […]

Dre London Is the Post Malone Whisperer and Variety’s Hitmakers Manager of the Year

Even in the fast-paced stream-today, gone-tomorrow economy of modern-day hit songs, Post Malone is in a league of his own. The genre-bending artist has four of the most consumed tracks of 2018, each of which feels equally at home on a hip-hop playlist …

Even in the fast-paced stream-today, gone-tomorrow economy of modern-day hit songs, Post Malone is in a league of his own. The genre-bending artist has four of the most consumed tracks of 2018, each of which feels equally at home on a hip-hop playlist as it does a pop radio station. Credit part of that mass […]

‘Shakespeare in Love’ at 20: From Troubled Development to Oscar History

It’s the 20th anniversary of “Shakespeare in Love,” which premiered in New York on Dec. 3, 1998, defying expectations and making Oscar history. On Oct. 23, 1992, Variety reported that Universal and Savoy Pictures had “indefinitely shelved” the $20 mill…

It’s the 20th anniversary of “Shakespeare in Love,” which premiered in New York on Dec. 3, 1998, defying expectations and making Oscar history. On Oct. 23, 1992, Variety reported that Universal and Savoy Pictures had “indefinitely shelved” the $20 million production with Julia Roberts and director Ed Zwick when Daniel Day-Lewis dropped out. It went […]

The Most-Consumed Songs of 2018

Call him Drake the dominator. The superstar rapper claimed four of the top 30 most popular songs in a 2018 year-to-date chart created for Variety by BuzzAngle Music, measuring multiple forms of consumption, including audio streams and song sales, to de…

Call him Drake the dominator. The superstar rapper claimed four of the top 30 most popular songs in a 2018 year-to-date chart created for Variety by BuzzAngle Music, measuring multiple forms of consumption, including audio streams and song sales, to derive a project unit tally. No. 1 on the BuzzAngle Hitmakers ranking is Drake’s “God’s […]

Inside the Divine Inspiration Behind Drake’s ‘God’s Plan’

As much as competitors might want to credit something otherworldly for Drake’s all-out dominance in 2018, it wasn’t so much a higher spirit at work as the well-oiled machine that is Aubrey Graham Inc. “God’s Plan,” the top song of the year with a consu…

As much as competitors might want to credit something otherworldly for Drake’s all-out dominance in 2018, it wasn’t so much a higher spirit at work as the well-oiled machine that is Aubrey Graham Inc. “God’s Plan,” the top song of the year with a consumption total of 5.5 million, started with a leaked snippet that […]

Netflix, Cannes Film Festival Still at Odds Over Theatrical Release Rules

Netflix’s plan to release “Roma” and two other films theatrically in North America and Europe was hailed in the U.S. as a major shift in strategy for the streaming giant. But the initiative was met with a scornful shrug in France, where exhibitors say …

Netflix’s plan to release “Roma” and two other films theatrically in North America and Europe was hailed in the U.S. as a major shift in strategy for the streaming giant. But the initiative was met with a scornful shrug in France, where exhibitors say it’s unlikely by itself to produce a reconciliation between Netflix and […]

Monster Hit ‘Frankenstein’ Caused a Scandal in Kansas City in 1931

In the 1818 novel “Frankenstein,” Mary Shelley invented a creature that was philosophical, articulate and vengeful. But most people remember the Hollywood version: barely speaking, lumbering and with bolts in his neck, memorable thanks to Boris Karloff…

In the 1818 novel “Frankenstein,” Mary Shelley invented a creature that was philosophical, articulate and vengeful. But most people remember the Hollywood version: barely speaking, lumbering and with bolts in his neck, memorable thanks to Boris Karloff and the makeup designed by Jack P. Pierce. November 21 marks the anniversary of the film’s 1931 debut. […]

Pinewood Studio and Water Tank Attract Filmmakers to Dominican Republic

No non-U.S. territory in the Caribbean offers as many production amenities as the Dominican Republic. In addition to its tropical beauty, the country is host to a Pinewood production facility built in 2011, complete with soundstages, bluescreen capabil…

No non-U.S. territory in the Caribbean offers as many production amenities as the Dominican Republic. In addition to its tropical beauty, the country is host to a Pinewood production facility built in 2011, complete with soundstages, bluescreen capabilities, and an eight-acre tank for water effects. This comes on top of an incentive of 25%. The […]

Hungarian Location Doubles for Colonial Virginia in PBS Series ‘Jamestown’

Carnival Films, the production company behind “Downton Abbey,” tackles 1620s America with the series “Jamestown” — a production that took place nowhere near Virginia, site of the original Jamestown colony. Instead the show was shot at locations just ou…

Carnival Films, the production company behind “Downton Abbey,” tackles 1620s America with the series “Jamestown” — a production that took place nowhere near Virginia, site of the original Jamestown colony. Instead the show was shot at locations just outside Budapest, where a Southern drawl has seldom been heard. Yet tax incentives often speak louder than […]