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Category: Entertainment

  • Mark Ruffalo Called Out Over ‘Extremist and Antisemitic Messaging’ by Simon Wiesenthal Center, Creative Communities For Peace

    Mark Ruffalo Called Out Over ‘Extremist and Antisemitic Messaging’ by Simon Wiesenthal Center, Creative Communities For Peace

    Two prominent Jewish advocacy groups have called out Mark Ruffalo for spreading “antisemitic tropes.”

    “Words matter, and so does the willingness to draw a line when legitimate debate gives way to antisemitic tropes,” said Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

    “We commend Paramount for speaking clearly and refusing to allow prejudice to masquerade as political or corporate criticism. At a time when antisemitism is too often minimized, rationalized, or repackaged in more socially acceptable language, this kind of moral clarity matters.”

    Ari Engel, executive director of Creative Community for Peace, also said in a statement: “Mark Ruffalo’s rhetoric has increasingly crossed the line from criticism of Israel into extremist and antisemitic messaging.”

    Their intervention comes after Paramount issued a rare statement of condemnation against Ruffalo on Friday, in which the company said it is “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute.”

    That statement was in response to the actor’s Instagram re-posting of a year-old video clip featuring Jewish Paramount Skydance board member Safra Catz speaking on a panel. In text accompanying the clip he told his 20 million Instagram followers it showed Catz “revelling” in a “genocide” powered by tech company Oracle, understood to be a tacit reference to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

    Catz is the former CEO of Oracle, which was co-founded by Larry Ellison, father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison.

    Paramount Skydance is in the process of acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery. Ruffalo has been one of the most vocal critics of the deal.

    In his latest social media screed, Ruffalo said Larry Ellison was funding his son’s acquisition of Warner and that he would own “most of” the company if the deal, which is currently mired in legal tangling with 12 state attorneys general, went through.

    Larry Ellison has reportedly committed up to $46.7 billion of the $111 billion deal, with a trio of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, comprised of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, also committing at least $24 billion.

    Ruffalo, who is believed to have earned millions from his role as Hulk in the Marvel films, also called Ellison Sr. a “classic Oligarch” who is “crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance” in his commentary. He also accused the Ellisons of “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world.”

    After Paramount issued its statement condemning his post, the Marvel actor fired back on X, saying the accusation of antisemitism “is appalling and fundamentally dishonest.”

    However, at least two Jewish orgs appear to agree with Paramount’s assessment. “Invoking Israel in an issue where it is completely irrelevant is a textbook case of obsession and demonization,” Berk, the Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO, continued in his statement. “Paramount was right to call it out. More leaders and institutions should have the courage to call antisemitism what it is, regardless of who is spreading it.”

    Meanwhile CCFP’s Engel, noted: “Ruffalo now says accusations of antisemitism against him are ‘fundamentally dishonest.’ Intent does not erase impact. Repeatedly amplifying inflammatory falsehoods and rhetoric that mirrors historic antisemitic tropes helps normalize the violent anti-Jewish hatred we are seeing take hold once again around the world, regardless of how he chooses to describe his own motives.”

  • ‘Tucci in Italy’ Cinematographer Matt Ball on Making Italy Look Delicious

    ‘Tucci in Italy’ Cinematographer Matt Ball on Making Italy Look Delicious

    Tucci in Italy is swarming with handsome images: a mouthwatering dollop of spaghetti and clams inspired by a Neapolitan chef’s 94-year-old mother, majestic Renaissance-era palaces and quaint villages where the show’s host, Stanley Tucci, enlists locals to expound on Italian culture. But director of photography Matt Ball isn’t always looking for polish — he wants candor.

    “It’s not necessarily a show about how beautiful everything looks,” Ball says. “The primary goal is to get authenticity. And then we shoot around it and try to make it look as nice as we can.”

    Ball’s cinematography led to one of the three Emmy nominations that Tucci in Italy received this year, alongside a sound mixing citation and outstanding hosted nonfiction series or special. He met Tucci as a camera operator on Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, which ran for two seasons on CNN. When National Geographic picked up the retitled version, Ball was brought on as DP. They’re currently in production on another spinoff, this time set in Great Britain.

    Before shooting, Tucci, producer Lottie Birmingham and their research team map out a roughly seven- to 10-day stint in each city being featured that season. They find cooks, farmers, food producers and culinary experts to show off the region’s cuisine and landscapes. Ball, who collaborated with two camera operators and two assistants on Tucci in Italy, then designed shots as unobtrusive as possible so the contributors could feel comfortable.

    “The work of making it look beautiful has been done for me already,” Ball says, downplaying his aptitude for capturing the vistas of Sicily, Tuscany or Sardinia so elegantly.

    If Searching for Italy prioritized major destinations such as Rome and Milan, Tucci in Italy sought out less touristy locales, like Ball’s personal favorite stop, Le Marche. There, at the seaside restaurant Da Emilia, Tucci tried a spaghetti and mussels dish the chef’s eponymous grandmother had taught her to make years earlier. The Devil Wears Prada actor dined with the chef at a long outdoor table overlooking the Adriatic Sea — an example of the charisma that Ball encountered everywhere he went.

    “It looked fantastic,” he says. “The light was coming off the water, and it was a beautiful day. It was really lovely.”

    Ball, for his part, gets to sample many of the dishes, too. Some of that intake depends on how much offal, for example, he’s willing to eat.

    Ball’s food-oriented résumé is accidental, though. It started with a gig as a camera operator on the long-running Barefoot Contessa, where he met his wife. He’s since shot Be My Guest With Ina Garten as well as shows with celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Lorraine Pascale. He says he’ll stay on with Tucci as long as Tucci wants to continue his savory travels.

    “Everywhere we go,” he says, “you’ll always hear somebody whisper, ‘That’s Stanley Tucci!’ ”

    This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

  • There Are Scores of Great New Animated Shows. The Emmys Won’t Nominate Them.

    There Are Scores of Great New Animated Shows. The Emmys Won’t Nominate Them.

    One of the great creative innovations America has given the world in the past 30 years is TV animation.

    That sounds like hyperbole, but it’s true. The Simpsons changed how we look at the American family (and current events). Rick and Morty changed how we looked at comedy and the tragedy behind it. (“Wubba lubba dub dub.” Also, current events.) South Park changed how we looked at each other (and current events).

    The problem is that those shows all started doing that a very long time ago. Rick and Morty is nine seasons in. South Park is 28. The Simpsons is 37 damn seasons deep. There are children who weren’t born when the series debuted who now have children who themselves are old enough to think Bart has got this whole life thing figured out.

    All three of those shows are nominated for outstanding animated program this year. So is Bob’s Burgers, which just completed its 20th season. Now, a charitable view would hold that such shortlisting reflects the durability of these shows — how they manage to maintain their creative spark through so many changing winds.

    There is something to that — it’s not easy to do anything well for three decades, let alone maintain character freshness.

    But I fear the fact that animated characters don’t age — and that they’re basically money-minting machines for a few networks (especially Fox) — has led us to a pretty calcified place. No show should so regularly take a place on the Emmys stage. The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers have been nominated every year since the Obama days. Nothing is that good for that long.

    What isn’t on the animated shortlist this year? Dark sci-fi like Owen Dennis’ Among Us on Paramount+. The acquired taste but still bold stylings of Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s time-jumping family series Long Story Short on Netflix. Joe Cappa’s Adult Swim single-dad delight Haha, You Clowns. These are all newish shows from the past year or two with great energy and original takes. But to look at the Emmys noms is to not even know they exist (and indeed, many viewers won’t without the exposure).

    A little breath of fresh air in the category comes via Smiling Friends, Adult Swim’s truly wacky take on a nonprofit and what it means to do good/be happy. And while I would hardly call anything in the George Lucas-verse fresh in 2026, Star Wars: Visions at least uses varied artists and styles in a way that feels original. But these shows seem token-y amid the Simpsons and South Park oak trees and probably won’t win anyway.

    What can the Emmys do to fix this? Fortunately, there are a few things.

    For starters, stop with just nominating a single episode. Unlike TV Academy convention elsewhere, the Emmys don’t award a show — they award an episode. That means that the kind of newer, zanier material that takes months to really settle into is completely disadvantaged — you’re not going to appreciate something weird and new if you just try to watch one episode. You’re just going to go back to something you know and like, such as The Simpsons or South Park.

    Of course, the irony is that The Simpsons and South Park were themselves once oddball and required a multi-episode commitment to appreciate. But now that they are appreciated, voters just keep rubber-stamping them. I mean, Rick and Morty hasn’t really been good in several years. But voters just keep checking the box without thinking there might be a new Rick and Morty waiting out there.

    The other irony is that many of the characters on these very shows would hate this kind of lazy legacy thinking and would balk at it. A category that is literally designed to celebrate subversiveness champions the sclerotic.

    Another fix: Stop with the international ghettoizing. My colleague David Canfield just covered this on the live-action side, but it applies on the animated side, too. Bluey is one of the best shows on television these past 10 years. And many people in America watch it. Find a way to make it eligible for the primetime Emmy.

    While we’re on the topic of Bluey, get rid of the “Eligibility in animation is for programming that targets an audience age 13 and above” rule. This is just not how people watch television anymore.

    And finally, open up the Phase II voting beyond just the animation branch to the whole TV Academy. Animation is one of two realms that has this limitation. And it’s having a bad effect. People in the animation branch work in the field, which means they tend to vote for the shows of folks they know or have worked with. So we get the 30-year veterans.

    I get why this exclusionary voting rule was first drafted: Animation is a specialized craft, and specialists should vote on their specialty. Also, there is a fear that the, ahem, unwashed masses who don’t work in animation won’t really know the shows because they’re too busy watching the live-action stuff. But if that was ever true, it’s not anymore. Everyone watches everything.

    All of these might seem like big changes, hard to implement, but they’re really not. They’re possible and would make a world of difference. And if you doubt it, there’s a group you can ask that will help. A group that looked at the world as it is and said, “Maybe there’s another, more daring way to view it.” They are, of course, called animators.

    This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

  • Anna Paquin and Melissa Gilbert Call for Protection of Child Actors After Hayden Panettiere’s Death: “Where Is the Collective Outrage?”

    Anna Paquin and Melissa Gilbert Call for Protection of Child Actors After Hayden Panettiere’s Death: “Where Is the Collective Outrage?”

    Anna Paquin, Christy Carlson Romano and Melissa Gilbert are calling on Hollywood to protect child actors following the deaths of Hayden Panettiere, Michelle Trachtenberg and Daveigh Chase.

    Panettiere’s death at age 36 last Sunday prompted the three actresses, who were child stars themselves, to take their concerns public. Trachtenberg died at 39 in February 2025, while Chase died in July at age 35.

    “It’s not a coincidence that so many former, specifically pre-sexualized female, child ‘stars’ have profoundly sad lives and untimely ends. We were not as protected by the ‘systems’ that look great on paper, as we are supposed to be,” Paquin wrote on Instagram Friday. She rose to fame at 11 years old with her film debut in 1993’s The Piano, which earned her an Oscar for best supporting actress.

    “RIP HP, MT, DC and too many others. It’s a strange small club we belong to and you are worthy of support no matter how our industry makes us feel,” Paquin continued. “Literally DM me. I believe you and I will stand by your side. You aren’t alone. Let’s have each other’s backs. It might make public disclosure less terrifying.”

    The True Blood alum added in a separate post, “One more thing– As an adult I’ve had the pleasure of working on productions where the welfare and mental health of young performers was handled incredibly carefully. Especially around material that was intense. It is possible to holistically look after the kids on set and tell complex and sometimes upsetting stories. It just has to be the top priority of the production.”

    Earlier in the week, Elle published an essay by Romano — who appeared in 1996’s Everyone Says I Love You as a child before becoming a teen Disney star with her role in Even Stevens and voicing Kim Possible — where she compared child stardom to the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

    “The former child actor exists in a category the world does not know how to hold. We are children when the public wants to feel protective of us, professionals when the industry wants to profit from us, and spoiled celebrities when we eventually show symptoms of having been both,” Romano wrote in part. “Early fame is like CTE. Not as a diagnosis. As a way of thinking about repeated impact. We now have language for youth sports: protocols, helmets, parents worried about concussions. But we have almost no language for what happens when stress, scrutiny, rejection, adult pressure, and the collapse of privacy become the architecture of a childhood.

    She added, “Young performers are still treated as exceptions. Lucky exceptions. Cute exceptions. Talented exceptions. Exceptions whose labor powers one of the most profitable storytelling machines in the world, while their mental needs are treated as inconvenient or irrelevant. Social work be damned.”

    Gilbert also shared a lengthy post on Substack Saturday, where she asked, “Why are these three sweet, wildly talented, vibrant, vital young women gone?” Gilbert landed her breakout role at just nine years old, playing Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1983.

    “I did not know Hayden personally and only worked briefly with Mishy and Daveigh. It feels personal because I was them,” Gilbert wrote. “We are all members of the same tribe; Female Former Child Performers, and when one of us dies, it runs through all of us like an electrical current. When three of us die so close together, something is very, very wrong. We all know the stories of how the entertainment industry uses, abuses, exploits and then throws away it’s youngest, but for some reason, this trend is getting worse.”

    She later added, “Where is our Union in all of this? Where is the collective outrage? Where are the regulations? Where is the protection of privacy?”

    “It really seems like no one cares enough to enact real change. At least, not until the next death and everyone talks about how sad they are and how we must do something and then they forget and get on with their lives until it happens again and again and again,” Gilbert continued. “Yes, addiction is a real disease. Family dysfunction is real. PTSD is real. In actors, all those things are assets. They enable us to access emotion and share it with an audience. But when it comes through children, it should be treated tenderly, protectively, respectfully and in a way that is as limited as possible.”

    Gilbert’s post comes as her husband, Timothy Busfield, awaits trial in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after being accused of child sex abuse on the set of the former Fox/Warner Bros. Television series The Cleaning Lady. Gilbert has defended Busfield, who has denied the allegations.

    Panettiere started working in Hollywood at a young age, appearing in the soap opera One Life to Live at just four years old before starring in 2000’s Remember the Titans at 10, among other projects. As for Trachtenberg, she appeared in the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete as a child, as well as 1996’s Harriet the Spy and 1999’s Inspector Gadget. Chase was known for voicing Lilo in 2002’s Lilo & Stitch when she was younger as well as starring in the 2002 horror film The Ring.

  • Ridley Scott Says ‘I’m Not a Filmmaker, I’m an Influencer’

    Ridley Scott Says ‘I’m Not a Filmmaker, I’m an Influencer’

    Ridley Scott recently told The Times of London that he sees himself not as a “filmmaker,” but as an “influencer.”

    “Every time, you are vulnerable,” Scott said when asked to identify a through line in his work. “Also, I never want to repeat myself and all my films have been on the money. I’ve been ahead of the game frequently and, if you’re ahead of the game, you’re an influencer. So I’m not a filmmaker, I’m an influencer.”

    Scott, a three-time Oscar-nominated director, has certainly flexed his influence throughout his years in Hollywood with immortal classics like “Blade Runner,” “Alien,” “Thelma & Louise,” and “Gladiator.” Earlier in the sit-down, he noted there are things he has yet to cross off his career checklist.

    “I’ve never done a Western,” he said. “I have cast Hugh Jackman for my ‘Treasure Island’ adaptation. I want to do a musical and, also, have a marvelous film about the African elephant.”

    Scott’s next film is “The Dog Stars” with Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley and Josh Brolin. He deemed his leading man Elordi “a big star” and said they “got on great.” He went on to imply that the reason he directed “The Dog Stars” was because he sensed tedious sameness in the type of stories coming out of Hollywood.

    “Look, everything now is about a murdered girl in the woods, or an FBI agent who is better than anyone else — or a superhero,” Scott said. “Fuck me! There have to be other stories to tell.”

    Scott will soon receive an honorary Oscar at November’s Governors Awards. Other recipients include Glenn Close and Disney’s first Black animator, Floyd Norman.

  • ‘Sentimental Value’ Star Anders Danielsen Lie and Anne Marie Ottersen Inducted Into the Haugesund Walk of Fame: ‘It Feels Full Circle’

    ‘Sentimental Value’ Star Anders Danielsen Lie and Anne Marie Ottersen Inducted Into the Haugesund Walk of Fame: ‘It Feels Full Circle’

    Norwegian actors Anders Danielsen Lie and Anne Marie Ottersen were inducted into the Haugesund Walk of Fame.. 

    The unveiling taking place during the first weekend of this year’s Norwegian Intl. Film Festival Haugesund, Danielsen Lie and Ottersen were recognized for contributing to “building the professionalism and high standards of Norway’s acting community, both on the theatre stage and in the film and television industry,” noted the committee. They join the ranks of Liv Ullmann, Pål Sverre Hagen and Renate Reinsve.

    “Do I look back? I haven’t had much time to reflect on this yet because my life is so hectic at the moment. But I do remember releasing [his 1990 acting debut] ‘Herman’ in Haugesund more than 30 years ago, so it feels full circle to receive this honor here,” Anders Danielsen Lie told Variety.

    “I think I dreamed of becoming a great actor when I was a young adult, but I abandoned that dream when I started med school. It was Joachim Trier’s first film that restarted my career,” he said.  

    “I think there are several ‘before’ and ‘after’ moments in my career, with the first being ‘Reprise’. If it weren’t for that film, I would never have worked as an actor.”

    While “Oslo, August 31st” was probably “the biggest turning point” in his career, smash hits “The Worst Person in the World” and “Sentimental Value” – also directed by Trier – introduced him to an even bigger audience. 

    “It’s always hard to say exactly why a film is loved by the audience, but they both tell stories that are relatable to many people. They are very entertaining films, but they also have an almost therapeutic quality to them,” he noted, adding: “I’m a bit surprised I have an international career, because I’ve always been ambivalent about acting – but hopefully that adds an extra layer of complexity to my work!” 

    Following “Sentimental Value’s” Oscar win – and nine nominations – Norwegian films definitely have an international momentum at the moment, he noted. 

    “I think there are several reasons for that. One is that we have great funding opportunities for films with limited commercial potential. I think Norwegian cinema as a whole has much more self-confidence now, which has been built up over many years. What we see now is the end result of a long evolution.” 

    Anne Marie Ottersen was surprised by the recognition. 

    “It was totally unexpected, but [it made me] very happy. In theater, most of what we do is gone with the wind once the performance is over. But now I’m written in stone, and that will last almost forever,” she said. 

    Ottersen joined the National Theatre in 1970, and won the Amanda Award for “Wives – Ten Years Later.” Her latest film, “The Pension Heist” directed by Gunnbjörg Gunnarsdóttir, will be released in October.  

    “The best thing I can say about my career is that I have been lucky to do so many different things. There have been difficult periods, of course, but I have the best job in the world, and I’m still working. I’m so happy about that.”

    The Walk of Fame was established in 2015, when actors Kristoffer Joner and Ane Dahl Torp became the first recipients.

    The Norwegian Intl. Film Festival Haugesund runs Aug. 22-28.

  • Martin Short Gets Honest: What It’s Like to Be All Over the Emmy Race, Thanks to Three Very Different Projects

    Martin Short Gets Honest: What It’s Like to Be All Over the Emmy Race, Thanks to Three Very Different Projects

    AWARDS CIRCUIT COLUMN LOGO
    Martin Short is having quite a unique Emmy season, and he knows it. His name is all over this year’s nominations, via three very distinct projects: As an actor, he’s nominated for outstanding comedy lead via Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” (He also has a comedy series nom for the show as an executive producer.) As a game show host, he landed a nod for ABC’s “Match Game.” And then he’s the subject of director Lawrence Kasdan’s Netflix documentary “Marty, Life Is Short,” which scored three noms this year.

    Short isn’t actually a part of the production team on “Marty, Life Is Short,” so he won’t get an Emmy if it wins for outstanding documentary or nonfiction special. But he gave the film, and Kasdan — whom he’s known for 40 years — his full support.

    “[Kasdan] phoned and said that he and Ron Howard and Imagine would love to do this documentary on me, and I kind of went, ‘I don’t know, I’ve written a book, I’m Canadian, we’re a little more reserved, let me think about it,’” Short says. Kasdan then left an eight-minute message explaining why Short’s story — about celebrating life, using humor to work through grief and more — was an important one to share.

    Kasdan also knew Short had a ton of material to mine: “Through all these years, I’ve always had a camcorder,” Short says. “With all my kids, I would just film. And I’d have them transferred to DVD. Because of my relationship and trust with him, I was able to take these shelves of movies and just say, ‘here you go.’”

    Not only that, but Steven Spielberg also sent over a ton of home movies he had made with Short in them. “So Larry had a great little treasure trove of stuff,” Short says.

    When Short’s daughter Katherine died in February, Kasdan told the star that Netflix could hold back the documentary’s release if the star wasn’t comfortable with it at that moment. But Short told them that they should proceed.

    “We met at his home a few weeks after, and he said, ‘Netflix will do whatever you want and I will do whatever you want,’” Short says. “And I thought, this really could be called ‘Love, Loss and Survival.’ As I’ve said in the past, my daughter had mental health struggles. And it’s a disease. Some diseases are terminal, whether they’re cancer or mental health. And so, I said, ‘I think we should proceed.’ And he said, ‘I think we should too.’”

    And since the film premiered globally in May, Short says he’s heard from many folks on how they appreciated seeing how he navigated through such tremendous loss in his life.

    Coincidentally, Short is also seen quite a bit in the Amazon doc “John Candy: I Like Me,” about his pal and “SCTV” co-star, which is competing against “Marty, Life Is Short” in this year’s Emmys documentary or nonfiction special category. Short says it was Candy who inspired him to start his home video habit. “In 1981, I got a VHS machine, and I went, ‘what am I doing? John has Betamax. We can’t exchange movies! So I went back and traded my VHS for Beta. You don’t even want to know my LaserDisc collection.”

    As for “Match Game,” Short says there are no future seasons in the works for him, but “never say never.” And he’s tightlipped on what to expect for next season’s “Only Murders” other than its move to London and a new batch of A-list guest stars.

    But he’ll be back in L.A. next month for sure, given his tremendous showing as an Emmy nominee. “Let’s do the cliché, it’s a tremendous honor to be recognized by your peers,” he says. Then he adds with a smile, “I am Mr. Emmy this year!”

  • Grace Passô’s ‘Our Secret’ Nabs the Best Film Kikito at the 54th Gramado Film Festival

    Grace Passô’s ‘Our Secret’ Nabs the Best Film Kikito at the 54th Gramado Film Festival

    GRAMADO, Brazil — “Our Secret” (“Nosso segredo”), the first feature from Grace Passô, nabbed the best feature film Kikito award at the Aug. 22 closing ceremony of the 54th Gramado Film Festival. The feature also scooped cinematography (Wilssa Esser) and art direction (Lucas Osório) plaudits.

    Passô, an established playwright and also actress, directed and wrote the feature that tells the story of a Black family trying to rebuild its routine after a recent loss. As family members avoid grief, the youngest son keeps a secret that may lead them to confront the roots of their pain.

    Vitrine Filmes, the distributor of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent,” will release “Our Secret” in local theaters Aug. 27.

    ‘Gugu’s World’

    Courtesy of Gramado Film Festival

    Allan Deberton’s “Gugu’s World” (“Feito Pipa”) took home the audience award, plus director, actress (Teca Pereira) and supporting actor (Lázaro Ramos) Kikitos.

    Carlos Segundo’s “Milk Powder” () walked off with the critics’ jury award for Brazilian feature film, screenplay (Segundo and Rafael Copel) and sound design (Waldir Xavier).

    In the acting categories, José Loreto, for “Chorão: Só os Loucos Sabem,” and Christian Malheiros, for “Justino: Nos Bastidores do Reino,” shared the actor prize. Naruna Costa, for “Pele de Rinoceronte,” nabbed the supporting actress Kikito. The jury granted honorable mentions for 11-year-old Yuri Gomes (“Gugu’s World”) and Onna Silva (“Justino: Nos Bastidores do Reino”).

    André Finotti and José Eduardo Belmonte took the editing Kikito for “Justino: Nos Bastidores do Reino” and Otávio de Moraes received the original score award for “Chorão: Só os Loucos Sabem.”

    Susanna Lira’s “Gonzaguinha, da Maior Liberdade” won the doc feature Kikito, while “Empeleitada” received an honorable mention in the doc category.

    The jury was comprised of actress Cris Vianna, director and screenwriter Fábio Meira, actress Helena Ranaldi, researcher, film critic and curator Kênia Freitas and actor Marcelo Serrado.

    The critics’ jury consisted of journalist and doc filmmaker Flavia Guerra, journalist and professor Pâmela Eurídice, doc filmmaker and critic Rafael Valles, journalist and director Simone Zuccolotto and researcher and critic Victor Souza.

    During the fest, actor Marcos Caruso received the Troféu Cidade de Gramado; producer Renata Almeida Magalhães was honored with the Troféu Eduardo Abelin; Selton Mello and Maria Fernanda Cândido accepted the Troféu Kikito de Cristal; and Andrea Beltrão took the Troféu Oscarito.

    Gramado Fest winners:

    Best Film: “Our Secret,” by Grace Passô

    Best Documentary Feature: “Gonzaguinha, da Maior Liberdade,” by Susanna Lira

    Documentary Honorable Mention: “Empeleitada”

    Audience Award for Best Film: “Gugu’s World,” by Allan Deberton

    Critics’ Jury Award for Best Film: “Milk Powder” (“Leite em Pó”) by Carlos Segundo

    Best Director: Allan Deberton for “Gugu’s World”

    Best Actress: Teca Pereira for “Gugu’s World”

    Best Actor: José Loreto for “Chorão: Só os Loucos Sabem” and Christian Malheiros for “Justino: Nos Bastidores do Reino”

    Honorable Mention: Yuri Gomes for “Gugu’s World”

    Honorable Mention: Onna Silva for “Justino: Nos Bastidores do Reino”

    Best Screenplay: Carlos Segundo and Rafael Copel for “Milk Powder”

    Best Cinematography: Wilssa Esser for “Our Secret”

    Best Supporting Actor: Lázaro Ramos for “Gugu’s World”

    Best Supporting Actress: Naruna Costa for “Pele de Rinoceronte”

    Best Sound Design: Waldir Xavier for “Milk Powder”

    Best Original Score: Otávio de Moraes for “Chorão: Só os Loucos Sabem”

    Best Art Direction: Lucas Osório for “Our Secret”

    Best Editing: André Finotti and José Eduardo Belmonte for “Justino: Nos Bastidores do Reino”

  • Nick Glennie-Smith, Composer on ‘The Rock,’ ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ and ‘Secretariat,’ Dies at 74

    Nick Glennie-Smith, Composer on ‘The Rock,’ ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ and ‘Secretariat,’ Dies at 74

    Nick Glennie-Smith, the British composer, conductor and keyboardist known for his collaborations with Hans Zimmer and for his work on films including The Rock, The Man in the Iron Mask and Secretariat, has died. He was 74.

    Glennie-Smith died peacefully Aug. 16 surrounded by family at his home in Charlottesville, Virginia, his wife of 52 years, Jan Glennie-Smith, told The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death was revealed.

    As an orchestral conductor, Glennie-Smith teamed with two-time Oscar-winning composer Zimmer on such notable films as The Lion King (1994), Crimson Tide (1995), The Simpsons Movie (2007), Transformers (2007), X-Men: First Class (2011) and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) as a member of his Remote Control Productions team.

    For Michael Bay’s action-packed The Rock (1996), he shared principal composing duties with Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams.

    He also composed the soaring score for Randall Wallace’s The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) before reuniting with the writer-director on We Were Soldiers (2002), Secretariat (2010) and Heaven Is for Real (2014).

    Nicholas Hugh Glennie-Smith was born in London on Oct. 3, 1951. He began his professional career as a keyboard player and would perform or/and or record with the likes of Paul McCartney, Roger Daltrey, Leo Sayer, Cliff Richard, Roger Waters, Phil Collins, Tina Turner and Elvis Costello.

    He came to Hollywood in the late 1980s and played keyboards and/or provided music for films including K2 (1991) and Cool Runnings (1993).

    Glennie-Smith also worked in various capacities on Bay’s Bad Boys (1995), Beyond Rangoon (1995), Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1997), Con Air (1997), The Peacemaker (1997), King Arthur (2004), The Da Vinci Code (2006), A Little Bit of Heaven (2011), Wreck-It-Ralph (2012), Man of Steel (2013), Pacific Rim (2013), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), The Little Prince (2015), Deadpool (2016), Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) and Mufasa: The Lion King (2024).

    His older son, Seth Glennie-Smith, is a composer and music editor with credits including Project Hail Mary, It Ends With Us and the rebooted Magnum P.I.

    Survivors include his other son, Joss; daughters Haley and Katharine; daughter-in-law Caroline; son-in-law Nick; grandchildren Dylan, Milo and Charlotte; and siblings Steven and Ali.

    Glennie-Smith also served as musical director for Zimmer’s live concerts and conducted the 60-piece orchestra at the 2012 Academy Awards that featured compositions from Zimmer and Pharrell Williams.

    “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Nick Glennie-Smith,” the Facebook site Hans Zimmer Live posted. “Nick was far more than an extraordinary musician and composer. Through his many years alongside Hans Zimmer, he was a trusted creative partner, band member and, above all, a longtime friend.

    “When people share so many years of music, creativity, stages, journeys and memories, that bond reaches far beyond the work. The music remains, but so does the friendship behind every note. Our deepest condolences to Nick’s family, friends and everyone whose life was touched by his music and his presence. May his music, his spirit and all the memories created together live on. He will always be the leader of our band. Rest in peace, Nick.”

  • ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Hits No. 6 All-Time Globally as It Swings to Fourth Box Office Victory

    ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Hits No. 6 All-Time Globally as It Swings to Fourth Box Office Victory

    Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues to deliver in its fourth weekend at the box office after facing off against newcomers Insidious: Out of the Further and the Jason Statham-led Mutiny.

    Sony Pictures‘ releases claim the top two spots at the domestic box office, as Spider-Man: Brand New Day grosses $39 million for the weekend amid its historic run. This brings its domestic cume to $854.9 million through Sunday, surpassing 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home to become the No. 3 highest-grossing film ever at the domestic box office. This also puts Brand New Day as Sony’s highest-grossing domestic film after it set the record last weekend for the top global release in the studio’s history.

    Additionally, Brand New Day becomes the No. 6 release of all time at the worldwide box office with $2.22 billion. This surpasses 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, which moves to seventh on the chart with $2.07 billion. The latest Spidey film is now just behind Titanic at No. 5 with $2.26 billion and Ne Zha 2 at No. 4 with $2.27 billion.

    Insidious: Out of the Further occupies second place with an opening weekend of $25.3 million for the sixth installment in the horror franchise. The series hails from Screen Gems, Stage 6 Films and Blumhouse Atomic Monster and kicked off with 2011’s original Insidious. Without major studio horror releases for the next four weeks, Out of the Further aims to extend its run with limited competition. It earned a C+ CinemaScore, tying 2023’s Insidious: The Red Door for the series’ lowest grade.

    Debuting in 3,330 North American theaters, Out of the Further stars Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea and Lin Shaye and centers on a young mother who can bring spirits back with her to the real world. It follows The Red Door, which saw the return of original series stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne. That one opened to an impressive $33 million domestically before grossing $189 million worldwide throughout its run.

    Amelia Eve in Insidious: Out of the Further.

    Sony Pictures

    “This summer has been so big,” Regal Global Entertainment head of marketing Vikki Neil tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Spider-Man, obviously, is huge, and we’re seeing horror films, as a general rule, do extremely well for us. We definitely see a lot of those perform really well with young people.”

    With an $18 million production budget, Out of the Further holds a 57 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 70 percent audience score. Critic Frank Scheck wrote in his review for THR that the film “proves routine in its elaborate plot machinations.”

    Also opening this weekend is Mutiny, as Statham’s latest action title picks up $7.5 million for the frame to land in sixth place from 2,600 North American screens. Lionsgate’s film earned a B+ CinemaScore from audiences. MadRiver Pictures and Punch Palace Productions produced the project that carries a $40 million production budget.

    Director Jean-François Richet’s feature stars Statham as a former Marine who sets out to prove his innocence after getting framed for murder. It holds a 50 percent approval score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes but an 87 percent score from audiences. Mutiny follows Statham’s Shelter, which opened with $5.5 million domestically earlier this year for Black Bear. 

    Jason Statham as Cole Reed in Mutiny.

    Dan Smith/Lionsgate

    Universal’s The Odyssey is finding a home in third place with an estimated $19.5 million for its sixth weekend to bring its domestic total to $539 million. Over the weekend, Christopher Nolan’s mythological epic will become the acclaimed director’s highest-grossing film domestically of his career, surpassing 2008’s The Dark Knight. Starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, the movie moved past Deadpool & Wolverine during the week to stand as the highest-grossing R-rated title globally.

    In its sophomore frame, PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie is targeting $9.1 million for fourth place. The third film in Paramount Pictures’ animated franchise brings its domestic tally to an estimated $35.4 million. It crosses the $100 million threshold globally, with its worldwide total reaching $103.4 million.

    Close behind its fellow dinosaur movie and also in its second weekend, director David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street looks to scarf down around $9 million to bring the Warner Bros. release’s two-week domestic total to $38 million. Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor star in the survival feature that places fifth.

    Expanding to a wide release in its third weekend is A24’s Tony, starring Dominic Sessa as a teenage Anthony Bourdain. The feature serves up an estimated $5 million from 1,600 North American screens to claim seventh place and bring its domestic cume to around $6.6 million.

    The 25th-anniversary rerelease of Universal’s The Fast and the Furious pulls into eighth place with an estimated $3.1 million. The Vin Diesel vehicle grossed $207 million globally in its initial run to kick off the franchise that has a long-awaited eleventh installment in the works.

    Black Bear’s comedy Spa Weekend is currently in ninth place with an estimated $3.05 million domestically from 2,000 locations. Earning a B+ CinemaScore, directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore’s movie stars Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau and Anna Faris.

    Starring Andrew Garfield, The Magic Faraway Tree is heading for an estimated $1.15 million from 1,600 North American screens to land on the outskirts of the top 10. Vertical releases director Ben Gregor’s literary adaptation that also stars Claire Foy.

    This weekend’s milestones include Focus Features’ Obsession crossing the $500 million mark globally. The worldwide total for filmmaker Curry Barker’s low-budget horror sensation now stands at $501.6 million.

    Director Destin Daniel Cretton‘s blockbuster Spider-Man: Brand New Day keeps spinning to historic heights. Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink and Jon Bernthal star in the film that recently set the record as the fastest movie to hit $800 million domestically. After the weekend is over, only 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame will hold bigger domestic cumes.

    The 2026 domestic box office has now crossed the $7 billion mark, according to Rentrak, as this summer’s titles combine for an estimated $4.444 billion domestically. This puts the season 20.4 percent above last year’s tally to that point, with the all-time summer mark remaining 2013’s $4.75 billion.

    More to come.

    This story was first published on Aug. 22 at 8:55 a.m.