Tag: Entertainment – Variety

White House officials are defending U.S. President Donald Trump‘s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico, claiming that it does not violate the First Amendment.

A Tuesday court filing obtained by The New York Times alleges that the news outlets had breached standards of conduct, accusing them of “trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues, and publishing sensitive or classified information.”

“Access to the White House is a privilege — not a right,” the filing states, according to The New York Times. The documents also claim that the denial of access is a “preliminary matter” and the news organizations can contest the decision until Friday.

Trump announced the ban on Truth Social on Friday, writing that he was expelling the outlets from the White House “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS.” On Monday, CNN, MS Now and Politico released a joint statement saying that they planned to sue, alleging that the ban violated the First Amendment.

“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” their statement said. “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

An emergency hearing will be held on Wednesday regarding the outlets’ request for a temporary court order reversing the ban. U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, will preside. Kelly previously ruled against Trump in 2018 when he similarly expelled CNN reporter Jim Acosta, whose credentials were restored when Kelly determined that Trump had not given him sufficient notice.

Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico has sent shock waves through the media industry. In an unprecedented move, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and Fox News have all suspended pool coverage of the president in solidarity with CNN.

“The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,” the five networks said in a joint statement Monday. “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”

Finnish director Miia Tervo didn’t have to look far for the inspiration for her third feature “You Crazy Thing,” about Aino, a mental health nurse who’s preparing a performance with her patients for a talent competition.

“My mother worked in a mental hospital for 37 years. We lived in a small village in Lapland, and there was only this hospital – and the forest. There was a joke that the only thing separating the nurses from the patients were the keys,” she told Variety.

“We live in a class-based society, and I could see that my mum wasn’t appreciated for her work. It felt like nobody could see her. But when people were in need, when they felt broken, she was there for them. That’s one of the main themes of the film. Do we actually see each other?”

Tervo added: “I wanted to give her this film because it’s crazy that they’re out there saving people while we walk red carpets. That’s why I give her all my awards, too.”

The upcoming film, which debuts its first-look stills, was produced by Marko Talli for Yellow Film & TV and co-produced by Paloma Production (Denmark) and Garagefilm International (Sweden).

Pihla Viitala, Adam Pålsson and Clara Dessau lead the cast that combines professional and amateur actors.

“I wanted to create a safe place where they could be themselves. The best thing about my work is that I can give them the space to shine,” she noted.

“[In the past] I didn’t have any dreams. I always thought I would die of alcoholism before turning 30 because that’s what happened to people in our village. But we weren’t victims, and my mother really enjoyed her work. She preferred being with the ‘crazy’ people because they didn’t play social games. They were free.”

While Tervo might be following her mother’s perspective – “She never believed in social hierarchies or norms” – hers is a fictional story. One that also sees Aino fall for one of her patients.

“I started thinking about how having or not having money, or having mental health problems in the family, affects identity. If identity is what we think about ourselves, then how does it affect love and loving? How does class affect how and who we love? Can you can suffer from feelings of worthlessness even if you are rich, and can you feel valuable even if you are poor?”

“At one point, I thought that just because I come from a poor family, I couldn’t love a rich person. That there’s a gap. It’s really about this triangle of class, identity and love,” said Tervo. And, again, about being seen.

“In this society, everyone wants to be seen. We think we need a special gift or talent, but with Aino, you can be seen in all your glory – whoever you are. You don’t need to be a magician or perform crazy stunts.”

Still, that doesn’t make Aino a saint.

“People who do this job have seen so much sorrow and life in all its forms. I thought: Aino actually wants to be crazy. It would liberate her, you know? When you help others, you can forget about yourself. You can escape your own issues and forget your own sadness.”

Tervo, also behind award-winning “Aurora” and “The Missile,” has always celebrated messiness in her work. Her characters misbehave and make mistakes, but she never punishes them for it.

“It’s always more interesting to see not the façade we put on but how we are in our secret lives,” she said.

“It’s not easy to talk about depression or mental health challenges, especially your own. But often, it’s precisely those vulnerable places that make people fall in love. It was always that part, the part where I’d forgotten to lock the door, that drew people in. For love to be real, you have to dare to be the mess that you actually are. Nobody wants to live with a perfect person. It’s boring.”

With “You Crazy Thing,” Tervo is no longer hiding – also when it comes to her personal struggles.

“I’m a recovering alcoholic who has been sober for many years now. I used to self-medicate my sadness and depression with alcohol. I drank because, for a while, it did what nothing else could. It put a wall between me and the reality I wanted to escape. That worked until it didn’t,” she recalled.

“Maybe this film is inviting me to dare to be seen, too. I don’t use social media, but I write about the themes of my life. One of biggest themes is wanting to live again. How do you find the will to live once you’ve lost it?”

Now, “with enough distance and therapy,” she can face all these things. Also in her films.

“Creating a dark yet warm dramedy out of painful incidents, emotions and experiences makes us wonder about the shame surrounding mental health challenges and the stigmas that come with them. Once you’ve come through something like that, you also want to feel this joie de vivre, as clichéd as it is,” she said.

“Depression can be a black sun. But, in a strange way, that black sun can also be an opportunity for change. Now, in the mornings, I sit and don’t ask for anything particular; I just give thanks.”

“For a girl who never learned how to dream, I’m now learning to appreciate this miraculous life that we have.”

Seattle’s Tasveer Film Festival & Market has unveiled its 21st edition lineup: 136 films from 16 countries screening Oct. 13-18, opening with Sarmad Sultan Khoosat’s “Lali,” a Berlinale Panorama title, in its West Coast premiere.

The films, spanning more than 25 languages, tell stories from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet and their diasporas. This year’s theme, “Bring Your Story Home,” runs through the selection. For the second year, the festival will take place at the Tasveer Film Center in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood.

The 2026 lineup leans into several trends, with women telling personal stories in their own voices, animation arriving with what Tasveer described as real force, and filmmakers increasingly favoring images over exposition. Four films follow athletes, teams and the families behind them, spanning cricket to gymnastics, and turn on class, gender and who gets to belong: the same questions Tasveer says it has put onscreen for more than two decades. The festival will also present 12 LGBTQ+ films from six countries, continuing a strand of programming Tasveer has run since 2002.

Highlighted titles include the centerpiece film “Mayilaa,” directed by Semmalar Annam, in its North American premiere; the documentary “Breaking the Code,” directed by Ben Rekhi, from Washington State; the animated feature “The Chair,” directed by Triparna Maiti, in its Washington State premiere; the closing night film, Nepal’s Oscar contender “Elephants in the Fog,” directed by Abinash Bikram Shah, in its North America premiere.

Aparna Purohit, CEO of Aamir Khan Productions, will serve as chief guest and jury head for the festival and market. The 21st edition includes 20 world premieres, four North American premieres and four U.S. premieres.

Several selections have ties to Washington state, including “Gaa Ghar” (“Home”), about two people tracing their relationship back to the day they met as a visa runs out; “The Turning Point,” which imagines civil war reaching Seattle in the near future, following a man and his niece as they try to escape a violent militia; “Three Sisters,” centered on a family meal; “Eka,” about a video-game artist starting his own studio; and “Riding Time,” shot across three summers in Bradford, following a rider in Britain’s Pakistani tent-pegging circuit.

“I have been programming this festival for 21 years, and I am still not over this lineup,” said festival director Rita Meher, co-founder and executive director of Tasveer. “136 films, 35 world and North America premieres, filmmakers coming in from 16 countries. The sports films, the queer stories, the animation, all of it arrived with a boldness that tells me something has shifted in South Asian cinema.”

The Tasveer Film Market runs Oct. 13-15 and is now in its third year, billed as North America’s first global market dedicated to South Asian film. This year’s edition folds in the Co-Production Market Selects program, pitch sessions through the Tasveer Film Fund, industry panels, fireside conversations and networking events. Four filmmakers selected for the Film Fund will each walk away with a $35,000 grant to develop their next project.

“We are welcoming filmmakers, industry leaders, and audiences from all over the world, whether they’re flying in from Mumbai or coming from just down Rainier Avenue,” Meher said. “Then the market sends four of these filmmakers home with funding to make the next one. The public is welcome to join us–come be part of it.”

Public funders backing the 21st edition include King County, the City of Seattle and the Port of Seattle, joined by AARP, 4 Culture, the Conru Foundation, the ACLU of Washington, Visit Seattle and Tampa Bay Wave. The festival’s awards are sponsored separately by the RAGS Foundation, founded by Sridhar Tayur and Gunjan Kedia.

For more than 20 years, the nonprofit Tasveer has worked to give South Asian storytellers a platform in film, art and other media. Its mission since 2002 has centered on stories about gender, sexuality, caste, class, religion and race that don’t always find space elsewhere. In 2025, the organization moved into exhibition, taking over Columbia City’s former Ark Lodge Cinemas and reopening it as the Tasveer Film Center, where films now run daily.

Dolly Parton‘s longtime manager has filed for a restraining order against her nephew, who until being fired a week ago was her head of security, alleging that the family member is engaged in a campaign of coercion, extortion and violent threats that has terrified employees and associates of her management company and trust to the point that they require their own personal security.

The manager, Danny Nozell, representing She’s Alive, LLC (SAL), dismissed Bryan Seaver, who runs Squadron Augmented Protection Services, LLC (SAPS), on Sept. 15, about three weeks after the country superstar’s Aug. 25 death. It was Seaver who announced his aunt’s death to the world in an Instagram video. But an extensive fiiing made by the trust to a Tennessee court late Tuesday afternoon paint a different portrait of Seaver than the reverent one seen in the death announcement video. The legal paperwork alleges that in colorful and sometimes disturbing language, Seaver referred to himself as a mercenary and “killer” and threatened to interfere with Parton’s businesses, including Dollywood, if he did not receive proper payment, in texts sent both before and after her death.

The filing refers to Seaver’s claims of a paramilitary background and says he has dozens of employees who possess military-grade weaponry, and that some employees no longer come to work as a result of the alleged intimidation, while a lawyer who ran some of Parton’s music affairs stopped working for her as a result of the nephew’s ominous language.

The filing from the attorneys for She’s Alive states: “Mr. Seaver began his campaign of threats, intimidation, and coercion a few weeks prior to Ms. Parton’s passing. Those threats continued after her passing, and he aimed them directly at SAL’s personnel, counsel, and business partners. In writing, he vowed to ‘destroy the entire brand,’ threatened to ‘ratfuck every [business party] entity’ that helps operate Dollywood and called himself ‘literally an international arms dealer and mercenary.’ He threatened that ‘[e]veryone needs to be worried about what I might do,”and told Ms. Parton’s entertainment attorney: ‘I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer.’ He also threatened to launch a podcast ‘dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships’ unless he was paid.”

Variety has reviewed all four parts of the request for a restraining order and subsequent jury trial, which are filled with lurid quotes and screenshots of angry text messages said to have been sent to Nozell by Seaver.

Seaver did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment after the request for the restraining order went public. Seaver did issue a statement Tuesday to TMZ, which first reported on the restraining order, telling the outlet, “I am a career soldier and military contractor and do conduct arms deals for foreign governments. I am a security professional and I am a killer. However, nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by… I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny who I thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster. A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving.”

Seaver says in the alleged texts that he has been turning down media requests, even though “now I’m the biggest social media post in human history,” apparently referring to the death announcement video. Among the alleged text statements Seaver is said to have written to Nozell that are included in the legal paperwork:

“I’m going to destroy the entire brand if you don’t get these [Dollywood business partners] out of our bit. . . . I’m going to go to Billboard Magazine with my shit. Just like you. I’m going to ratfuck every [Dollywood business partner] entity I can possibly conjure.” (The parenthetical additions represent the lawyers’ explanations.)

And: “I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer. I sold 27 million $ worth of ammunition and arms to the Haitian Police on day Dolly died. Entertainment is not my game. I have spent my career breaking things and spying on African and Arab leaders. And protecting Dolly.”

In another text, Seaver is seen as allegedly saying: “All I do is warfare . . . Everyone needs to be worried about what I might do . . . “

“I am vengeance for my people for the next 50 years. I have no debt. I only own swords and guns. My children have 3 houses to live in forever. My wife owns everything. All I have is animosity and memory. But I’m going to spend the next times I have on earth ratfucking anyone that has ever betrayed my family.”

“I’m going to set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us. It’s going to be great. Or fucking pay me.”

“Her money better be bigger than I can make elsewhere or I’m going to fuck everyone,”

SAL’s request for the restraining order says Seaver’s alleged threats “have already produced the harm they were designed to cause. Ms. Parton’s trusts and estates attorney withdrew after Mr. Seaver targeted her. SAL personnel have resigned; others no longer report to the office because they fear Mr. Seaver and his armed associates. SAL and its related vendors have been forced to retain private security for its personnel —including at their homes. Ordinary operations have given way to an atmosphere of fear.”

“SAL therefore seeks immediate, narrowly tailored relief pending a full hearing on a temporary injunction,” it continues. “Every day without relief gives Mr. Seaver another opportunity to frighten away a trusted employee, counsel, licensee, brand partner, or other essential counterparty. The campaign is ongoing, its consequences are mounting, and SAL should not be required to wait for the next resignation— or the next threat — to obtain protection.”

The documents note that Seaver had worked for his aunt in running her security for about 20 years.

“Mr. Seaver leveraged his family connection and two decades of funding through Ms. Parton as her security provider to increase the size of his personal militia,” the filing says. “Through his security role, Mr. Seaver had virtually unfettered access to the people, routines, vulnerabilities, and commercial affairs surrounding Ms. Parton’s enterprise. He has used his family connections, his access, and that knowledge to target the particular people and institutions SAL most needs… The written record shows a deliberate progression — from threats against a cornerstone brand relationship, to boasts about arms dealing and warfare, to direct intimidation of counsel, and finally to an express pay-me-or-else threat against Ms. Parton’s brand partnerships.”

Specifically, the action alleges, “SAL has lost specialized legal counsel. Ms. Parton’s trusts and estates lawyer withdrew because of Seaver’s threats.” it asks the judge to provide quick action because “the ongoing safety crisis is inherently irreparable. SAL has retained private security not only for the workplace, but for personnel at their homes.” Furthermore, the estate’s lawyers contend, “the threats are escalating rather than abating. In less than three weeks, Seaver progressed from threatening the Dollywood business partner and the brand, to invoking arms dealing and warfare, to announcing long-term vengeance, to driving away counsel, to telling another attorney he was ‘a killer.’”

Seaver is the son of Parton’s sister, Cassie Parton.

The hundreds of millions of dollars Parton left behind were bound to be the source of family disputes, although few could have predicted an escalation this fast and fiery.

There is positive news ahead for Parton’s millions of fans, as her years-in-the-planning museum is set to open in Nashville in early October, and an adjacent hotel bearing her name has already had a soft launch. Later in the year, the stage musical she oversaw dramatizing her life story will open on Broadway.

Mahershala Ali is dumbfounded like the rest of us when it comes to Marvel’s inability to get his “Blade” movie reboot off the ground. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast over the summer that he was “feeling like a gigantic loser and failure” for bungling Ali’s “Blade,” and now the actor told GQ that he agrees with that assessment.

“That’s a Kevin Feige question,” Ali said when asked why Marvel never got to the point of putting “Blade” into production. “They had, as you said, a two-time Oscar-winning actor under contract and you got billions of dollars. That’s a question for them. I don’t mean anything personal to you, but I don’t know why it didn’t. To this day, I don’t know why it didn’t happen. I just know that it was—Kevin, he said it was the biggest failure of his career and I agree.”

Marvel originally announced “Blade” in July 2019. Bassam Tariq (who now directs Ali in “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother”) was the first director to join the movie, but he exited in September 2022 roughly two months before it was set to begin shooting. Variety reported in November 2023 that “Blade” had gone through at least five writers, from “Watchmen” scribe Stacy Osei-Kuffour to Michael Starrbury. Yann Demange stepped in as the movie’s director after Tariq’s exit, but Demange ended up dropping out in June 2024.

Amid the film’s development struggles, Ali’s interest in playing Blade has never wavered. He told Variety on the “Jurassic World Rebirth” red carpet last summer: “I’m ready. Let them know I’m ready.” In an interview with GQ earlier this year, Ali called out Marvel point blank by saying: “You had me under contract, they have billions of dollars, if they wanted to do the movie, we would’ve done the movie. So we’re not doing the movie.”

Speaking to press in July 2025, Feige explained how the prolonged delays on “Blade” were a symptom of Marvel’s “over-expansion” into Disney+ streaming content where “for the very first time ever, quantity trumped quality.” When Marvel began to reevaluate its development process, the “Blade” movie was one of the projects that stalled.

“Blade” was the latest example of Ali’s career never being sure-footed despite being a two-time Oscar-winning actor for “Moonlight” and “Green Book.” The actor told GQ in his latest interview that he thought his career would break through after the Oscar wins, yet he still found himself fighting to be cast in HBO’s “True Detective” Season 3 as opposed to getting any offers.

“I don’t feel any bitterness or disappointment around that. I want to be careful of it coming off that way because it’s honestly not how I feel,” Ali explained. “If anything, there’s sort of a relief in the epiphany of like, ‘Oh, ain’t nobody coming to save you. You got to build your boat. They’re not coming. There’s no helicopter coming. Get to cutting wood.’”

Ali also said in the interiew, “I don’t know why I constantly feel like I have to remind people of stuff or prove myself to people, but that’s just how this business works. And it exhausts me. And so then you start thinking about: How long do I have to do this this way, or do it at all?”

Watch Ali’s full interview with GQ in the video below.

Patty Jenkins, Halle Berry, Regina King, Misty Copeland and others gathered at downtown Manhattan’s Locanda Verde on Tuesday morning for Tribeca and Chanel’s Through Her Lens luncheon. The timing was notable for an event centered on emerging filmmakers, coming just 24 hours after news that the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal is essentially complete — a consolidation that many in Hollywood fear could have profoundly negative effects on the industry.

“I didn’t even look at it, frankly. I’ve been tuning all of that out,” “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins, who has a longstanding relationship with Warner Bros., tells Variety of the news. “It’s such chaos. I think the studio system is in such bad shape that I’m kind of tuning it out.”

Still, Jenkins remains optimistic about the industry’s future. Asked whether she would make a film with Warner Bros. under Ellison’s leadership, she says, “You never know.”

“I never say no to anything because so many people have different projects,” she continues. “Something may come along, and they’ve been making some great films, and who knows.”

Despite the turmoil within the studio system, Jenkins believes emerging filmmakers face fewer barriers than they did when she was starting out. She points to films like “Backrooms” and “Obsession” as encouraging proof that talented directors can make films on shoestring budgets — and find box office success.

“People are able to make their own films and it’s a game-changer,” she says. “I see it coming and I’m so excited about it — the democratization of being able to get your films to your audiences.”

Tribeca boss Jane Rosenthal, who co-founded Tribeca and Chanel’s Through Her Lens program 11 years ago, takes a somewhat different view, arguing that young filmmakers actually face more obstacles than when she started out. “The business is really kind of a mess,” she says, noting that streaming has contributed to an uptick in the number of films being made. Still, she adds, “Who knows what this merger is gonna do.”

One potential silver lining of the merger, according to Rosenthal, is that it could create an opening for new models of independent film distribution. “You see what AMC is doing, let’s see what that really means,” she says, referring to the indie distribution venture announced by the country’s largest theater chain last month.

That hopeful, solution-oriented attitude carried throughout the event, which kicked off this year’s Through Her Lens program. The initiative brings together five filmmaking teams for workshops, one-on-one mentorship and industry conversations before culminating in a live pitch to a jury. One team will receive full financing to produce its short film with support from Tribeca Studios, while the remaining four will receive development grants.

Berry, King and Meg Ryan were announced as this year’s jury members alongside cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw (“Sinners”) and “Sterling Point” actress Ella Rubin.

Emmy Rossum, who attended Tuesday morning to support the initiative, says she “just wants the best people to tell stories” — and, she adds, “to be seen by lots of people in theaters and on streaming.”

“Looksmaxxing” influencer Clavicular has been charged with rape and drugging in Massachusetts, according to NBC News.

Court records filed on Sept. 8 and obtained by NBC News show that the 20-year-old, whose real name is Braden Peters, faces one count of rape, one count of drugging someone for sexual intercourse and one count of procuring liquor for someone under 21 years of age. The alleged offenses occurred on May 23, 2025, and an arraignment is set for Oct. 14.

The Bulwark was the first to report on the charges. Clavicular’s representative, Mitchell Jackson, said in a statement to NBC News: “Braden Peters has not been physically served. As usual The Bulwark is exaggerating.” A lawyer for Clavicular did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

Clavicular has gained internet fame for his “looksmaxxing” practices, which have included injections and “bone smashing,” where one breaks facial bones in the hopes of achieving more defined features. He often demonstrates these methods on social media, including on TikTok and the livestream platform Kick.

Though more details about the allegations were not immediately available, reports have noted that the timeline seems to match up with a recent civil lawsuit brought against Clavicular by an 18-year-old influencer.

In a complaint filed in April in Miami, Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza accused Clavicular of battery, fraud and sexual misconduct in a series of events that took place in 2025. As reported by CBS News, she alleged that he injected her face with Aqualyx, a fat-dissolving substance not approved by the FDA, without her consent when she was a minor. Mendoza also alleged she had nonconsensual sexual encounters with Clavicular at his family home in Cape Cod while she was intoxicated. Clavicular denied the allegations and filed a motion to dismiss several counts of the lawsuit in July, including that of sexual misconduct, claiming that it was not included in the first iteration of the complaint.

Clavicular was quick to take to social media following news of the charges on Monday night, posting a video of Mendoza where she called him “super nice” and a letter she allegedly wrote thanking him for “helping me as much as you have been.” He also shared a livestream clip where Mendoza says she is 18, though it is unclear when it was filmed.

This is not the first time Clavicular has faced legal trouble. In summer 2024, he was arrested after a bar fight and faced with assault and battery charges, though they were dismissed. In February of this year, he was arrested in Arizona on suspicion of dangerous drug possession, but prosecutors dropped the case. In March, he was arrested in Florida on battery charges relating to an alleged altercation between his girlfriend and another woman, which were later dropped. And, a month later, he was charged with unlawfully discharging a firearm relating to shooting a deceased alligator on a livestream. He was sentenced to six months of probation and 20 hours of community service following a plea deal.