Amanda Seyfried confirmed that she will not be attending the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival to promote her movie Seven Veils amid the SAG-AFTRA strike.
16.08.2023 - 15:45 / variety.com
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Talking Heads were one of the most important and influential acts to emerge from the 1970s, yet the bandmembers’ relations since their split around a decade later have not been the most harmonious. The group has reunited just once — when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 — and frontman/main songwriter David Byrne has been on the receiving end of a long string of critical comments from former bandmates Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, who say that he deprived them of due credit and other opportunities and was generally unpleasant to work with.
The two, a married couple, have enjoyed solo success as the Tom Tom Club and reformed the group without Byrne in the 1990s, releasing an album under the name the Heads after the singer took legal action to prevent them from using the band’s full name. In his autobiography released last year, “Remain in Love,” Frantz took aim at Byrne multiple times; Byrne has generally avoided comment on the situation, although he performs a large number of the hits he wrote with the group during his concerts and his recent award-winning Broadway show, “American Utopia.” Thus, Wednesday’s announcement that the group will take the stage together again at the Toronto Film Festival does come as a surprise, even though they will not be performing but instead will participate in a Q&A about the re-release of their galvanizing 1984 concert film, “Stop Making Sense.” It is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest concert films ever made.
The Q&A, taking place Sept. 11, will be hosted by filmmaker Spike Lee, who directed the concert film of Byrne’s Broadway performance of “American Utopia.” A24 recently acquired the rights to “Stop Making
.Amanda Seyfried confirmed that she will not be attending the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival to promote her movie Seven Veils amid the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Jacob Elordi is getting ready for the premiere of his new movie.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ten Korean independent films will have their world premiere in the Busan International Film Festival’s Korean Cinema Today section. Selectors said on Friday that this year’s crop are films that “delve into profound themes of life, agony, family affection, and personal introspection, inviting audiences to contemplate their meaning.” They add that, “the imaginative depiction of a diverse array of stories, free from the typical rules of genre, adds anticipation.” Delivery presents a “suspenseful irony” as an affluent couple deal with infertility and a young, financially struggling couple face an unplanned pregnancy. “FAQ” is a comic fantasy where an elementary schoolchild innocently picks up a bottle of Korean rice wine or makgeolli at a field camp and then gets to know the secrets of the world through alcohol.
The singer is the latest A-lister to drop Scooter Braun as their manager.
Patrick Dempsey has landed in Italy.
The 2023 Toronto Film Festival is set to kick off in just a week’s time.
EXCLUSIVE: Last week we brought you news of which A-listers would and wouldn’t be attending Venice. This week, the Toronto talent picture is taking shape ahead of its September 7th kick off.
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Former Sony Music Entertainment executive Joel Klaiman has launched Ascend4m, described as a global music and entertainment marketing and consulting agency delivering broadscale media strategy and artist/brand-friendly direction and development. The new company’s focus is on music, media, marketing, and full-scale day-to-day talent management, aligning services for artists and businesses via a diverse range of content and media and music spaces, as well as for artists signed to its label.
Ahead of the start of the Toronto International Film Festival 2023, Bell Canada is dropping the event and will no longer sponsor it.
Michaela Zee Bell Canada is ending its long-standing sponsorship of the Toronto International Film Festival, Variety has confirmed. The telecommunications company, a lead sponsor since 1995, will not continue its partnership with TIFF after the festival’s 48th edition this year. “Bell has had a terrific partnership with TIFF for the past 28 years,” the company said in a statement shared with Variety on Saturday.
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music “Snooze” is one of the most romantic songs on SZA’s chart-topping sophomore album “SOS,” and the song gets a suitably intimate treatment in her new video for the song, which features her snuggling, smoking, swimming arguing and dancing with Justin Bieber, “Power Book II” star Woody McClain, “Beef” hunk Young Mazino and super-producer/songwriter Benny Blanco (who has worked with Bieber, Ed Sheeran and many others as well as his good friend SZA). However, she saves the most intimate dance scenes for … well… you’ll see. Bieber is featured on the song’s extended remix, and he and wife Hailey attended her show in Los Angeles back in March.
Brent Lang Executive Editor Rachel Allen has joined Bleecker Street as senior vice president of publicity. She begins her job at the indie studio this week after more than a decade in the public relations industry, including a five year stint at Cinetic Media, where she served as a director of publicity and led campaigns from festival launch to theatrical release and through awards season.
Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter Today, TIFF announced additional honourees who will be receiving a TIFF Tribute Award at this year’s Festival. Recipients include award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Carolina Markowicz who will be honoured with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM. This award is in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists, whose impact continues today.
Sylvester Stallone will be making more than one appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
Re-releases reliably dot the theatrical calendar and this week have a standout. Oldboy, the 2004 Cannes prize-winner, re-released by Neon on its 20th anniversary restored and remastered, grossed $235k on Wednesday and $150k Thursday — for a total cume $385k on 250 screens heading into the weekend.
The Toronto Film Festival said Friday that Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero, a documentary shot during over the course of 60 days of the Grammy-winning rapper’s first global concert tour, will make its world premiere next month at the fest.
EXCLUSIVE: As Barbie approaches the end of a spectacularly successful first month in theaters, the Israel Film Festival has set one of the film’s great champions, Mattel Chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz, to receive its 2023 IFF Industry Leadership Award.
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The forthcoming re-release of the Talking Heads’ 1984 classic “Stop Making Sense” — which is universally regarded as one of the greatest concert films ever made — has put the long-defunct group more in the spotlight than they’ve been in decades. A day after it was announced that the four members will be onstage together for the first time since 2002 for a Q&A at the Toronto Film Festival, frontman/songwriter David Byrne has expressed some regret over the group’s contentious split in the late 1980s. “As a younger person, I was not as pleasant to be around.
Hayao Miyazaki will open the 71st edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival with his latest pic, The Boy and the Heron.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Noted Japanese director Ando Momoko (“Kakera: Pieces of Our Life,” “0.5mm”) has been named as the ambassador for this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. She also features, alongside her father Okuda Eiji in the festival’s newly-released poster, which recreates a scene from Ozu Yasujiro’s “Tokyo Story” and in which Okuda and Ando represent the classic film’s Ryu Chishu and Hara Setsuko characters. The poster image, shot at the rooftop garden of Kitte Marunouchi Building, with Tokyo Station in the background, was designed by Koshino Junko, who has created the festival’s key visuals for the past three years.