Congress has passed a bill to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday. The motion was approved in the House with a vote of 415-14 on Wednesday, after passing unanimously through the Senate on Tuesday. Juneteenth, which takes place annually on June 19, marks the true end of slavery in the United States. It commemorates June […]
Variety
Clementine Ford’s ‘Fight Like a Girl’ Set as TV Series at Aquarius Films (EXCLUSIVE)
Australian indie producer Aquarius Films is to develop and produce a comedy drama series adapted from the acclaimed feminist manifesto book “Fight Like A Girl.” The book, a memoir and expose of how unequal the world continues to be for women, was published in 2016 by feminist writer and online sensation Clementine Ford. It earned […]
How ‘The Serpent’ Star Tahar Rahim Let Go of the ‘Dark Energy’ From Playing a Serial Killer
No doubt playing a serial killer could really mess with one’s psyche. Just ask Tahar Rahim. The actor portrays real-life 1970s French murderer Charles Sobhraj in Netflix’s eight-episode “The Serpent.” When they first began shooting, he thought he was able to leave the work behind him when he went home at the end of the […]
Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni on Their ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Reunion, and That Deep Benson/Stabler Chemistry
For Mariska Hargitay, the departure of Christopher Meloni and his “Law & Order: SVU” character, Elliot Stabler in 2011 after 12 seasons, was “so painful for me and so hard because the way he left, there was no closure. There was just a big hole.” But Meloni is back, in the spinoff series “Law & […]
Chris Pratt Talks J.K. Simmons’ ‘Freakin’ Jacked’ Muscles and ‘Fun’ Underwater Scenes in ‘The Tomorrow War’
In Amazon Studios’ upcoming sci-fi blockbuster “The Tomorrow War,” Chris Pratt stars as Dan Forester — a soldier sent to the year 2051 to fight off against an alien invasion. Beyond the film’s grandiose sci-fi elements, it deals with an array of contemporary family themes and the notion of what one generation owes to the […]
‘NCIS’ in Talks With Gary Cole for Major Season 19 Role (EXCLUSIVE)
Gary Cole is in talks for a major role in “NCIS” Season 19, Variety has learned exclusively from sources. Details on the character Cole would play are being kept under wraps. The long-running CBS procedural was renewed back in April, with series lead Mark Harmon’s return to the series also being confirmed at that time. It […]
Facebook Will Start Serving Targeted Ads in Oculus VR Headsets
Will the next big advance in VR be… virtual-reality commercials? Facebook announced that it is kicking off a “small test” of in-headset ads for Oculus VR devices. The ads will first appear in “Blaston,” a dueling-shooter VR game from Resolution Games, as well as titles from a few other developers rolling out over the coming […]
Fox Wraps Upfront Sales With Growth for Primetime, Digital
Fox saw increases in advance ad commitments for its primetime schedule and expanding digital venues as part of the industry’s annual “upfront” sales process, the latest of the nation’s big media companies to see robust activity as advertisers try to move forward as the coronavirus pandemic diminishes. The Fox Corporation unit saw advertising commitments rise […]
J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot to Explore the ‘UFO’ Mystery in a New Docuseries for Showtime
J.J. Abrams is ready to get to the bottom of unidentified flying objects, and Showtime is giving him the platform to do just that. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Glen Zipper are behind “UFO,” a four-part docu-series that will look at the phenomenon of mysterious objects in the sky and “what clandestine influence the American government, […]
WSL Studios Adds Michael Phelps, Casey Neistat Show to Programming Slate (EXCLUSIVE)
WSL Studios, the studio division of the World Surf League, has updated its development slate. The upcoming slate of programming will consist of competition series, docu-series and travel series that embody the ethos of surfing. Hosted and executive produced by Michael Phelps, “Racing on Water: The Ultimate Waterman Competition” is a global competition elimination series […]