Tag: Entertainment – Variety

Unwell, the media company co-founded by married couple Alex Cooper and Matt Kaplan, has landed its first outside investor: Patrick Whitesell, co-founder of WME and former executive chairman of successor company Endeavor.

Whitesell’s WTSL, an investment firm focused on media, entertainment and sports he launched after exiting Endeavor and WME last year, has invested an undisclosed sum in Unwell that values the business at $500 million, according to Unwell. Cooper and Kaplan, who self-funded the company targeting Gen Z women audiences, retain a majority ownership stake. Formed in 2023, Unwell says it has been profitable from day one and sees the WTSL investment as growth capital.

Unwell said that in addition to the funding, WTSL brings “deep strategic expertise, industry relationships and a proven track record of supporting some of the most innovative companies and storytellers in media,” including Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions.

“Trust has become the ultimate distribution channel and 70 million women a month tune into Unwell,” Cooper, whose “Call Her Daddy” podcast remains the company’s tentpole franchise. “We’re scaling on all fronts, combining nimbleness, social-first premium content, and our understanding of culture to serve this highly influential audience. With WTSL’s backing, the company is now also poised to accelerate our media platform’s growth through acquisitions and investments.”

Whitesell said in a statement, “Alex, Matt and the team have demonstrated an exceptional ability to anticipate where audiences are headed and create entertainment experiences that resonate deeply,” he said. “The company’s growth, audience connection and cultural relevance set it apart, and we believe Unwell is uniquely positioned to help define the present and future of media.”

News of the funding from Whitesell’s WTSL comes after a pair of recent exposés alleging behind-the-scenes chaos at Unwell. According to a Vanity Fair story in June, one Unwell freelancer alleged that Kaplan “creates the most toxic work environment that I’ve ever seen”; anonymous sources also said Kaplan had questioned employees about their sex lives and commented on their physical appearance. In April, Bloomberg reported that Kaplan “has earned a reputation for frequently yelling at staff members” and said Unwell’s employees were “looking for the exit.”

Cooper, in an interview at Cannes Lions this June with the Wall Street Journal, was asked about the allegations. “I will just kind of leave it at ‘Don’t believe everything that you read on the internet’ — but I think everyone knows that at this point,” she said. Cooper also said, “I think that we have done a really incredible job at Unwell, and I think if you walk the halls, there are so many people that are so happy to work at this company. … I think, unfortunately, being a woman in this industry is extremely difficult because you’re held to a completely different standard. Whether it’s a smear campaign being created for someone’s narrative, whatever it be.”

Kaplan is the founder of ACE Entertainment, whose credits include “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” one of Netflix’s most-watched original films to date, and popular Gen Z series “XO, Kitty” (also for Netflix).

“As the premier media company for women, we’re collaborating with some of the biggest brands in the world on creator-led strategies,” Kaplan said in a statement. “Brands realize buying paid ads or influence just isn’t enough in such a disparate media landscape. And, it’s difficult to find a platform like Unwell that meets Gen Z where they are on their terms. That’s something legacy media still hasn’t unlocked.”

Unwell says its audience is 89% female, with 72% between the ages of 18 and 35. The company claims to have nearly 100 million followers across platforms and generated more than 1.7 trillion earned media impressions in 2025 alone. Its podcast network of more than a dozen shows is supported by a “significant” SiriusXM partnership and video engagement on YouTube. In 2024, Cooper inked a three-year deal with SiriusXM worth as much as $125 million over the course of the agreement.

Beyond podcasting, Unwell has expanded into series for premium streaming services and YouTube as well as live events.

The company produced the “Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special” on Disney +; partnered with Peacock on live programming from the Paris Olympics; launched reality series “Love Overboard” with Hulu, and has a slate of shows with Netflix, including “Let’s Marry Harry” and “Icebreaker,” set to shoot this fall. Unwell also has a growing portfolio of YouTube-native series announced earlier this year at the streaming giant’s Brandcast event.

Unwell also has staged nationwide tours, spring break experiences, SXSW activations and other live events (which the company estimates have been attended by more than 150,000 fans in person). The company also has a consumer products business spanning energy drinks, hydration products and stick packs.

There was a time when talky slabs of recent political history like “The Brink of War,” carried by skilled name actors who aren’t quite stars, were largely the preserve of Emmy-chasing TV networks. Today, with a bit of added Christian-right rhetoric, they’re ready for the big screen, as the growing faith-based film industry expands its palette in terms of subject matter — but not cinematic style, as evidenced by this dutifully drab gray-flannel enterprise from writer-director Michael Russell Gunn.

The latest from so-called “values-based” distributor Angel Studios comes hot on the heels of their Fourth of July release “Young Washington,” which has drummed up nearly $47 million in theaters, and shares with that Great Man biopic the kind of textbook American patriotism that recalls, well, a certain kind of textbook. The story of how the 1986 Reykjavik Summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev paved the way for the next year’s nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, it feels veritably designed (right down to its PG rating) to bore kids in history classrooms for generations to come. Adult audiences may be more willing when “The Brink of War” opens wide on Friday, but it’s doubtful they’ll be much more entertained.

“Young Washington” was stolidly old-fashioned, but still rousing in its gung-ho way. “The Brink of War” is a far dustier, more static affair: Its drama is all in two aging men seated at a table, arguing with each other over two days about nuclear disarmament in a remote Icelandic consulate building. That doesn’t have to be dull, of course, and if you squint a little at the screen, you can just about see the first-rate Broadway play that could emerge from this material — with no casting changes required — if the telling were just a little more tense, and the writing just a little more witty.

Gunn’s stiff script is attentive to the political dynamics and rhetorical thrust of the talks, and if its repeated emphasis on American honor, freedom and statesmanship makes for a somewhat pious exercise, you can’t deny the narrative stakes are high. The lines of conflict are established early and clearly: Where Gorbachev merely wants to discuss the banning of ballistic missiles, Reagan’s equal emphasis on human rights — in particular, the Soviet Union’s restrictions on Western travel for its citizens — complicates the discussion, while his insistence on pushing the controversial Strategic Defense Initiative continues to be a sticking point for the other side. (No surprise that the film glides over American political opposition to the latter proposal, unambiguously taking Reagan’s side on all fronts.)

What’s crucially lacking here is a particularly compelling sense of Reagan and Gorbachev as human characters. Jeff Daniels and Jared Harris, respectively, put forward solidly recognizable impressions of the men we knew from televised speeches and newscasts, but aren’t given many notes to play: The leaders’ inner lives are limited to standard-issue exchanges with their wives about professional duty and strain, which don’t vary much in tone from the pithy aphorisms they share with their right-hand men about diplomacy, or lack thereof. Even when religion comes up for discussion, it’s in predictably on-message Angel Studios fashion, as Reagan chides his atheist opponent for “denying [his people] the hereafter.” (“This is worse than propoganda!” protests one of Gorbachev’s aides; irony is not one of the film’s stronger suits.) At one point, Reagan spills some chicken salad sandwich filling on his shirt; it’s about the most unguarded moment we get.

Reagan also, naturally, gets the leading perspective, as well as the most generous sounding boards in the supporting ensemble: not just his wife Nancy (Hope Davis), who doesn’t travel to Reykjavik but provides repeated counsel over the phone, but his Secretary of State George Shultz (played with an air of gruff, salt-of-the-earth decency by J.K. Simmons), on hand to straighten out Team America’s priorities when the negotiations go awry.

Though the film’s lens is consistently ennobling — abetted by everything from DP Magdalena Górka’s sober official-portrait lighting to Austin Wintory’s overbearing score — Daniels gets Reagan’s combination of folksy squareness and flintier social conservatism. It’s a more substantial portrayal than Dennis Quaid’s in the tackily propagandistic 2024 biopic “Reagan,” though we’re still left with the impression that, in the ranks of American presidents on screen, the erstwhile movie star remains a less dynamic movie subject.

Harris, meanwhile, plays Gorbachev as an altogether more aloof, intractable and unknowable figure, which is precisely how the film wants it — though Branka Katić gives the canniest, funniest performance here as his watchful, image-conscious wife Raisa, here placed in a remote PR war with the U.S. First Lady where, yet again, America gets to come out on top. The film could use a few more such colorful secondary strands adjoining the main conflict, though one subplot involving a maybe-romance between two jaded journalists assigned to the summit is oddly framed and abruptly dropped.

Fairly deliberate for much of its two-hour running time, “The Brink of War” suddenly races toward a denouement in its final quarter-hour — somewhat eliding the fact that the Reykjavik Summit was, at least in the short term, a failure, with the two men’s talks ultimately stalling, and folding it into the clearer success story of the next year’s treaty. As the film’s single most lumpen line of dialogue reminds us at the close: “A journey of a thousand miles doesn’t begin with the most incredible arms deal in history — it begins with a single step.” Gunn’s film, on the other hand, is content to skip a few steps where necessary.

The Writers Guild of America has fired back at Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison after he threatened to start pulling Paramount out of California on Oct. 1 if California AG Rob Bonta refused to come to the bargaining table and settle the antitrust suit to stop the studio’s acquisition of Warner Bros.

“By threatening to leave the state because it doesn’t want the government to enforce the law, Paramount further proves the danger of its outsized power over the industry and what that will mean for writers and the creative community,” the WGA told Variety in a statement. “This type of behavior is precisely why the merger should be blocked.”

The WGA, along with Bonta and his coalition of 12 states, is suing to block the $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. Filed jointly with the WGA West and East branches, the guild’s suit claims the merger violates antitrust law and would inflict irreparable harm on industry scribes.

The AG’s lawsuit claims the transaction violates the Clayton Act by diminishing competition in three key markets: wide-release theatrical distribution, “top-grossing” theatrical distribution and basic cable licensing. Bonta, in response to the news that Paramount may split town, wrote on X Tuesday, “In a span of weeks, Paramount agreed to halt the merger until a court decision or until June 2027, asked for a November trial, and is now back with another attempt to blackmail the state into letting an illegal deal through. Paramount has lost the plot as it continues to lose in court. It didn’t work the first time — on the eve of our July lawsuit — and it won’t work this time.”

Oct. 1 is the day when Paramount will begin paying Warner Bros. shareholders a $7 billion ticking fee for every day that passes without a closed deal. The AG’s lawsuit is set to go to trial on March 2, 2027. If no settlement is reached, Paramount would be on the hook for over $1 billion to WBD shareholders by the end of the trial.

Ellison wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed that he believes the reason the states are opposed to a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. is not because of industry consolidation, but because Ellison would have control over CNN if the two studios were allowed to merge. During the acquisition process Ellison has made no secret that he is a friend of President Donald Trump, a longtime critic of the network. The turbulence behind the scenes at CBS News and its marquee program, “60 Minutes,” has also stoked fear that CNN may be mismanaged under Ellison’s control.

“Great news organizations like CNN and CBS News are here to tell it straight down the middle,” Ellison wrote. “That requires newsrooms that reflect the whole world, not one side of it. And it requires independence. Our journalists will continue to answer to the facts and to all the people they serve — not to any party or cause. These were founding principles for both CNN and CBS News, for legends like Ted Turner and Edward R. Murrow, and it is exactly that kind of independence that has always fueled the greatness of ‘60 Minutes.’”

“The Daily Show” released a slew of never-before-seen audition tapes from past and present correspondents in a 10-minute compilation posted to YouTube.

The video, honoring the satirical news program’s 30th anniversary, features audition tapes from all five current rotating hosts, many of whom are seen in the footage bantering with either Jon Stewart or Trevor Noah, depending on when they first joined the show.

Some of the auditions are presented like correspondent segments, with Jordan Klepper, for example, wearing a suit and riffing with Stewart in front of a green screen showing Washington, D.C. Others are more casual, with Desi Lydic seemingly talking to a producer reading a script off-screen.

A fresh-faced John Oliver, who joined “The Daily Show” in 2006, is seen joking around with Stewart before the audition starts. “Now, if you do come work for us, you know you can’t use the name John,” Stewart tells Oliver, who quips back, “That’s fine. I’m prepared for that. I was going to take ‘Rico.’”

The auditions also include Samantha Bee, who served as a correspondent from 2003 to 2015 before leaving to host her own show, “Full Frontal,” and Michael Che, who was on “The Daily Show” for three months before departing for “Saturday Night Live.”

Jessica Williams, Roy Wood Jr., Rob Riggle, Jason Jones and Wyatt Cenac are also featured. And, in 2002, Ed Helms and Rob Corddry are seen performing the same bit, about changes being made to Winter Olympic sports.

Watch the audition tape compilation below.

Julie Andrews recently told InStyle magazine that she is not returning for “The Princess Diaries 3” opposite Anne Hathaway. The 90-year-old icon turned down the offer to reprise her role of Queen Clarisse in the movie, which will serve as a long-awaited sequel to 2001’s “The Princess Diaries” and 2004’s “Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.”

“I think I probably passed… I think I’m retired, really, would be about the best description for that,” Andrews said about her decision not to return. “[The film’s creative team] asked me all last year if I would be keen to do it. It was very very hard to say ‘no,’ but I did because I thought I had a wonderful ride, and this one I felt would flourish very well and wouldn’t need Granny going in there at my age.”

Andrews has not acted on screen in years, although she has taken various voice roles over the last decade in movies such as “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” “The King’s Daughter” and “Aquaman,” plus television series like “Bridgerton.” She told InStyle that she enjoys narrating the blockbuster Netflix series as Lady Whistledown since she can record her lines from home. Andrews added: “I do it mostly to keep my brain alive.”

Variety confirmed in November 2022 that Disney was developing a third installment in “The Princess Diaries” franchise with screenwriter Aadrita Mukerji (“Reacher,” “Supergirl”). Andrews told Access Hollywood a month later that she doubted she’d be back.

“I think we know that it’s probably not going to be possible,” she said at the time. “It was talked about very shortly after [“Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement”] came out, but it’s now how many years since then? And I am that much older and Annie the princess, our queen, is so much older. And I am not sure whether it would float or run.” 

Before the third installment was officially put in development at Disney, Hathaway told Entertainment Tonight that she would be keen to bring Andrews back. She added: “We would go to where she was and put a green screen behind her and just make it happen.” 

But Andrews is not returning after all. Adele Lim (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “Raya and the Last Dragon”) signed on to direct “The Princess Diaries 3” in 2024. Hathaway will reprise her role as Mia Thermopolis, now Queen of Genovia, in the threequel. She said during an interview on SiriusXM’s “Radio Andy” earlier this year the script for the new movie recently went through a breakthrough.

“I think we are moving in the right direction,” she said at the time. “The script that we were working on — we kind of had to start over with this new direction, which is not the update I think anybody wants, but we all feel really good that this is gonna be the one.”

Lim told Variety in May that the shooting and production schedule were still being worked out for “The Princess Diaries 3.’ A release date has yet to be announced.

The original “Princess Diaries,” based on the novel by Meg Cabot, was released in 2001 and was directed by the late Garry Marshall. Hathaway stars as an awkward American teenager who learns she’s the heir to the throne of the European kingdom of Genovia. Despite mixed reviews, the family film became a box office hit with $165 million in global ticket sales. The first sequel opened in 2004 and introduced the world to Chris Pine. It was equally successful in theaters with $134 million worldwide.

Fast-rising star Jessica Reynolds (“Kneecap,” “A Woman of Substance”) and Oscar-nominated screen icon Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years,” “Under the Sand”) are teaming up for Irish psychological drama “Maya Butterfly,” set in the world of opera and described as “Tár” meets “Sound of Metal.”

The project, which comes from Hail Mary Pictures and has been acquired by Wildcard for U.K and Irish distribution rights, marks the directorial feature debut of award-winning Irish opera director Edwina Casey. Principal photography is now underway, with filming to take place on location in the National Opera House in Wexford and Belfast.

“Maya Butterfly” tells the story of a rising soprano who is secretly losing her hearing and must fight to survive the opening week of a radical opera production, until the truth threatens to destroy both her career and her identity.

“I am honoured to be realising this film with two immensely talented artists: Jessica Reynolds and Charlotte Rampling,” said Casey, a former Bingham Ray New Talent Award winner whose work spans international opera, film and commercial directing. “Told in the first-person perspective, ‘Maya Butterfly will be a sensory experience of one singer’s destructive process during the most important week of her career. Through its combination of musical theatrics and character-led storytelling, it will be a testament to my love of modern, inclusive, cinema and I am sincerely grateful to Screen Ireland for the continued support.”

The film is produced by Conor Barry (“The End”) and Richard Bolger (“Father Mother Sister Brother”) for Hail Mary Pictures, with funding from Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen and Yellowmoon. Patrick O’Neill (Wildcard), Paul Kennedy (Village Films) and Bernard Michaux (SAMSA Film) also serve as producers. Executive producers are Atilla Salih Yücer, Ronan Flynn, Gillian Cooper and Greg Martin.

“We are thrilled to be working with Edwina on ‘Maya Butterfly,’” said O’Neil. “It’s an incredible story, and set to be an ambitious, thrilling, and emotional film made for the big screen. It’s always exciting to work on a unique film, something audiences have not seen before, and We cannot wait to bring the film to cinemas next year.”

Behind the camera, the creative team includes production designer Ruta Kiskyte (“Sing Sing”), director of photography Piers McGrail (“Saipan”), costume designer Saffron Cullane (“Censor”), casting director Áine O’Sullivan (“Blue Moon”) and line producer Michael Donnelly V (“Dublin Oldschool”).

“Maya Butterfly” was selected for the Torino Film Lab and the Venice Gap-Financing Market, and was developed with the support of Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, including the Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and Luxembourg Film Fund Co-Development Fund for Female and Non-Binary Filmmakers.