Since moving on from their playing days in the NFL and NBA to running the production company Mortal Media, they’re about to add a few more jobs to their resumes: co-owners of a Mexican-league football team and co-stars of a new unscripted series that follows the team. “We Are Osos” began Aug. 3 on YouTube.
Kalil, who played for the Carolina Panthers, credits their retirements as pro athletes with a renewed focus they’re bringing to their second acts as TV producers. “Us being able to now be done with our respective sports careers, we’ve been able to kind of sit down and build more structure and road map out” the future of Mortal, he said on the latest episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast.
In January 2025, Griffin and Kalil announced they were joining a group of other former NFL vets including Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle in taking control of the Monterrey Osos, a football team in Mexico’s Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA). The “Osos” series documents not only their new adventures in ownership but the lives of the players on and off the field.
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“It doesn’t feel like you’re watching football in a different country with a different culture,” said Griffin, who currently has yet another job as an on-air analyst with Prime Video’s NBA coverage after playing pro basketball for 14 years.
As if they weren’t busy enough running Mortal Media, which also produced scripted series including Apple TV’s “Hello Tomorrow” and the Hulu reboot of “White Men Can’t Jump,” the “Osos” production marked their foray into self-distribution.
“We have a ton of stuff that we’ve set up at major studios and networks and streamers, but this one it’s been kind of a beast, but it’s been really fun,” said Kalil. “We do feel like this going to be the future moving forward.”
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Please click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes debut every Wednesday and can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more.
Not everyone wants to climb aboard the Hogwarts Express, it transpires.
Top TV director Ally Pankiw has posted on Instagram a screenshot from a text exchange with a rep in which she scoffed at the notion that she would consider enrolling with HBO’s forthcoming series adaptation of J.K. Rowling‘s “Harry Potter” novels.
The reason? Rowling’s views on trans persons’ rights, which many have alleged are transphobic.
The Canadian filmmaker, who’s helmed multiple episodes of “Black Mirror” and “The Great,” and was a writer on “Schitt’s Creek,” commented on the post, “It simply is this easy to say no to funding transphobia!,” adding, “Also this was for directing, not acting… obviously lol.”
In the screenshot of the text messages, a representative for Pankiw (who is repped by talent agency WME), asks: “I have an instinct on the answer but I feel compelled to ask ‘Harry Potter? Hard no?’”
Pankiw shoots back, “Absolutely f—ing not! Lol.” And she adds, politely, “But thank you for asking.”
The representative responds, “Of course 🙂 I assumed as much (And agree).”
Another leading TV director, Kate Herron, whose credits include Marvel Studios’ “Loki” and Netflix’s “Sex Education,” shared that she had a similar experience.
Commenting on Pankiw’s Instagram post, preceded by three hearts, the British filmmaker says, “Yeah thank you exactly! Respect and love to you Ally. They’ve asked me twice and I’ve had to explain my answer is never gonna change from a no.”
That said, the roll call of actors joining the show grows ever longer. This week Nicholas Hoult signed on to play Gilderoy Lockhart.
Other cast members include John Lithgow, who plays Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore, Janet McTeer, who is Professor McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu plays Snape, Bel Powley is Aunt Petunia, and Nick Frost has been cast as Rubeus Hagrid.
Powley, for her part, recently spoke of her disagreement with Rowling’s views on trans rights. “I strongly disagree with J.K. Rowling’s views on gender,” Powley told The Telegraph. “I think that the trans community deserve safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance.”
The series is due to debut on Dec. 25 on HBO and HBO Max, with the first season adapting the first book in the novel series, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” The show has already been renewed for a second season, which will be based on “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”
Variety reached out to reps for Rowling, who declined to comment, Pankiw and Herron, as well as HBO.
Phoebe Bridgers tends to stand out in a crowd, and not just because of her celebrity or natural star quality, but because of the hair; other women around L.A. may go for the platinum blonde look, but not quite that platinum. So it was fairly easy to pick her out for the entirety of the 10 minutes or so she spent skating with her fans Tuesday night at the Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, California. But she was easy to spot, in this instance, from head to toe, as she was the only skater on the floor in brightly strobing light-up skates… an equipment option that the Moonlight was not able to offer any of the couple hundred fans who joined her. At this very action-packed listening party for her. The beaming Bridgers had earned the right to wear skates that special; this was not her first rodeo, clearly, when it came to making dozens of laps around a rink and outpacing a crowd.
As one fan commented on Reddit after the YouTube-sponsored event: “She was skating right with everyone, and if you could match her speed then you could say hello, but she is FAST so it may have been a bit difficult.”
Of all the albums that could be previewed with an evening out at an old-school roller rink, “Lost Weekend,” the singer’s long-awaited third solo album, would not jump out as the most obvious candidate… even if Bridgers is hell on wheels, as it turns out. The 16-track record has as many hushed passages as you’d expect from a Bridgers album, and it does not sound at all designed to inspire extended bouts of cardiovascular activity. And Bridgers did use the word “weird” in characterizing the juxtaposition when she spoke about her reasons for hosting the event there in a brief Q&A she did with fans at the event after the skating wound down. Yet, for her, it was an aspiration being realized.
“I’ve had this idea forever” she said to the crowd of about 200 sitting on the rink’s floor. “I always thought it would be cool to do like a Grouper Moonlight night… You always kind of skate to ABBA or something. I thought it would be interesting to listen to sad and slow songs and skate.”
Phoebe Bridgers skates at the Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, California during a YouTube release party for ‘Lost Weekend.’
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She’s had the same impulse at amusement parks, she pointed out. “I always thought about that at Six Flags,” she said saying that, while waiting in line for rides, she’d wished she could take the typical revved-up theme-park soundtrack and “catapult it somewhere” and replace it with music that was “30 bpm or something.” To her mind, slowcore and Tatsu might be the perfect fit.
Anyway, Bridgers’ promotional campaign for “Lost Weekend” has been unusual enough that a rollerskating listening party almost — almost — doesn’t stand out as that unusual. ,The singer-songwriter first began teasing “Lost Weekend” a few months ago with a series of pop-up gigs in small towns and middle American cities, places like Roswell, New Mexico, before the album was announced or even widely known to be in production. WIth the moment of release finally at hand, her team booked planetariums across the country and even in Europe for Spotify-sponsored listening parties where fans could experience the album for the first time this week with trippy visuals, if sore necks — a way of getting “Lost” in space, sort of. (And no phones allowed, as with virtually every pre-release event for the record.)
Another fairy unusual element of the promo campaign: no interviews. She hasn’t done a single one for “Lost Weekend,” so the roughly six minutes she spent answering fan questions at the Moonlight Rollerway may have constituted as much talking about the record as she plans to do, at least right away. Bridgers didn’t exactly talk anyone’s ear off in her quick, friendly response to the fan queries, but the answers still offered glimpses of insight as to where she’s coming from with this album and its attendant cycle of events and touring.
One of the first hands that went up from the crowd was to ask whether she’d been inspired by any other artistic media while making the record. “Well, there’s a movie called ‘Lost Weekend’ that’s about alcoholics’ kind of fugue state,” she said, referencing the harrowing 1945 Billy Wilder drama that some of her younger fans might not know. “That probably goes well (with the album), unfortunately.” She hesitated while trying to think of another example, then did come up with a musical reference point. “Do you guys know ‘The Lemon of Pink’ by the Books?” (Not everyone did — the Books are not exactly a household name — but some murmured their assent for the 2003 album, which has a strong following as a seminal indie-oughts cult record.)
Phoebe Bridgers does a Q&A with fans at the Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, California during a YouTube release party for ‘Lost Weekend.’
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Someone else wondered: Why the small-town pop-up tour? And what was her takeaway from what seemed like it might be an experiment? “I just wanted everything with this album to feel like it’s happening in real life,” she explained. “Like, I didn’t live through a time where I didn’t find out about something on the internet. Even cool pop-up shows and stuff, it was all kind of phone-based. So I just liked the idea of plastering a small town (with flyers)… It was so fun.” Her answer to the second part of the question: “The biggest takeaway was like, yeah, the internet’s not real. It’s all a fake,” she said, to laughter.
Another question: How did she decide it was time to come back? — the unspoken assumption being that six years between albums counts as a lot, even if there was a monumental Boygenius album and tour in between that came to feel like a very viable separate career.
“I mean, I didn’t love all parts of being away,” she said, with a chuckle, noting that while she knew she needed to pull away for a bit, it wasn’t necessarily a plan to wait this long. “I kept booking studio time and then putting it off… and booking studio time and putting it off, and putting it off… I really wanted to be making something,” she allowed, but the album was not yet ready to take shape. “So I just started going in and then taking six months off and then going (back). So this album took forever. Which is great!,” she added, harboring no regrets about leaving anyone in suspense.
After those and a few other questions, it was time for her to sign the big stack of posters commemorating the event. Prior to the Q&A, meanwhile, Bridgers premiered a rough cut of the second video for the album, for the song “I Can’t Wait,” which she said was nearly done, except for some drone footage that was shot during this very event that will be folded in.
Phoebe Bridgers signs posters for fans at the Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, California during a YouTube release party for ‘Lost Weekend.’
@linusandhiscamera
There was a no-phones policy, but there were also no NDAs, so fans freely shared their experiences on Reddit and other forums after the event… including their impressions about Phoebe Bridgers being as good at skating as at music.
“I ate shit 3 times out there and got a sore ass today,” wrote one fan. “It was even more embarrassing because she was shredding around the rink.”
Others spoke of approaching Bo Burnham or Bridgers’ mother, Jamie Bridgers, for off-rink convos. But when it came to meeting the star attraction, some found her intimidating, despite her best efforts to be a fairly unassuming skatergrl. Some agonized afterward about not having found the right words when they made it to the front of the signing line. One spoke of becoming tongue-tied, but “I was towards the end of the line and it had been almost 2 hours at that point. She probably did appreciate our efficiency lol!!” Another wrote, “I just said ‘Yo this album fucking rips,’ and she laughed and said thanks.” One person who admitted being unable to do anything but blurt out their name said that as they left the signing table, Bridgers politely called out, “It was nice to meet you.”
Phoebe Bridgers skates at the Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, California during a YouTube release party for ‘Lost Weekend.’
@linusandhiscamera
What will she do for an encore? That’s obvious: do sold-out two- and three-nighters at the nation’s biggest arenas, like the three-night stand she has upcoming at the Intuit Dome Oct. 30-31 and Nov. 1. Between now and then, there is much parsing of the 16-track album’s rich content to be done, with millions of words of formal and informal think-pieces to come. (Read Variety‘s own take on the album here.)
While fans who didn’t make it to the Moonlight Rollerway may have a lingering case of FOMO, it may still be possible to replicate the feel that Bridgers was going for, as she’s longed to marry slow sounds with frenetic action. You could go to Magic Mountain and do X2 while listening to “Lost Weekend” on earbuds; we can now be certain the author would approve.
The Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, California during a YouTube release party for Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Lost Weekend.’
Troye Sivan has kicked off a new era with the release of his new single “She’s the Best” along with a music video co-starring Nicole Kidman.
In the clip, directed by Gordon Von Steiner, Sivan holds the spotlight at a club filled with drag queens, including Sasha Colby. Kidman, a fellow Aussie, sips a drink while watching Sivan perform his sultry track, joining forces with the singer while he’s in drag by the end of the video.
Steiner previously collaborated with Sivan on the music videos for his singles “Rush,” “Got Me Started” and “One of Your Girls,” which were featured on his 2023 album “Something to Give Each Other.”
Sivan is currently gearing up for the release of his fourth studio album “She’s the Best,” out October 9. The title track is written by Sivan alongside George Daniel, Jack Antonoff, Leland and Kaeyln Behr, with production by Sivan, Daniel and Antonoff as well as Styalz Fuego.
“‘She’s the Best’ is a painting that captures my life in all of its moods and colours,” says Sivan of the album in a statement. “It explores the high-octane highs of the last few years, and the solitude and longing that sat underneath. It’s chaotic, layered, organic, troubled and alive. It feels like the truest and most creative version of myself I’ve ever shared. At some point along the way I realised – the only constant in my life keeping me somewhat sane has not been the work, or the men, but the feminine. Thank god for them.”
“House of the Dragon” concluded its third season on HBO on Sunday night, with the finale reaching 21 million viewers in its first three days of availability. More than 11 million of those viewers were in the U.S.
That total comes from a combination of Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers on the HBO cable channel plus Warner Bros. Discovery’s own tally of streams on HBO Max. It represents a mostly steady trajectory for the season, with a slight decrease of 2% from the Season 3 premiere’s 21.5 million viewers. (WBD did not disclose viewership totals for Episodes 2-7.)
Overall, the season is averaging 34 million viewers per episode thus far, nearly matching Season 2’s 35 million-viewer average. According to HBO, this puts it among the HBO Max’s top three most-watched returning seasons ever.
Sunday also marked the seventh and final episode of “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.” The sketch series, created by and starring Larry David, is averaging approximately 4 million viewers per episode in the U.S.
Warner Bros. Discovery president of international Gerhard Zeiler has been tapped to receive the 2026 International Emmy Directorate Award. He joins Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria, who was previously announced as this year’s honoree for the org’s founders award. Zeiler and Bajaria will acceot their awards at the 54th International Emmy Awards Gala on Monday, Nov. 23, in New York.
“Gerhard Zeiler has built and led some of the world’s most influential media businesses, helping shape the international television industry through periods of profound change,” said International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences president/CEO Bruce L. Paisner in a statement. “Throughout his career, his commercial acumen has been grounded in a deep appreciation for the creative talent and storytelling that define our business.”
Per the International Emmys, the directorate award “is presented to organizations or individuals in management, administration, engineering, news, programming, and/or international relations for outstanding contributions over a period of time to the arts and sciences of international television.”
Recent winners include Grupo Globo president João Roberto Marinho (2025), Gaumont CEO Sidonie Dumas (2024), Balaji Telefilms’ Ekta Kapoor (2023), CJ ENM’s Miky Lee (2022) and ZDF’s Thomas Bellut (2021).
Zeiler first joined Time Warner’s Turner in 2012, expanding the company’s international operations, including its regional sports and pay-TV businesses. He was named WarnerMedia International presidnet in 2020, and as president of international for Warner Bros. Discovery, Zeiler has expanded HBO Max footprint to more than 130 countries in just over three years and helped oversee the integration of WarnerMedia and Discovery.
Prior to Turner, he was CEO of RTL, and earlier in his career held senior leadership roles at Austria’s public broadcaster, ORF.
“I am deeply honored to be recognized by the International Academy with the International Emmy Directorate Award,” Zeiler said in a statement. “My passion for media began before I can even remember, and from a young age I understood the power of television to bring people together and open a window into different cultures and ideas. The role of media in connecting the world requires a deep understanding of distinct cultures – global trends and local nuances alike – and I feel very fortunate to have had a career filled with learnings and perspectives across the world on what makes compelling television. This is an industry like no other, driven by passion, ambition, and the desire to create stories that audiences can connect with. I receive this recognition with great appreciation for the colleagues, partners and creative talent who have inspired that journey.”
Nara Smith, a popular influencer on TikTok and other platforms, has signed with CAA for representation.
Smith is a South African and German model, content creator and entrepreneur. She is best known for posting videos on TikTok in which she cooks elaborate meals or recreates common snack foods from scratch while dressed in designer clothing and narrating in an especially soft tone of voice. She also makes videos about her life with her husband, Lucky Blue Smith, and their four children. She has 12.5 million followers on TikTok and 4.8 million followers on Instagram to date.
On October 13, Smith will release her debut cookbook via HarperCollins. Titled “Homemade,” the book features 85 from-scratch recipes influenced by her multicultural upbringing. Per the publisher’s official description, “When she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and eczema, she found that she could manage her symptoms by cutting out most processed foods. She turned her scratch-cooking expertise in a new curated direction while sharing her cooking online with compelling and elevated content.” Smith will promote the book with a nine-city tour.
As a model and influencer, Smith has worked with brands including Miu Miu, Marc Jacobs, Fendi, Calvin Klein and Aritzia. In 2024, she was named creator of the year by People.
Smith is also beginning to cross over into television and film. She will soon make her acting debut in Amazon MGM’s culinary thriller film “Tyrant,” which is written and directed by David Weil and stars Julia Garner, Charlize Theron and Demi Moore. Smith will also appear in the upcoming season of “Project Runway.”
Smith continues to be represented by Range Media Partners and Myman Greenspan.
Marine Atlan’s coming-of-age drama “La Gradiva,” a French hopeful eyeing to represent the country in the international feature Oscar race, has set its U.S. release date.
The Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize winner will open at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center in New York on Dec. 18, followed by an expansion the next week to the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles, Variety can exclusively reveal. A national rollout will follow, with 1-2 Special handling U.S. distribution.
Variety has also obtained an exclusive new image from the film, which stars Antonia Buresi alongside newcomers Colas Quignard, Suzanne Gerin and Mitia Capellier-Audat.
The release comes after a strong run on the international festival circuit for the feature directorial debut from Atlan, who’s career started as a cinematographer. Beyond its Cannes prize, “La Gradiva” won the audience award at the New Horizons International Film Festival and the Prix d’Ornano-Valenti at the Deauville American Film Festival. It will make its North American debut at the Toronto International Film Festival before screening in the main slate of the New York Film Festival.
“La Gradiva” currently holds a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 98 on Metacritic and a 4.0 average on Letterboxd, making it the best-reviewed film of this year’s Cannes by those measures.
The film recently held a week of Oscar-qualifying screenings in France, drawing 1,000 admissions across sold-out showings. Its official French theatrical release is set for Oct. 21.
“La Gradiva” follows a French class trip to Pompeii, where a group of teenagers explore the ancient city’s ruins and the bodies of those petrified by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Set against the sun-soaked landscape of southern Italy, the film unfolds as a melodrama that pairs youthful discovery with the ghosts of a civilization frozen in time.
The project marks Atlan’s first feature as a director following an acclaimed career behind the camera. Her cinematography credits include “The Innocents,” which earned her a César Award nomination.
Atlan co-wrote “La Gradiva” with Anne Brouillet, and their screenplay won the grand prize at the 2024 Fondation Gan. The pair previously collaborated on “Green Romances” and “Daniel.”
The international rollout begins in France on Oct. 21, followed by Austria, Belgium and Italy in November, the U.S. in December, and Poland and Bulgaria in January 2027.
Here is the current international release schedule with the country’s distributor.
Additional territories, including Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, South Korea, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, have been sold, with release dates to be announced.
The Oscar nominee, who played Smith’s on-screen wife as the mother of Venus and Serena Williams in the biopic, told The Daily Beast’s “Obsessed” podcast that she understands why Smith stormed the stage in 2022 and smacked Chris Rock after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.
“I know that he wanted to protect his wife,” Ellis-Taylor said of Smith. “I stand by that. I stand with him for that.”
After Rock made a joke comparing Pinkett Smith (who has alopecia) to G.I. Jane, Smith slapped Rock and returned to his seat, yelling, “Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth!” Very shortly after, Smith won the Academy Award for best actor, but the surprise act of violence later earned him a 10-year ban from all events hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Ellis-Taylor continued, “I think that, you know, this idea that First Amendment rights should protect everybody? I don’t think it should necessarily protect assholes. I don’t. I don’t. I really don’t, especially if you’re causing harm.”
Being from Mississippi, the actor said she is used to hearing protected speech defending the Confederate flag. “I know blanket First Amendment valorization. I don’t buy into that. I just don’t,” she added. “To say the least, it needs to be nuanced. You can’t use it as an excuse to harm someone.”
Because it was caught on live television, the Oscars slap became a national scandal that affected Smith’s career. He was banned from attending the Oscars for a decade, and his film “Emancipation” was delayed.
Smith issued a formal apology in a video posted to social media the day after the Oscars, calling his actions “unacceptable” and “inexcusable.” He addressed Rock directly: “I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
On the “Obsessed” podcast, Ellis-Taylor made a point to praise Smith for how he “took care of everybody” on the set of “King Richard.”
“He just would not allow anybody to be treated poorly in his presence. He would just not allow it. And I cannot tell you how rare that is in this job,” she said. “I will always have a great deal of affection and care for him because he acted that way.”
Netflix has set the release date for “The Altruists,” inspired by Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison’s rise and fall from financial power.
“The Altruists” hits Netflix November 19. Netflix has also released the first-look photos for the drama, which can be seen below.
The logline for the show reads, “The story of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye – before they were accused of stealing $8 billion and became Gen Z’s own Bonnie & Clyde.”
At his peak, Bankman-Fried was listed as the 41st-richest American in the Forbes 400. (He was on the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, but also included on its 2023 Hall of Shame list as a selection Forbes wished it could take back.) In November 2022, evidence of fraud surfaced and FTX was forced to go bankrupt. Bankman-Fried was arrested in December 2022.
Ellison was the CEO of Alameda Research, a trading firm affiliated with FTX. She lost that job after FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy. Prior to their fall from grace, Bankman-Fried and Ellison were in a relationship. She later went on to testify against Bankman-Fried in court.
The eight-episode series stars Julia Garner as Caroline Ellison and Anthony Boyle as Sam Bankman-Fried. Joining them are Alex Lawther as Sam Trabucco, Karan Soni as Nishad Singh, Naomi Okada as Claire Watanabe, Madison Hu as Constance Wang, Matt Rife as Ryan Salame and Eugene Young as Gary Wang.
Hudson Williams, Paul Reiser, Robin Weigert, Maddie Hasson, Marianna Phung, Jennifer Grey, Terry Chen, William Mapother, Jack Greenlees, Elizabeth Adams, Hannah Galway, Donald Heng, David James Lewis and Jasmine Lukuku also star.
“The Altruists” is created by Graham Moore and inspired by the New York Magazine articles written by Kevin T. Dugan and Jen Wieczner.
Moore serves as writer and showrunner along with Jacqueline Hoyt. James Ponsoldt, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Mairzee Almas, Moore and Silver Tree are directors.
Moore, Hoyt and Barack and Michelle Obama are executive producers. Jessie Dicovitsky and Vinnie Malhotra executive produced for Higher Ground Productions, with Scoop Wasserstein for New York Magazine/Vox Media Studios. Tonia Davis, Ponsoldt, Lauren Morelli and Garner are also executive producers.
