Josh Brolin on Owing ‘Jonah Hex’ Co-Stars an Apology and Finding His ‘Almost Famous’ Audition Tape

So, the Coen Brothers have “broken up,” gone their own way, and aren’t making films anymore, right? One imagines the truth is more nuanced and complicated than that. Take Carter Burwell, their longtime composer.

EXCLUSIVE: Blockers actress Geraldine Viswanathan and Joy Ride‘sMeredith Hagner are joining Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon in Nick Stoller’s wedding comedy You’re Cordially Invited, from Amazon Studios.

Ahmad Jamal, the pianist and band leader who helped pioneer the influential style that would come to be called cool jazz, died Sunday of prostate cancer at his home in Ashley Falls, Mass. He was 92.

Hollywood stars Stanley Tucci and director Joe Russo were in St Andrew's this weekend to attend the film festival at the Byre Theatre.

The Sands International Film Festival, Scotland’s burgeoning film event, opened its second edition this weekend with the world premiere screening of Citadel, the much-talked-about Prime Video series from Marvel auteurs Anthony and Joe Russo.

Angelique Jackson Legendary actor and filmmaker Clint Eastwood is closing in on his next project, with plans to direct “Juror No. 2.” The legal drama is set up at Warner Bros., with Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette circling the lead roles. Eastwood will direct and produce the project alongside Adam Goodman, Tim Moore and Jessica Meier. Jonathan Abrams penned the script. “Juror No. 2” will take place during a murder trial and follows a juror (Hoult), who realizes that he may have caused the victim’s death. He must decide whether to manipulate the jury to save himself, or reveal the truth and turn himself in. Collette would play the prosecutor. Warner Bros. is nearing a green light on the project, with a production start eyed for June, following Eastwood’s 93rd birthday on May 31.

Jake Gyllenhaal took on the wings of death in the “Hot Ones” Season 20 finale Thursday, and — after jokingly questioning who would use a toothpick during the process — walked back his comment when he found out it was Elizabeth Olsen.After a middle-of-the-road sauce with a Mermaid on its label, Gyllenhaal drew attention to the toothpicks and wet napkins available for use beside his chicken wing platter. He competitively refused to use either one, humorously dragging any “a–hole” who’d done so before him.“What a–hole used a f–kin’ toothpick?” the “Covenant” star asked, incredulously.

J. Kim Murphy Michael Lerner, an actor who featured in films such as “Elf,” “Godzilla” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and who received an Oscar nomination in best supporting actor for his performance in Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1991 psychological comedy “Barton Fink,” died Saturday evening. He was 81 years old. Lerner’s death was confirmed by his nephew, “The Goldbergs” actor Sam Lerner, who paid tribute to his uncle through a post on Instagram Sunday afternoon. No further details regarding Lerner’s death are available at this time. “We lost a legend last night. It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me,” Lerner wrote. “His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special. Everyone that knows him knows how insane he was— in the best way.”

Oscar-nominated Cinematographer Wilmer C. Butler, whose work included a series of landmark films such as The Conversation (1974), Jaws (1975) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), has died. He was 101. The American Society of Cinematographers confirmed Butler’s passing.

Todd Gilchrist editor At Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch panel, held March 31 at the Sun Valley Film Festival, the first order of business was defining what it means to be a producer, a title — and a role — that encapsulates a number of responsibilities on a film. “The way that I describe it is you’ve got to know a little bit about a lot of things in filmmaking,” said Rachael Fung, whose film “Fremont” later won best narrative film in the festival’s One in a Million category, recognizing features made for less than $1 million. “You’ve got to be able to understand and talk to every single person that touches the film at every single stage. And also it’s about finding those directors and filmmakers and understanding their vision and figuring out the best way to get that to screen.”

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Nick Schenk, a film and television screenwriter with an affinity for grit, has signed with Agency for the Performing Arts.  Schenk has penned three scripts that became director-star vehicles for Clint Eastwood: “Gran Torino,” “The Mule,” and “Cry Macho.” 2008’s “Gran Torino” revived Eastwood as a leading man at the box office, earning nearly $270 million worldwide on a reported $33 million budget. Schenk also wrote “The Judge,” a 2014 feature teaming of Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, earning the latter an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.  Most recently, Schenk co-wrote ‘”A Christmas Story Christmas” for Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment. An update to the holiday classic, the HBO Max original saw young Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) all grown up trying to recreate the Christmas magic of his youth for his own kids. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Filmmaker siblings Anthony Russo and Joe Russo are calling their deep-dish interview series, “Pizza Film School,” back into session after a nearly three-year break. In Season 2 of the video podcast, the Russo brothers sit down with fellow directors to talk about their favorite films, discuss the craft of making movies — and chow down on a couple slices of pies from local pizzerias. Guests for the second season include Zack Snyder, Nia DaCosta, Justin Chon, R.J. Cutler, Justin Lin and Emerald Fennell. The series is produced by their production company, AGBO. Season 2 will premiered April 11 with new two-part episodes dropping weekly exclusively on AGBO’s YouTube channel.

Sophia Scorziello editor The Sun Valley Film Festival announced their 2023 award winners, with National Geographic’s Documentary “Wild Life” taking home the audience award, “Fancy Dance” winning best narrative and “Nascondino” earning the documentary feature film prize. The annual Idaho Awards Bash took place from March 29 to April 2 at Whiskey Jacques.   In addition to the film awards, the festival hosted a performance by Blair Gun and Variety honored this year’s 10 Producers to Watch. Other highlights include Josh Brolin receiving the Vision award, Emilio Estevez receiving the Pioneer award, Sophie Thatcher receiving the Rising Star award and Nina Yang Bongiovi receiving the Creative Impact Honoree in Producing. 

EXCLUSIVE: Thad Luckinbill has been tapped for a heavily recurring role opposite Zoe Saldaña in Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ original series Lioness, headlined and executive produced by Saldaña and also starring Nicole Kidman, who executive produces, and Laysla De Oliveira. The series hails from Sheridan, MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios.

A new teaser trailer for Extraction 2, the sequel to Netflix’s action hit, answers at least one big question for fans of the original: Chris Hemsworth’s mercenary Tyler Rake is alive and well and ready for another black ops mission.

Sun Valley Film Festival runs from March 29th to April 2nd and will feature 18 narrative and documentary titles, including opening night selection, “Fancy Dance,” which is the directorial debut of co-writer Erica Tremblay, and the world premiere of Anthony Mandler’s “Surrounded,” which will close the festival. Award honorees include Josh Brolin (“No Country for Old Men,” “Outer Range”), who will receive the Vision Award, and Sophie Thatcher (“Yellowjackets,” “The Book of Boba Fett”), who will be given the Rising Star Award. “Last year, people were dying to get out, and this year our ticket sales are outpacing 2022. Once again, there’s a strong appetite for live events,” says festival founder and executive director Teddy Grennan.

Christina Aguilera, Bad Bunny and Jennifer Coolidge picked up wins at the 2023 GLAAD Media Awards, which were hosted at the The Beverly Hilton on Thursday evening (March 30) in Beverly Hills, Calif.

EXCLUSIVE: Unlike its predecessor, Dune: Part Two won’t be debuting at the Venice Film Festival, we can reveal.

, Ryan Murphy’s historical anthology series, is finally back with season 2. After a five-year gap, the FX drama returns with an all-new, star-studded installment called, with the focus on the falling out between notorious writer Truman Capote and several of his female friends, including Ann Woodward, Babe Paley, CZ Guest, Gloria Guinness, Joanne Carson and Slim Keith. “It’s such a great lineup of extraordinary women [and] great roles,” Naomi Watts tells ET about the series, in which she’ll portray Paley.

tribute speech in honor of his friend Adam Sandler being awarded this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the comedian called out the Oscars for snubbing the “Uncut Gems” star.“I’ve known this guy for 30 years,” Rock, 58, said of Sandler, 56, during his speech from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.“The Oscars, you know, they’re f–king a–holes,” he continued. “And if they don’t want to give my man his props, we will tonight.”Rock appeared to be referencing Sandler’s lack of a nomination for his role as New York City jeweler Howard Ratner in the 2019 film, “Uncut Gems.” Sandler’s role was highly praised, with some even calling it the “finest” performance in his entire career — including The Post.The movie grossed over $500 million domestically on a $19 million budget, according to box office stats.Along with glowing reviews, it even scored an award from the USA National Board of Review as a “top ten film.”However, the Josh and Benny Safdie-directed film was not nominated for any Oscars.In response to the snub, Sandler tweeted out a message at the time, writing, “Bad news: Sandman gets no love from the Academy.