Al Pacino, Dan Stevens to Play Troubled Priests in Exorcism Horror ‘The Ritual’ (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Andy Garcia is set for a key role opposite Billy Bob Thornton in the Paramount+ drama Landman from Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace.

EXCLUSIVE: After having a busy month at the box-office with Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire and Abigail both opening, Dan Stevens is continuing to stay busy as he is set to join Lily James in the upcoming film inspired by the story of Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, from 20th Century Studios and Ethea Entertainment.

Selena Kuznikov The Hollywood Radio and Television Society has elected six new board members to its HRTS Foundation, the org announced Wednesday. The HRTS Foundation, first launched in 2022 (in honor of the HRTS’ 75th anniversary) is a charity that aims to foster “a more diverse, equitable and inclusive TV and entertainment industry.” Joining the board: Aimie Billon, a partners and strategy consultant in cause-related storytelling; Keely Cat-Wells, to co-founder and CEO of Making Space; Tony Jonas, the founcer of Tony Jonas Prods.; Noriko Kelley, the exec VP of programming strategy at CBS Entertainment; Dick Lippin, the chairman, chief executive and founder of The Lippin Group; and Frederic Richter, a writer, researcher and NYU SPS faculty member.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Brazilian auteur Kleber Mendonça Filho (“Bacurau”) is set to direct “The Secret Agent,” a gripping political thriller headlined by “Civil War” star Wagner Moura. The film is set in the late 1970s during the final years of Brazil’s military dictatorship.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Global Screen, the Munich-based international sales outfit, has boarded worldwide sales on “The Trek,” the upcoming first feature from leading South African cinematographer and director Meekaaeel Adam. The film is a horror-Western, in which starvation, suspicion and madness plague a family as they cross the Kalahari Desert under the eyes of primeval spirits.

NME’s latest star of The Cover, J Noa, has shared a playlist exclusively to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.The Dominican rapper is on this week’s (April 29) edition of The Cover, a renewal of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read the profile of J Noa here, written by Fred Garratt-Stanley and featuring photography by Fiona Garden.Accompanying the story is an exclusive playlist of songs J Noa has compiled under the title ‘Walking through the hood’, featuring 21 Savage, 2Pac, Flo Milli, Nathy Peluso, Tokischa and more. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below and on Apple Music.In her Cover story, 18-year-old J Noa expounds on her belief that rappers are “the journalists of the hood”.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Prolific Philippines-based Epicmedia Productions has come on board “The Passport,” a Malaysian coming of age story about a Tamil family and their punk rock daughter. Production is by Malaysia’s Sixtymac Pictures. Currently at financing stage, the project will mark the directing debut of Ananth Subramaniam, whose short films have played at BiFan and Fantasia, and whose works explore his Tamil-ancestral identity and family within the context of a multi-layered genre.

A number of Strictly Come Dancing stars have addressed ditching their usual celebrity partners as they head out on the road together for another year of epic routines, emotional stories and plenty of sparkle in the 2024 official Strictly The Professionals UK Tour.

Todd Gilchrist editor In “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Lucasfilm resurrected more with its 2022 series for Disney+ than just the eponymous Jedi Master, who’d gone into hiding after the events of “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.” The show also rekindled his greatest conflict — perhaps his greatest failure — with former apprentice Anakin Skywalker, transformed by the dark side of the Force into Sith Lord Darth Vader. And it additionally brought back multiple elements of franchise iconography that go all of the way back to the original films — in particular, the bacta tank.

TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance has said that it has no intention of selling the business, and would rather see the platform shut down.The news comes after the US passed a law forcing the company to sell the hugely popular social media platform, or see the app banned in America.The sell-or-ban measure was issued into law by US President Joe Biden earlier this week (April 24), following a long-running dispute over claims that the company’s ownership structure could allow the Chinese government to gain access to the data of its millions of American users.To date, over 30 American states, Canada, and the European Union have separately banned the app from use on government-owned devices over concerns it could be a security risk. India banned the app nationwide in January 2021, while Taiwan and Afghanistan did the same in 2022.The bill was first brought up last month, when the US House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 24 to 16 to give President Joe Biden the power to enforce a ban on the social media app over concerns that the app is a national security threat and a Chinese espionage tool.This week’s ruling was voted for with an overwhelming majority of 79 to 18, and was signed by President Joe Biden.

Emily Longeretta SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for “Life Is a Highway,” the eighth episode of “The Girls on the Bus” Season 1, now streaming on Max. When Rina Mimoun first produced an episode of television about abortion, she had no idea she’d be doing the same thing more than two decades later. “The Girls on the Bus” showrunner, who worked with Greg Berlanti on the “very special episode” of “Everwood” about women’s rights in 2001, did just that with the eighth episode of the Max series, which debuted on Thursday.

The subject of a timely new Variety profile praising his versatility, British actor Dan Stevens is having a moment. The actor is currently competing with himself at the box office with two different films: MonsterVerse installment “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” for Warners and directing duo Radio Silence’s new vampire movie “Abigail” for Universal.

Alex Ritman It’s been less than 12 years since Dan Stevens raised a middle finger to the British aristocracy (OK, the Crawleys), quitting “Downton Abbey” as the show neared its Emmy-amassing zenith and setting sail for America with his family. As he admits, he had “absolutely no idea” what was going to happen to him.

Johnny Depp on the historical drama film, Jeanne du Barry.Speaking with The Independent, the French director, writer and actor spoke about the film, in which she plays a sex worker in 18th century France, who becomes the mistress to King Louis XV, played by Depp.Maïwenn also opened up about the crew’s experience of working with the Pirates Of The Caribbean star.“I have to be honest. It’s difficult to shoot with him,” she shared.“All the crew were scared because he has a different kind of humour and we didn’t know if he was going to be on time, or if he was going to be OK to say his lines,” she continued.“I mean, even if he was there on set, on time, the crew were afraid of him.”She detailed Depp’s accent development for the movie, and how she was led to cut some of his dialogue, saying: “There was no time for rehearsals. I asked for time but, for whatever reason, he wasn’t available”.“He had a coach, but he couldn’t work with her beforehand,” she continued.

Chris Pratt faced some very stiff competition to play Star-Lord in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

EXCLUSIVE: Adult animation is among the best performing genres on Hulu with shows like Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers, and the streamer has been looking to expand its original offerings with series like Solar Opposites and the Futurama revival.

A lap dancing club which has operated in Altrincham town centre for the last 24 years has been shut down with immediate effect.

Johnny Depp is back on the red carpet.

2022 defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard. While directing a biopic about artist Amedeo Modigliani, Depp toured the ancient fortress perched on the hills of Mount Crovero in Turin, according to newspaper Corriere delle Sera.Sources told The Post actor Riccardo Scamarcio — who is starring in the movie, along with Al Pacino — has been a frequent visitor to the castle and took Johnny with him, with a view to buying it.

Tom Brady is opening up about the possibility of playing in the NFL again.