Tag: Entertainment-HollywoodReporter

  • ‘Perfect Crown’ Scores Disney+’s Biggest K-Drama Debut to Date

    Perfect Crown is Disney‘s new streaming king in the Korean drama category. The smash-hit rom-com, which launched on Disney+ on April 10, has achieved the platform’s biggest-ever viewership for a Korean series within five days of launch.

    Disney+ announced the record on Thursday but declined to release specific viewership figures, saying only that Perfect Crown has become the No. 1 most-viewed Korean series premiere on the platform globally.

    The series — which also airs domestically on MBC in Korea’s coveted Friday-Saturday prime-time slot — is set in an alternate-reality version of modern South Korea where the country remains a constitutional monarchy. Pop-star-turned-actress IU stars as Seong Hui-ju, the sharp-elbowed heir to a major Korean conglomerate whose commoner status grates against her ambition. Byeon Woo-seok plays Grand Prince I-AN, the king’s second son, whose royal title comes with little else. When mounting pressures push the two into a marriage of convenience, the arrangement proves harder to keep strictly transactional than either of them planned.

    Byeon Woo-seok and IU star in ‘Perfect Crown.’

    Disney+

    The pairing has generated outsize anticipation. IU, one of the biggest stars in Korean entertainment, arrives fresh off her acclaimed turn in Netflix’s When Life Gives You Tangerines, the sweeping Jeju Island romance that won best drama at last year’s Baeksang Arts Awards. Byeon, meanwhile, became one of the country’s most bankable leading men virtually overnight after the 2024 tvN romance Lovely Runner turned him into a phenomenon. The two previously shared the screen about a decade ago in SBS’s Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016), when Byeon was still a little-known supporting player.

    Perfect Crown is directed by Park Joon-hwa, known for a string of hits in the rom-com and fantasy genres, including What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim and the tvN mega-hit Alchemy of Souls. Yoo Ji-won wrote the series.

    Perfect Crown streams on Disney+ internationally and on Hulu in the U.S. The show entered Disney+’s Global Top 10 within days and has trended in more than 40 countries.

    Perfect Crown arrives at a moment when Disney+ is working rapidly to establish the kind of steady Korean content pipeline that Netflix has built over the past decade. The platform scored a major hit with the 2023 action-thriller Moving and has steadily expanded its K-drama slate with titles like A Shop for Killers, Gangnam B-Side and Light Shop. The company has several high-profile Korean projects in the pipeline, including a second season of A Shop for Killers; The Remarried Empress, starring Shin Min-a, Ju Ji-hoon and Lee Jong-suk; and The Koreans, a high-profile remake of FX’s The Americans starring Lee Byung-hun and Han Ji-min.

    New episodes of Perfect Crown are released every Friday and Saturday at 11:20 p.m., Korean standard time. The series runs through May 16.

  • How ‘Hacks’ Finally Killed Its Central Feud

    The funniest sequence in the latest episode of Hacks begins with a classic rug pull. Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), arriving fashionably — and characteristically — late to a meet-and-greet for her most obsessive fans, breezes into the room only to face a sea of dead-eyed weirdos who appear to have her in their crosshairs.

    The legendary comic, currently clawing her way back to the top, is in dire need of support as she attempts to land a career-defining solo gig at Madison Square Garden. But her fans, affectionately known as “The Little Debbies,” are livid over her recent absence. They’ve spent years watching from the sidelines while Deborah sparred with her Millennial writer, Ava (Hannah Einbinder). This season, Ava finally slides into the position the series has seemingly been grooming her for since the pilot — and in typical overachiever fashion, she’s arrived there ahead of schedule.

    The Little Debbies’ list of grievances for the Deborah they feel has “gone Hollywood” is as specific as it is absurd. The “Deborah’s Do’s and Don’ts” list hasn’t been updated in almost two years, leaving one man paralyzed with indecision (“Sometimes I just sit in the dark”). Deborah has apparently discontinued her branded car insurance plan, leaving another fan uninsured. Most dangerously, she’s pulled the Deborah Vance Red Light Mask from shelves — much to the chagrin of a woman who didn’t mind the skin damage (“I like the burns. It eventually turns tan”). Finally, there is the rumor gaining traction among the base: Deborah is, according to some, a lizard-person.

    In this exploration of fandom and fidelity, Hacks finally leans into the reality hinted at in the season premiere: the Deborah-Ava feud is officially over. While the series was defined by dark backstabbing and sharp insults regarding bodies, hairstyles, and generational divides, there is only so much mileage left in that odd-couple friction. The show has slowly but surely transformed these two into best friends. The giggles and hugs that close the episode feel like a genuine release of joy from both the writers and the actors, relishing a fresh dynamic. At last, they’re besties.

    Einbinder touched on this shift while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the season five premiere.

    “There were some ‘Ava mafioso’ moves,” Einbinder said, referencing her character’s dark ultimatum in the season three finale, after discovering her boss slept with a studio executive. “When she was doing her blackmail… I was like, Jesus Christ. But from that point on, in seasons four and five, it’s really been about being steady and solid and working toward this goal again with Deborah.”

    Of course, with Hacks, “solid” is a relative term. The show has a penchant for curveballs born out of impossible situations, and things may currently feel a little too cozy between the former adversaries. For now, we’re treated to Deborah throwing Ava a surprisingly thoughtful 30th birthday party — mostly to prove, as Ava immediately clocks, that she actually has friends. It all builds to a triumphant ending: Deborah lands the MSG gig, though it’s scheduled for the loaded date of September 11th.

    It’s too early to predict exactly how Hacks will stick the landing, but the stakes are clear and the trajectory is set. The only remaining question is how many twists are left on the road to the Garden — and, of course, whether or not Deborah Vance actually has scales.

  • ‘American Pie’ Star Shannon Elizabeth Says She Joined OnlyFans After Hollywood “Controlled the Narrative” of Her Career

    ‘American Pie’ Star Shannon Elizabeth Says She Joined OnlyFans After Hollywood “Controlled the Narrative” of Her Career

    Shannon Elizabeth is taking back control of her story.

    The actress, who became a prominent sex symbol of the 1990s and 2000s with her roles in American Pie and Scary Movie, among others, recently told People that she’s launching an OnlyFans account to reclaim control of her narrative after working in Hollywood.

    “I’ve spent my entire career working in Hollywood, where other people controlled the narrative and the outcome of my career. This new chapter is about changing that, showing off a more sexy side no one has seen, and being closer to my fans,” Elizabeth said of her reasoning for joining the platform primarily known for adult content.

    She added, “I’m choosing OnlyFans because it allows me to connect directly with my audience, create on my own terms, and just be free. I really do think this is the future.”

    Though Elizabeth didn’t feel in control of her career when she was younger, she previously told Entertainment Tonight that she’s still grateful for all the doors that American Pie opened for her.

    However, starring in a raunchy franchise like that also came with misconceptions about who she was in real life. Elizabeth played Nadia, an attractive Eastern European exchange student whom Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) has a crush on, in the 1999 film.

    “For me, it was a role, it was playing a character,” she explained to ET. “But even in my real life, I’m just not the girl who likes to be naked, ever. … That was never me, but because that was kind of my coming out, everyone assumed I was that girl.”

    Elizabeth also reprised her role in 2001’s American Pie 2 and 2012’s American Reunion.

  • ‘The Price of the Sun’ Director on What He Did to Give Viewers the Impression of “Being in the Desert With Nomads” Affected by Our Energy Consumption

    ‘The Price of the Sun’ Director on What He Did to Give Viewers the Impression of “Being in the Desert With Nomads” Affected by Our Energy Consumption

    It’s complicated! The world’s largest solar power plant is being built in Morocco, with the aim of turning arid land into a “green energy source.” So far, so good, you say? But wait, there’s a catch! After all, barriers go up, and access to water becomes difficult. And members of the local Berber tribe, the indigenous Nomad population, are given no choice but to work for the power plant.

    In The Price of the Sun (Du soleil et du plomb), Belgian director Jérôme le Maire (Burning Out, Tea or Electricity) zooms in on the ambiguities and hidden costs of progress and “the resilience and adaptability of a community forced to reinvent itself in the shadow of the renewable energy revolution.” The film world premieres on Saturday, April 18 in the international feature film competition program of the 57th edition of the Visions du Réel documentary festival in Nyon, Switzerland.

    With cinematography from Olivier Boonjing and le Maire and editing by Matyas Veress, The Price of the Sun shows us how the nomads’ traditions exist in quiet conflict with the drive to supply renewable solar and wind energy to the world. “Ironically, the fight for resource control to connect the world may ultimately destroy a society that, by definition, shares resources and is obliged to be connected,” highlight the press notes for the doc. “Can there be enough sun and wind for everyone, or is the price too high?”

    Or as le Maire mentions in a director’s statement: “I strove to achieve precise and intimate observation of these nomads and the values they cultivate, up until the moment they are confronted with the arrival of an unavoidable event that will lead them toward an unexpected future.”

    ‘The Price of the Sun,’ courtesy of Jérôme le Maire

    Ahead of the world premiere of the film, le Maire shared with THR how The Price of the Sun came about, his focus on the potential cultural ambiguities of renewable energy, and what’s next for him.

    How long did you work on this film, and how did you get access to the Berber tribe and the power plant workers? There must have been so much trust!

    In short : The shoot consisted of 12 two-week stays spread across six years (January 2019 to September 2025), totaling approximately 168 shooting days. But location research began in 2017 with a year-long investigation around the Noor Ouarzazate power plant, followed by four two-week stays in 2018 – getting to know the Ait Merghrad community and exploring the region around the future Midelt plant site.  So the film was in production for approximately eight years, from initial scouting in 2017 through the final shoot in September 2025. 

    The secret to making this kind of film is to take your time. To take the time to introduce yourself. Who am I, and what am I doing in this region? What can I do for you? Before I say what I want to film, I listen to what these people have to say, where their words come from. And in doing so, I discover myself, too, gradually.

    The first time I went to this desert to scout locations, I was with my wife. She just adores these regions of southern Morocco. Another time, I was with my daughter. To gain someone’s trust, you have to offer an exchange. I’ll show you who I am, and you show me who you are.
     
    And then we talked about the power station. The tribe had its opinion. I had mine. We discussed at length what was unfolding before us. We were trying to make sense of it all. We were trying to understand one another. On one side, you have those who need energy, and on the other, those who will produce it, or enable its production.

    The nomads quickly realized that what interested me was less the power station itself than the ecosystem in which it was to be built. As a result, they became part of the story. It is rare for them that an “outsider,” someone who is not one of them, takes an interest in their lives. They were touched by my proposal to make a film about them, amidst the turmoil that was looming.

    I also built a relationship of trust with the plant’s management. Here, it is first and foremost an institution. I know how this sort of organization operates, and in such cases, you must first prove your credentials. You have to show who you know, what your credentials are. So, I show the films I’ve made and the success they’ve had. Then, I use the connections I have in high places. But in the end, it’s always the same: you find yourself face to face with a human being, and at that point, you have to be yourself and clearly show who you are. Face to face, I don’t put on an act. I connect with the person and speak to them very sincerely. In high society, people aren’t really used to that sort of frankness, so it works very well.

    For this film, I had the opportunity to meet Morocco’s Minister for Energy Transition, and we hit it off immediately. I introduced myself very simply, being completely myself. I didn’t really follow protocol; I focused on frankness and spontaneity. During the meeting, she and I came up with a plan where she would come to the site to meet the nomads I’d been telling her about in person. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. It’s a shame, as they were looking forward to welcoming her. But the most important thing for me was to speak directly to the minister about these ordinary people. She knows they exist and that she’s welcome in their homes!

    ‘The Price of the Sun,’ courtesy of Jérôme le Maire

    How would you describe your approach to doc-making in general? Do you always look for an observational/vérité approach and why?

    All my films are made in the cinéma vérité style, which we also call “direct cinema” here. Personally, I really enjoy immersing myself in worlds that are very different from those I know. I act as if I were a resident of a remote mountain village, as in Tea or Electricity, or as a member of an operating theater team, as in Burning Out. I become part of the community, whether or not I appear as a character in the film. I chart the path myself, and I invite the audience to follow it. And I film in such a way that it creates this impression. The impression of being there yourself in the desert with the nomads.

    The audience loves this kind of documentary because a story is told to them and, just like in fiction films, they are allowed to navigate the narrative. They are free to form a bond with a particular character and to think whatever they like about what is happening. There is no voice-over to explain, inform or dictate a particular way of thinking. In cinéma vérité/cinéma du réel, viewers are fully immersed in a world; they experience emotions, and they interact internally with the characters and with what happens to them.

    This kind of cinematic experience can leave a deep impression on us. What matters to me, as a director, is to connect the audience intimately with people who are experiencing very different things thousands of miles away. To ensure that those who watch my film can, for a moment, put themselves in the other person’s shoes – and thus, perhaps, shift their perspective away from the dominant narrative.

    You show us all sorts of ambiguities, such as the benefits of building renewable energy plants, but also the downside of cultural imposition on a native tribe. How did you approach how to balance the good and the bad, and how did you think about taking sides or not?

    This has been a long journey for me, documenting how these energy projects have displaced nomadic people from their traditional lands, disrupted their way of life, and highlighted the broader implications of modern renewable energy development. The nomadic way of life emphasizes the importance of simplicity and respect for the environment. I want this film to question the philosophical dimension of this new “green energy,” described as “clean” and undeniably “sustainable.”

    I want to shine a spotlight on the vision and question the transaction [involved in it]. I hope audiences become more aware of the invisible people and businesses affected by their energy consumption, and that will urge them to reconsider their reliance on both electricity and technology.

    But what this film, in essence, shows is that clean energy does not exist. It is sold to us as such so that we consume ever more, without a twinge of conscience. Yet today, it has become absolutely vital to take energy-saving measures – both at an individual level and at a public level. We absolutely must consume less. It is the only lever that guarantees 100 percent positive effects for the planet and the common good.

    When you use artificial intelligence, when you charge your electric car or when you flick the light switch in your living room, there is someone at the other end of the power cable who will be affected by that consumption. It is not about guilt, but about awareness and responsibility!

    ‘The Price of the Sun,’ courtesy of Jérôme le Maire

    What was the hardest part of making this doc?

    Filming in the lead mines was difficult! These places are extremely dangerous, so filming there is a very delicate matter. We had to ensure there were no accidents. Yet accidents are common in these mines because the work is unsupervised. It involves just a few dozen poor people who have taken it upon themselves to work as miners. They have no equipment whatsoever. And whilst they know the place well, they have only a very limited understanding of the work involved. In fact, they can rely only on their courage and the solidarity between them. So that’s where I started.

    It’s this “set-up” that I had to fit into. The sound engineer didn’t feel comfortable going down with me. My daughter, who was the assistant director, didn’t want to go down either. So I went down alone, with the lads. These were intense moments because at that point, I was completely united with them. We helped each other; we each had a goal, but the path we were taking was the same.

    I’m very pleased with these scenes. You really feel that descent into the bowels of the earth. The imagery is flawless; the camera work was superb. What’s more, the story this part tells is truly incredible. As I filmed Aziz hammering away like a madman to extract lead from the rock, I thought of him – just a few months earlier, he was still a shepherd. I was really moved. I sincerely hope this film can help improve his situation!

    What are you working on next?

    I’m currently working on a very different project: I’d like to cross the High Atlas mountains in Morocco all alone, on foot, with a mule! So I’m preparing for this expedition, which is likely to take me several months. I need to recharge my batteries. To reflect on the meaning of life. To disconnect from this fast-paced, talkative world… and from this culture of overconsumption!

    I’m going to walk a thousand kilometers along this magnificent mountain range, dotted with little villages that seem to exist in another world, in another time. Perhaps I’ll take a camera with me and end up making a film…

  • ‘Beef’ Review: Prime Performances by Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan Make for a Juicy Season 2 of Netflix’s Smash

    ‘Beef’ Review: Prime Performances by Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan Make for a Juicy Season 2 of Netflix’s Smash

    The philosopher Biggie Smalls once pondered the nature of dangerously escalating rivalries.

    In a song of the same name, Biggie asked, “What’s beef?”

    Beef

    The Bottom Line

    A bold, well-acted, slightly over-extended follow-up.

    Airdate: Thursday, April 16 (Netflix)
    Cast: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, Cailee Spaeny, Youn Yuh-jung
    Creator: Lee Sung Jin

    His answers included the straightforward “Beef is when you need two gats to go to sleep,” and the playful “Beef is when I see you, guaranteed to be in I-C-U.”

    Christopher Wallace passed away, likely a victim of a beef, long before the rise of the limited series, so Lee Sung Jin had the exploratory lane all to himself when he released the eight-episode bleak comedy Beef back in 2023. The series, about the unforeseen consequences erupting from a relatively minor instance of road rage, dominated the Emmys and eventually was picked up for a second season, transitioning from limited series to anthology and reframing Biggie’s question as: “What’s Beef?” Or, put a different way, what is the Beef brand? And could a second season, sans the extraordinary talents of Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, deliver a story and themes in keeping with that brand, without sullying what was so deviously tricky about the original series and its tone?

    The answer, for the most part, is “Yes.” The second season of Beef can’t reproduce the sneak-up-on-you brilliance of the first, but without many direct connections this eight-episode story feels very much of a piece.

    Once again, Jin has big ideas to play with and trenchant aspects of contemporary American culture to pick apart and, once again, he has assembled an exceptional cast in service of a story that begins tightly contained and spins wildly and intentionally out of control.

    It’s possible that Jin actually has too much on his mind this time around, layering the central conflict with generational, economic and cultural divides, alternatingly poking fun and staring in jaw-agape horror at the modern condition in ways that don’t always come together. But if the thing that keeps season two of Beef from equalling its predecessor is an excess of ambition, I have no beef with that.

    This time around, our featured characters — Beef doesn’t have traditional antagonists and protagonists, since its core concern is that niceties like situational ethics and morality are a fungible construct — are a pair of couples, separated in age by little over a decade but in status by a seemingly greater distance.

    Josh (Oscar Isaac) is the general manager at the Monte Vista Point Country Club near tony Montecito, north of Los Angeles. His job is to be accommodating to the club’s wealthy clientele, embodied by William Fichtner’s Troy, a wildly rich music industry mogul (or something to that effect). Josh is married to Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), an upper-crust Brit who has all the external status markers that Josh lacks, but perhaps not his obsequious gifts or ambition. They’ve been talking for years about starting an upscale bed-and-breakfast, without evident progress, one of several factors adding volatility to their marriage.

    At the other end of the volatility spectrum are newly engaged 20-somethings Austin (Charles Melton) and Ashley (Cailee Spaeny), two of Josh’s underlings at the club. Ashley is a beverage cart girl on the club’s golf course, while Austin works part-time as a trainer. Austin and Ashley don’t have much money, but they’re so deeply in love that they never fight.

    On the night of a fundraiser at the club, Josh forgets his wallet and Austin and Ashley are tasked with returning it, walking in at the end of a heated argument between Josh and Lindsay — a fight that reaches a violent climax that Ashley films on her phone. Ashley and Austin experience this blow-up out of context, and the video captures it with even less context. But the younger couple sees an opportunity for professional advancement, to score a win in a game they’re convinced is rigged against them.

    But in this clash of haves and have-nots, are Josh and Lindsay really among the privileged? Their position is made precarious by the arrival of Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), Korean billionaire and the club’s new owner. Park puts new pressure on Josh in part because of the pressure she herself is feeling back in Seoul under circumstances related to her plastic surgeon husband (Song Kang-ho, wonderful if very underused).

    Soon, a cycle of blackmail, extortion and fraud ensues, borne of desperate grasping for power and a potentially fatal lack of empathy on all fronts. Meanwhile, the lines between exploiter and exploited, powerful and powerless, hero and villain blur in ways that are sometimes satirical, sometimes sad and occasionally thrilling.

    There’s a lot happening in the second season of Beef. Although the episode count has gone from 10 to eight, the length of episodes have expanded from under 40 minutes to as many as 54 minutes for the season two finale, which has a relatively epic scale but gets bogged down in at least three different monologues from characters telling viewers what the season was about.

    Though Beef isn’t exclusively a dark comedy, its comic beats thrive with a tighter pace and stricter focus. This best two episodes (directed by Jin and Kitao Sakurai) come midseason — a hilarious nightmare in a hospital emergency room and a differently hilarious nightmare of a search for a missing dachshund named Burberry — and they’re the two shortest episodes of the season, dedicated primarily to tracking just one of the couples on a single misadventure. One takes a scathing look at the absurdities of the American healthcare industry, while the other reinforces the season’s nature-out-of-balance themes. They’re both fast-moving and dazzlingly absurd.

    Those two standout episodes are also largely separated from the country club settling, which too often opens the door for slightly superficial jabs at the club’s vapid members. They’re a perfectly worthy target, but one that invites inevitable comparisons to The White Lotus (and allows for some very odd and very unexpected celebrity cameos that I won’t spoil here).

    It’s possible that Beef is actually parodying The White Lotus at times, especially with the younger couple, a high-school dropout and a former Arizona State football star — Gen Z strivers who know the buzzwords of capitalist critique (“It’s unfair. Globally. There’s gotta be a redistribution of the wealth,” Austin declares, apropos of nothing) without any substance to back it up. They simply see an opportunity to grab for the brass ring, ready to do whatever it takes to get what they believe they deserve, until they discover what “whatever it takes” means. Or maybe until they discover what Reddit tells them it means, because Beef is particularly harsh toward the online proxies for nourishing social relationships — uncaring cam girls, hollow DM flirtations and help forums that only make things worse.

    As was the case in the first season, Beef is a machine driven by unintended consequences, some violent, some scatological and all designed to crush the souls of characters who might not have souls to begin with.

    Even more than the first season, this round of Beef makes it difficult to root for anybody. I felt a real pendulum the first time around between Danny (Yeun) and Amy (Wong), each doing the wrong things for ostensibly justifiable reasons. Here, it’s a struggle between two flawed couples, easier to pity, if only because they don’t realize that there’s nothing the aristocracy wants more than for them to fight to the death rather than pay attention to who actually has the power.

    Performance-wise, I sided with the younger couple. I thought Riverdale veteran Melton’s May December performance was more tantalizing promise than talent confirmed, but there’s evidence of comic genius in how soulfully silly he makes Austin. Spaeny’s Ashley is half Lady Macbeth, half innocent child, fully oblivious to how her ambitions are changing her and changing a relationship that seems nourishing as long as it’s based on a shared appreciation of Hot Pockets. Going back to Priscilla, I admire how Spaeny uses the height disparity with her leading men as a source of both humor and sweetness.

    The show perhaps has sympathy for Ashley and Austin because they don’t know any better. Lindsay and Josh have been together long enough to realize their shared toxicity, but they’re giddy when their new rivals given them fresh targets for their simmering resentments. Mulligan delivers lacerating fragility, while Isaac turns Josh’s accommodating nature into a pathology, but both characters are littered with backstory details that Beef leaves hanging. It’s a plot point that these are both mixed-race couples that are rarely forced to confront their differences, but the show does better with Austin’s confrontation of his Korean roots than with Josh’s Cuban background.

    Youn, whose presence reminds me that I’m still mad about Apple’s treatment of Pachinko, projects kindness with a glint of scheming malevolence, and I really wish the series had given us more of Youn and Song together. Several other characters on the Korean side of the story, which grows in importance as the finale approaches, could have used a little more depth — including Seoyeon Jang’s overqualified translator Eunice and rapper BM’s Woosh, a tennis instructor with aspirations of his own.

    As was the case in the first season as well, the finale escalates to a place of thrilling zaniness, with a little less ultimate emotional gravitas this time around. The concluding punch isn’t as potent, but the show left me with so much to think about and so many details to be amused by that I hope Lee Sung Jin has the opportunity to show us what else Beef can be.

  • Robert Eggers’ ‘Werwulf’ Brings Scares to CinemaCon

    Robert Eggers’ ‘Werwulf’ Brings Scares to CinemaCon

    Horror king Robert Eggers is back with another creature feature, which got a special sneak peek at CinemaCon on Wednesday.

    Following the success of vampire flick Nosferatu, Eggers has moved onto werewolves with Werwulf, which he co-wrote and directed. During Universal’s presentation to theater owners and distributors in Las Vegas, the first footage was shown with the declaration that it would be “his most terrifying motion picture yet.”

    The film is largely black and white, with hints of color; the clips showed Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily Rose Depp as a villager couple, trudging along in dirty clothes and dragging a few kids behind. “Do not dread the darkness,” says a husky voiceover, with a supercut of violent images and horses running the forest. The footage ended on a close-up of Taylor-Johnson’s face screaming in horror — and no reveal of the titular monster, much like how Nosferatu‘s monster was hidden in promotional materials.

    Taylor-Johnson, Depp and Willem Dafoe star in the movie, which like Nosferatu is set for a Christmas Day (2026) release in an act of counter-programming. It’s set in 13th-century England, where a mysterious creature stalks the foggy countryside, transforming local folklore into terrifying reality for its villagers.

    Eggers has a particularly affinity for medieval projects, having said around the release of Nosferatu that “the idea of having to photograph a car makes me ill. And the idea of photographing a cellphone is just death. And to make a contemporary story you have to photograph a cellphone — it’s just how life is” so he did not plan to make any modern-set movies.

    Both Eggers and co-writer Sjón are producing alongside Focus Features. Chris and Eleanor Columbus, who worked with Eggers on Nosferatu, serve as executive produce. Nosferatu brought in more than $180 million worldwide, becoming Eggers’ highest-grossing movie to date, and was nominated in four craft categories at the Oscars.

  • Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ Reveals First Look at Alien in New Footage

    Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ Reveals First Look at Alien in New Footage

    Steven Spielberg took the stage at CinemaCon for the first time in his career to promote his upcoming Universal release, Disclosure Day.

    After an introduction from star Colman Domingo, the filmmaker received rapturous applause from the annual convention of movie theater owners in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Spielberg accepted the Motion Picture Association’s America250 Award from the group’s chair, Charles Rivkin, in celebration of the director’s work that embraces the nation’s wonders.

    “I haven’t done a Western yet — that’s next,” the 79-year-old director said. He noted that his first CinemaCon stage appearance had been great: “This will not be my last, I promise.”

    He recalled his transformative first visit to the cinema: “Nothing could compete with sitting in the first three rows of a movie palace, watching a Cecil B. DeMille epic with color by Technicolor. Nothing would ever be the same.”

    Spielberg admitted, “Sometimes, it feels to me like a cage fight between the small screen and the big screen.” He noted that the theatergoing experience was “clobbered” by COVID but added, “There was reason for hope.” He went on to praise projects like Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, which counted Spielberg as a producer.

    Then, the filmmaker sat down on stage with Domingo to discuss the exhibition business, with Spielberg recalling inviting his boyhood friends over to his parents’ home to screen popular titles. “I made money by charging 12 cents on popcorn,” he quipped.

    Turning to Disclosure Day, the director explained that he has long been fascinated by the potential for extraterrestrial life. “I’ve been curious ever since I was a little kid about what’s happening in the night sky, what’s happening in the sky during the daytime,” Spielberg said. He remembered his dad telling him about “advanced civilizations” that didn’t exist on Earth.

    Spielberg recalled a 2017 New York Times story about a Navy pilot spotting something via camera that could not be explained. “In 2017, I got very curious again,” he said, pointing out that his alien feature Close Encounters of the Third Kind was made 50 years ago. “Half a century later, I made Disclosure Day with certainty that there is a lot more truth than fiction to what you’re going to see on June 12.”

    He said of Disclosure Day, “I truly believe that this movie is going to answer questions and cause you to ask a lot of questions.” He also teased, “This movie is an experience, and all you need to get from the beginning to the end is a seatbelt.”

    Spielberg introduced new footage from the film, which stars Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor, chronicling what might happen if humanity were to receive proof of non-human intelligent life. Disclosure Day marks Spielberg’s first new movie since 2022’s The Fabelmans and also stars Domingo, Colin Firth, Wyatt Russell and Eve Hewson.

    The footage shows Blunt as a meteorologist who finds herself unable to speak during a live segment. In describing the viral footage of Blunt’s weather broadcast, O’Connor notes that he can understand the gibberish that she is saying: “It’s math.”

    Viewers see an emotional meeting between O’Connor and Blunt. “I know you,” he says, to which she replies, “I know you, too.” There was also plenty of action in store, as Blunt tries to jump from a car onto a moving train. The footage ends with the movie’s first glimpse at its alien life form.

    Disclosure Day represents Spielberg’s return to the UFO genre, and fans have speculated that it could be a closet sequel to 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Blunt recently told Empire magazine, “There are definitely questions posed by Close Encounters that are answered in Disclosure Day.”

    When appearing at the South by Southwest Film & TV festival last month, Spielberg said, “I don’t know any more than any of you do, but I have a very strong suspicion that we are not alone here on Earth right now — and I made a movie about that.”

    The footage comes one day after Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna’s deadline came and went for the Pentagon to declassify and release several specific video files that she’s requested which purportedly show previously unseen instances of UAP/UFOs activity.

    On Tuesday, Luna posted the following update on X: “No one from the Pentagon had responded until we reached out, and it appears that someone did not pass the letter to the appropriate authorities. How convenient. Nonetheless, we will be getting the requested list. We are not waiting for a briefing at some unspecified future date. The Secretary of War is someone I consider a friend and someone who backs the President. The President has authorized the release, so whoever is trying to be cute at the Pentagon can take a hike.”

    Universal can only hope any such videos — which would doubtless help generate buzz for the film — will be released in time for the opening weekend of Disclosure Day, which comes out June 12.

  • ‘From’ Renewed For Fifth and Final Season (Exclusive)

    For Fromthe beginning of the end is … well, beginning. 

    MGM+ has renewed From, the supernatural thriller series starring Oz and Lost alum Harold Perrineau, for a fifth and final season, The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively confirm. 

    Filmed on location in Halifax, Canada in what the production refers to as “From Town” (an actual town built from the ground up specifically for the show), From centers on a nightmare town with no discernible way in or out. Monsters roam the streets at night, spiders and cicadas and worse stalk the surrounding forest, and existential dread permeates all the townspeople trapped within. What is this place? Why is this place? And is there really no way to escape? With more mysteries than you can comfortably fit into a box, From fans (lovingly known as the “Fromily” within the fandom) finally stand ready to receive those answers, beginning with season four, premiering April 19.

    As the most-watched show on Amazon-owned MGM+, the decision to conclude From doesn’t come lightly. In fact, according to creator John Griffin, there was some temptation to extend the narrative to a sixth season. 

    “There was a fair amount of soul-searching,” he tells THR. “But we all came to the realization that if we made that sixth season, it would be for us, because it’s just too hard to say goodbye.” 

    The long goodbye is already underway, as the writers room is currently open for the final season, with production expected to begin this summer. As that work begins, THR checked in with the three creative forces who call the shots on all things From Town: creator and executive producer Griffin, executive producer Jeff Pinkner, and executive producer and director Jack Bender. Ahead, they weigh in on the decision to put From to rest, what fans can expect from the coming fourth season, and more.

    ***

    John, why is now the right time to wind down From?

    John Griffin: In full transparency, five seasons was always the goal, but we always wanted to let the story tell us when it was time to end. When we reached the end of season three and the death of Jim (Eion Bailey), it felt like we reached the end of the beginning. Similarly, season four very naturally feels like the beginning of the end. We’ve had the opportunity to tell this story from the beginning the way we really wanted to tell it, with the full support of Michael Wright and everybody over at MGM. It’s rare you get to tell this type of story and give it the life you feel it needs, to let the story decide when it’s time to end.

    Jeff, you have worked on some of TV’s most beloved mythology-driven shows: Alias, Lost, Fringe, just to name a few. With that experience in mind, what’s your perspective on bringing From to an end?

    Jeff Pinkner: A very smart friend of mine, very early in my career, told me: “TV is about making the audience fall in love with characters, and then watching them suffer.” I think she was right. It’s the foundation of this story, and a lot of the more mythologically-centered television shows I’ve been really fortunate to work on. There’s always a balance between what’s the plot, what are the questions and answers that the audience is asking and seeking, that the characters are asking, and then there’s the emotional journeys the characters are enduring. What I’ve learned is as much as the audience is watching for the answers to those questions, if a show is only built around that, there’s going to be dissatisfaction at the end. Either the answers are too elusive and frustrating for the audience, or they were too obvious. Ultimately, then, these shows succeed or fail largely on making you fall in love with the characters and where their journeys end up. We’ve designed From to force these characters to suffer, and they have, and whether they end up victorious — who’s going to live, who’s going to die, and in what manner are they going to live or die — I’m unbelievably gratified that the audience has stuck with us to the point that we can tell this tale through to its conclusion.

    Similar question for you, Jack. You had your boots on the ground in Hawaii leading Lost, and your boots are on the ground in Halifax where you film From. When you look at your time with this show, can you pinpoint what’s made it creatively satisfying for you?

    Jack Bender: I remember my first phone call with John and Jeff, back when they asked me to join this party. I asked them, “Okay, well, what’s the deal with this town?” And Mr. Griffin, who I had not yet met, started off with a description that made me go, “Oh my god, the amount of specificity in his head in terms of what and how and why…” There was one point after about 30 minutes of his nonstop, really smart monologue, where I said, “Okay, here’s my task. I know that we will go down that journey, that all will be revealed, and we have all of that architecture to build on. My job is to make sure we have characters we care about, who we are scared shitless for.” And we ended up doing that. I think that’s one of the reasons people care so much about these kinds of shows, going back to what Jeff said. 

    Before the show ends, we’re getting ten new episodes here in season four. What can you say about what’s ahead?

    Pinkner: I think season four is our strongest season in every way. From storytelling, performances, the direction, the presentation… we’re wildly proud of it. What I’ve observed in streaming television as a viewer, is when you watch a narratively driven show, you’re so invested and then so afraid that this story we love may get canceled or end prematurely. Now, allowing our audience to know that they are going to get the ending, it’s only going to increase people’s enjoyment of season four.

    Griffin: This season brings our characters closer to the truth than they ever have been before. In fact, it doesn’t bring them closer. It brings them the truth. We see this place push back than it ever has before to direct them down the wrong path.

    Let’s check in on some of the biggest plot points right now. Season three ends with the reveal that even if the characters manage to kill one of the monsters, the monsters will find a way to come back to life. Boyd (Harold Perrineau) is a firsthand witness to that. Where does that leave him?

    Griffin: Boyd has to come to terms with the realization that he’s no longer a peace-time leader. He’s a war-time leader now, because they really are at war with this place, and going home may require sacrifices he’s not altogether willing to make, because it’s not only himself he’s having to sacrifice — it’s also the people around him. That’s a struggle that comes with leadership, and it’s a struggle he has to face this season like he never has before.

    Season three also ended with a massive reveal: two of the townspeople, Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and Jade (David Alpay), have been here before in previous lives, all the way to the very beginning. How does that reveal inform the narrative this season?

    Griffin: Jade and Tabitha are realizing their central role in this place. They both feel a great deal of guilt and responsibility, and those feelings manifest in very different ways for both of them. We’ll see them try to find a way to come together with this knowledge they discovered, to put it to good use.

    In the season three finale, you killed off your biggest character yet, Jim, by way of introducing a new villain, the Man in Yellow (Douglas E. Hughes). What changes about From now that you have an official big bad on the board?

    Griffin: For three seasons, we’ve wandered through the dark with our characters, wondering when the boogeyman was going to show himself. To have that happen during such a critical shift, where Jade and Tabitha discovered this knowledge, costing the life of Jim … the fact that the Man in Yellow steps out of the shadows in that moment not only provides us with a wonderful antagonist, but also, mythologically, it gives us this question: why did he choose that moment to step forward? Why were those memories for Tabitha and Jade the catalyst for the Man in Yellow’s arrival? This season’s going to answer that.

    I’m fortunate enough to have spent some time on the From set, which is so immersive. Jeff, who do we need to talk to in order to keep the town open for visitors after the show ends?

    Pinkner: The Canadian Prime Minister.

    Bender: If we were a Disney show, you know there would be a From Land!

    Pinkner: You know, this question assumes From Town is going to survive season five…

    High stakes! Are you feeling those stakes yourselves, as you prepare for this final phase of From? Are there any questions you feel you absolutely have to answer before the timer runs out?

    Pinkner: We set so much into motion in season one. A lot of seasons four and five are continuing those things we set up, many of which are obvious to the audience, and some of which is not. There are a lot of inevitabilities coming into season five. Our challenge is making sure we tell those stories in the best way we know how. Creating stories is intuitive, it’s done as a team, where the best idea wins. It’s a matter of subjectivity. There’s luck involved. There are things you end up leaving on the table. It’s going to be imperfect, and we will surely have some regrets about what we missed at the end of the day. But our job is to do this as well as we can, forgiving ourselves of the requirement to be perfect. But I’ll say, based on the weeks we have already spent talking in the writers room, I feel very confident the audience will feel honored and respected by the way these stories end. It’s feeling both surprising and inevitable, and we’re being very mindful about the things the audience is curious about, and all the questions that need to be answered.

    Griffin: We love this show. We love the questions the fans have, because we’re asking those same questions ourselves. We’re as excited about answering them as you are about getting the answers. And so I don’t mean this as a cop out: I’m not worried about any one particular reveal or answer. At the end of the day, what I want to ensure is that you miss these characters once they’re gone. When I think about finales, I think about Six Feet Under and Friday Night Lights, these shows that live on for you as a viewer after they’re done. There’s a moment in our show where Tian-Chen (Elizabeth Moy) says, “We’ll never have these days again.” I’m thinking a lot about that. I want to ensure the emotional experience of season five is not just about “the ending,” but also about truly saying goodbye to this show.

    Bender: And it really does feel like the right time, for all the reasons John articulated. There’s always a goodbye. And the goodbye on the things I’ve loved the most that I have worked on, always comes as a mixed blessing. I feel like we’ve told a wonderful story with an exceptional cast and crew. Now, it’s time to tell another story.

    The fourth and penultimate season of From begins April 19 on MGM+.

  • Clavicular Speaks Out After Being Hospitalized for Overdose: “That Was Brutal”

    Clavicular Speaks Out After Being Hospitalized for Overdose: “That Was Brutal”

    “Looksmaxxing” influencer and streamer Clavicular is speaking out after being hospitalized on Tuesday for a suspected overdose.

    “Just got home, that was brutal. All of the substances are just a cope trying to feel neurotypical while being in public, but obviously that isn’t a real solution. The worst part of tonight was my face descending from the life support mask,” he tweeted alongside a photo of himself.

    The “looksmaxxing” influencer and online streamer, whose real name is Braden Peters, was taken to the hospital on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the influencer was livestreaming on Kick while he was at a mall and restaurant with two other influencers, when it abruptly cut off, sparking concern among fans. In the livestream, the 20-year-old influencer was seen slurring his words, repeating phrases while talking with a young woman and passing out. Video later shared on X showed the streamer being carried by several people to a black car as an ambulance arrived at the scene.

    Influencer Androgenic, who was with Clavicular at the time of the incident, addressed the situation on X writing, “I hadn’t seen him in this state before and he went from speaking to being fairly unresponsive in mere seconds. Within a minute we all realized the situation, turned the stream off, picked him up and rushed him to the hospital.”

    Clavicular has gained recognition for promoting extreme “looksmaxxing” due to a self-obsession with being aesthetically pleasing. “Looksmaxxing” is known as an online trend, popular among young men, that focuses on maximizing physical attractiveness. The strive to maximize their attractiveness is done in often extreme ways that ranges from healthy grooming to dangerous practices, such as bone-smashing using a hammer to enhance facial features, which Clavicular has advocated.

    When one follower replied to the content creator’s recent message, “Just autistmaxx in public, who gives af what others think,” he responded, “If i wasnt a livestreamer id agree with you.”

    The controversial streamer’s hospitalization follows his recent headlines after he walked out of a 60 Minutes Australia interview after correspondent Adam Hegarty asked him if he identifies as an incel and about his connection to Andrew Tate. Clavicular is also reportedly being investigated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for a video appearing to show him shooting an alligator. He was also arrested last month in Florida on misdemeanor battery charges after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. The New York Times reported that the influencer provoked a fight between two women and exploited them by posting it online.

  • Katy Perry Under Investigation by Australian Police Following Ruby Rose Sexual Assault Allegations

    Katy Perry Under Investigation by Australian Police Following Ruby Rose Sexual Assault Allegations

    Katy Perry is under investigation by Australian police following graphic sexual assault claims from Orange Is the New Black star Ruby Rose.

    The Victoria Police have confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter: “Melbourne Sexual Offenses and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT) detectives are investigating [an alleged] historical sexual assault that occurred in Melbourne in 2010. Police have been told the incident occurred at a licensed premises in Melbourne’s [Central Business District]. As the investigation remains ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

    Earlier this week, Rose wrote online that she’d “just left the police station” after alleging on Threads that Perry sexually assaulted her at a nightclub in Melbourne some years ago.

    On Sunday, the Australian Batgirl actress wrote in response to a comment about Perry being at Coachella: “I was only in my early 20s. I’m now 40. It has taken almost 2 decades to say this publicly … I told the story publicly but changed it to be a ‘funny little drunk story’ because I didn’t know how else to handle it. Later she agreed to help me get my US visa. So I kept it a secret. But I DID tell yall she wasn’t a good person. Instead I got attacked by.. everyone.”

    After a fan, referencing Perry’s 2008 hit “I Kissed a Girl,” said: “She kissed a girl and you didn’t like it?” Rose responded: “She didn’t kiss me. She saw me ‘resting’ on my best friends lap to avoid her and bent down, pulled her underwear to the side and rubbed her disgusting vagina on my face until my eyes snapped open and I projectile vomited on her.”

    Rose initially said she was “not interested in filing a [police] report over this,” but said in a Tuesday Threads post that she’d “finalized all of my reports” and would no longer be able to “comment, repost, or talk publicly about any of those cases, or the individuals involved.”

    The alleged offence was swiftly refuted by the popstar’s team on Monday. They called the claims “reckless lies.”

    “The allegations being circulated on social media by Ruby Rose about Katy Perry are not only categorically false, they are dangerous, reckless lies. Ms. Rose has a well-documented history of making serious public allegations on social media against various individuals, claims that have repeatedly been denied by those named,” said a rep for Perry.

    The Hollywood Reporter did not immediately hear back from reps for Perry or Rose about the police investigation on Wednesday.