‘May December’ Helmer Todd Haynes Sets Charles Melton To Star With Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore

Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio has achieved a lot of great things in the last few years, ever since his career took off with the 2013 film “Gloria.” For one, A24 asked him to remake that film as “Gloria Bell” in 2018, starring Julianne Moore. Then the year before that, he released two movies in one year, 2017’s “Disobedience” and “A Fantastic Woman,” the latter winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, making it the first Chilean film to win that honor.

Michaela Zee editor On Thursday night, Variety’s “Power of Women: The Changemakers” Presented by Lifetime spotlighted 11 women who inspire past Power of Women honorees Halle Berry (Jenesse Center), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (UNICEF), Misty Copeland (Misty Copeland Foundation), Laverne Cox (New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project), Idina Menzel (A BroaderWay), Julianne Moore (Everytown for Gun Safety) and Katy Perry (Firework Foundation). The changemakers featured in this year’s special include Karen Earl for Jenesse Center, Viktoriia Gnap and Yuliia Hudz for UNICEF, Bianca Johnson for the Misty Copeland Foundation, Shay Huffman for New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, Torya Beard and Ayodele Casel for A BroaderWay, Shannon Watts and Melody McFadden for Everytown for Gun Safety, and Angela Lerche and Brooklyn Molden for Firework Foundation.

Apple Original Films will premiere holiday musical comedy Spirited in theaters Nov. 11 and globally on Apple TV+ Nov. 18.

Constanza Arena, the former executive director of CinemaChile, has established Agencia La Luz, an agency and project incubator that will represent in international markets many of Chile’s foremost writing, directing and acting talents. Many writers are connected to Chile’s fast-growing premium drama/audio scene. Julio Rojas, one Agencia La Luz client, created and wrote “Case 63,” Spotify’s most-listened-to scripted original podcast in Latin America, with an English-language version I the works starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac, and co-wrote Pablo Fendrik’s Latino sci-fi series ‘The Shelter,’ from Starzplay, Pantaya, Fabula, Fremantle. 

Ed Meza @edmezavar The 18th Zurich Film Festival kicks off Sept. 22 with a muscular lineup that includes some of the year’s most anticipated international pics while also putting the spotlight on Swiss and German-language cinema. In addition to a strong selection of U.S. films, including Oscar-winning writer-director Florian Zeller’s “The Son” and Neil Jordan’s “Marlowe,” Zurich is also honoring Sony Pictures Classics’ Michael Barker and Tom Bernard for their contribution to cinema. “We are very proud that this year about one-fourth of our program are world or European premieres, which – especially when it comes to American films – are quite hard to get because there’s a lot of competition,” says ZFF artistic director Christian Jungen.

While the Emmys drew mixed reviews, the film festivals closed to strong applause this week, not only for their movies (we’d forgotten some) but for their star turnout (forgot a few of them, too).

The closing ceremony for the 2022 Venice Film Festival just took place and the awards winners have been revealed.

Reese Witherspoon is celebrating her 'favorite' daughter on her special day.   On Friday, the Legally Blonde star, 46, paid tribute to mini-me eldest child Ava with a sweet post in honor of her 23rd birthday.  Witherspoon, who shares Ava with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, posted a beautiful photo of the look-alike mother-daughter pair posing in front of a beach sunset.

Ben Croll Venice’s red carpet became a stage for quiet protest on Friday, as festival director Alberto Barbera and jury president Julianne Moore, among many more, held a somber walk-out to stand in solidarity with imprisoned filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Traffic on the red carpet flowed normally as attendees made their way into Venice’s Palazzo del Cinema for the world premiere of Panahi’s latest film, “No Bears.” And then, at 4:30 pm sharp, the doors to the theater swung open and a sea of people filed out. Moore stood with a delegation that also included fellow juror Audrey Diwan, Horizons jury president Isabel Coixet, and filmmakers Laura Bispuri and Sally Potter.

Venice jury head Julianne Moore joined activists from the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) in a flash mob on the Venice red carpet Friday evening to call for the release of Jafar Panahi, the Iranian director who was detained in Tehran in July.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Canada’s Sphere Films has signed a multi-picture deal with A24 that will cover nine of the U.S. studio’s films in the Canadian market. Under the deal, Sphere Films will theatrically release pics including Charlotte Wells’ Cannes breakout “Aftersun,” which is currently screening as part of TIFF, and Ari Aster’s “Disappointment Blvd.” starring Joaquin Phoenix. The latter is believed to be A24’s biggest production to date. The A24 deal comes off the back of Sphere Films’ acquisition of MK2 Mile End in April. Charles Tremblay, former boss of MK2 Mile End and now the president of Sphere Films, said: “We felt that by joining a larger media company like Sphere that would help our chances of being a larger distributor than on our own.”

Selome Hailu Claire Danes has joined the cast of HBO Max’s upcoming limited series “Full Circle,” Variety has learned. From Steven Soderbergh and Ed Solomon, the series follows an investigation into a botched kidnapping that uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present day New York City. Danes joins recently announced star Zazie Beetz, though character details for both remain under wraps. Danes had her breakout role in the ABC teen drama “My So-Called Life,” winning a Golden Globe in 1994 and an Emmy in 1995, before going on play Juliet in Baz Luhrmann’s Leonardo DiCaprio-led adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” in 1996. In 2002, she starred alongside Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore in the drama film “The Hours,” and she won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for playing the title role in the TV movie “Temple Grandin” in 2010. Next, she led the Showtime drama “Homeland” as Carrie Mathison from 2011 to 2020, over the years earning two wins and three nominations at the Emmys plus two wins and one nomination at the Golden Globes. More recently, Danes played Cora Seaborne, the leading role in the 2022 Apple TV+ limited series “The Essex Serpent.” Up next, she’ll star opposite Jesse Eisenberg in the FX drama “Fleishman Is in Trouble” based on the novel of the same name.

Tilda Swinton takes over the red carpet in a dazzling lavender gown at the premiere of The Eternal Daughter during the 2022 Venice International Film Festival on Tuesday (September 6) in Venice, Italy.

Eddie Redmayne To Be Honored With Zurich’s Golden Eye

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Academy Award-winner Eddie Redmayne will be awarded a Golden Eye for his career achievements during the 18th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 22-Oct. 2). The British actor will receive the award in person on Sept. 25 prior to presenting the European premiere of Tobias Lindholm’s thriller “The Good Nurse,” in which he plays a nurse who poses a deadly threat to his patients. He will also participate in a ZFF Masters session. Redmayne is one of his generation’s leading character actors. The broader public will recognize him as Newt Scamander from the fantasy franchise “Fantastic Beasts,” the arthouse crowd will know him from more challenging dramas like “Trial of the Chicago 7.” Redmayne won the Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal of the paralysed physicist Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything” (2014).

Julianne Moore sparkles her way down the red carpet for her latest appearance at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.

Christopher Vourlias On the eve of the 79th Venice Film Festival, where his powerful Ukraine war documentary “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” will premiere out of competition on Sept. 7, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky was in a frantic race against time. Footage was still being shot in Ukraine into the second week of August, with Afineevsky only completing the film on Aug. 31 — the same day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the A-list celebrities and foreign press at the festival’s opening ceremony, urging the world not to forget the war in Ukraine with the impassioned plea: “Don’t turn your back to us.”

Mark Rylance in cannibal-love story Bones and All, which debuted on Thursday. The 26-year-old posed for photos alongside his co-star Russell, who opted for a green gown with a large bow on the front, which she paired with long, white gloves. Earlier this year the actor attended the 94th Academy Awards wearing no shirt underneath an embroidered lace jacket and high-waisted pants from Louis Vuitton.