YMU Launches U.S. Social Division Led by Deanna Ritter (EXCLUSIVE)

Anna Marie de la Fuente After 25 years, Susana Gimenez, Argentina’s celebrated TV host, actress, model and entrepreneur, is set to make her hotly anticipated return to the big screen in a new Diego Kaplan (“2+2,” “My Boyfriend’s Meds”) comedy.  The still untitled film, penned by Kaplan and Pablo Minces, centers on a preeminent child psychologist who has her own struggles with her 43-year-old son who is reluctant to leave home. Principal photography is slated for October in Buenos Aires. “I can’t believe I’m making a movie after all these years; I certainly wasn’t planning for it,” said Gimenez. “But Diego is a force of nature and a visionary. When he pitched the project to me, I just couldn’t resist it and jumped right in,” she added. Aside from starring in a host of film and TV series, Gimenez hosted a top-rated talk show likened to that of Oprah Winfrey or Italy’s Raffaella Carrà.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Pharrell’s Icecream brand and NFT company Doodles have teamed up for an exclusive capsule collection to be launched during the “Happy” singer’s Something in the Water music festival. The line will debut at a pop-up during the festival, which runs April 28-30 in Pharrell’s hometown of Virginia Beach, Va., Variety can exclusively report. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Pharrell’s education non-profit Yellow. The items in the Icecream-Doodles collaboration include a skateboard, hat, shorts, hoodies, T-shirts and a beach towel designed by Doodles artist Burnt Toast. Pharrell was named chief brand officer of Doodles in June 2022.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Ashland Hill Media Finance has launched a global sales company headed by industry veteran Tamara Birkemoe. Palisades Park Pictures is launching ahead of next month’s Cannes Film Festival, with operations in Los Angeles and London. The venture, which will soon unveil its inaugural slate of projects, comes a year after the launch of Ashland Hill, which was set up last May by Joe Simpson, Simon Williams and Jonathan Bross. Ashland Hill will continue its operations financing films, while PPP will board sales on a handful of Ashland Hill Media Finance titles in addition to a slate of third-party titles.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Vertical has acquired U.S. rights to Catherine Hardwicke’s “Prisoner’s Daughter,” a thriller with Brian Cox and Kate Beckinsale that premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The film is about a terminally ill father who is recently released from prison and struggles to connect with his daughter and grandson. Vertical will release “Prisoner’s Daughter” in theaters on June 30, 2023. It’s a starry collection of talent. Cox is best known for playing the mephistophelean Logan Roy on “Succession,” while Beckinsale has starred in blockbusters and indie films such as “Underworld,” “Love and Friendship” and “Pearl Harbor.” Hardwicke has directed critical and commercial hits like “Twilight” and “Thirteen.”

Simon Cowell has pressed the golden buzzer for his favourite act on just the second episode of the new series of Britain's Got Talent. Simon, who's famous for being difficult to please, was blown away by Malakli's opera performance and smashed the golden buzzer for him – taking him straight through to the live shows.The young singer received a standing ovation by both the judges and the crowd as Simon went on to label his singing as "golden" before smashing the buzzer. BGT viewers echoed similar sentiments online.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Fox is making a case for its crime anthology series “Accused” for this year’s Emmys. The freshman broadcast series will vie for consideration in the limited or anthology series categories, and Variety can exclusively reveal the creative teams’ plans for submitting its sprawling ensemble and its respective races. Despite each episode tackling a new story with different characters, setting and subject matter, the actors have opted to divide themselves into separate acting races. Read: Variety Awards Circuit’s Emmys Hub

A family fundraiser has been launched to help a Perth boy who suffered serious life-changing injuries as a youngster get out and about.

Melanie Lynskey loves her husband, Jason Ritter — but she doesn’t love that her Yellowjackets costars are just as infatuated.

Chris Meledandri prepares to launch Mario onto movie screens, the Illumination founder and CEO is simultaneously juggling several new movies and sequels in his ever-expanding animation empire. These range from follow-ups to his “Sing,” “Despicable Me” and “Secret Life of Pets” franchises, as well as original movies like this fall’s “Migration,” the story of a family of ducks who live in a pond in New England and no longer have to migrate because the winters are milder. But before all that, there’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which is expected to achieve box office domination when it opens on April 5. Beyond running Illumination, Meledandri, who sat down with Variety with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto for this week’s cover story on the making of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” also serves as a creative partner to DreamWorks Animation as it looks to reboot the “Shrek” franchise. In that capacity, he’s pushed to bring back the film’s original voice cast which includes Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy for “Shrek 5.”

Shigeru Miyamoto picks disinterestedly at a breakfast burrito, he’s an island of calm in a swirl of chaos. His team of handlers — Nintendo executives from Japan and America — is frantically hovering around him like a protective ring of Koopa shells. Miyamoto, who has granted only a handful of major interviews, is here to discuss “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” with Chris Meledandri, CEO of Illumination. Both served as producers of the animated feature from Universal and Nintendo.

Melanie Lynskey is sharing her relationship deal breaker — and how she knew husband Jason Ritter was the one for her. The couple met in 2013, became engaged in 2017 and wed in 2020. Lynskey and Ritter recently made headlines following a tearful joint interview, reflecting on the «messy» start of their relationship and how Ritter worked to overcome his alcoholism in those years. Speaking with ET's Deidre Behar at the ' Paleyfest panel on Monday, Lynskey opened up about building an unbreakable bond with her now-husband. «There was something about his willingness to have a conversation, always,» she shared on the red carpet. «Even in our darkest and most difficult moments, which there were a few, he would always talk about it.

Honest about his ups and downs. Jason Ritter has celebrated his triumphs and been candid about his shortcomings over the years.

Melanie Lynskey and Jason Ritter have found their Ever After.

Melanie Lynskey’s husband Jason Ritter didn’t think he “deserved” her when they started dating due to his alcoholism battle. The ‘Yellowjackets’ actress, 45, got hitched to ‘Joan of Arcadia’ star Jason, 43, in 2020 a year after they had their first child, and he fought tears as he opened up about his fight with drink when they appeared together on Wednesday’s (29. 03.

Melanie Lynskey and Jason Ritter are #CoupleGoals in Hollywood. The pair, who met in 2013 and have been together ever since, have made no secret of their love for each other over the years.Lynskey and Ritter, who have co-starred in multiple projects together, got engaged in 2017, welcomed their daughter the next year and tied the knot two years after that.All the while, Lynskey and Ritter have been each other's biggest supporters, proudly gushing over their better half on social media and in interviews.«I feel so fortunate. I don't have anything to complain about, you know?» Lynskey told ET in March 2023.

Jason Ritter and wife Melanie Lynskey have such a powerful love story.

are, hands down no question, the best celebrity couple, Ritter goes ahead and shares the most touching story about how their relationship began. It was on , of course, because like nobody else in the biz. In the viral clip, Barrymore asks Ritter when he knew that Lynskey was the one for him. “It’s not as cute of a story as you would like to think,” Ritter says, then proceeds to tell the cutest story I've ever heard in my life.

Melanie Lynskey and Jason Ritter are total couple goals now, but the actor spouses admit that their love story had a few bumps in the road.During an appearance on, the couple got candid about how Ritter's struggles with alcohol impacted their relationship.Noting that they first got to know each other on the set of 2013's, Lynskey, 45, shared that they were both filming the movie at a tough time in their personal lives.«We were both going through very difficult times in our lives. We were both going through breakups,» Lynskey shared. «It was a very tumultuous time.»Ritter, 43, added that though he knew Lynskey was «incredible» early on, he didn't feel worthy of her due to his issues with alcohol.«It's not as cute of a story as you would like to think.

Looking back. Jason Ritter opened up about his struggle with alcoholism and how it affected his relationship with Melanie Lynskey in the early stages of their romance.

Adam Sandler's career be like today if things played out differently early on? For example, if he'd gotten cast as Ross on, and thus teamed up with Jennifer Aniston even earlier?Well, as it turns out, that particular branching timeline wasn't really in the cards — despite some recent remarks the pair made while promoting their new film,, that seemingly implied that it was a possibility.The co-stars walked the red carpet at the premiere of their Netflix action comedy on Tuesday, and they each spoke with ET's Nischelle Turner about whether or not Sandler was actually in the running for the role — which ultimately went to David Schwimmer.«Well, that's a very big possibility,» Aniston said, before asking Sandler, «Were you really up to play Ross?»Sandler shook his head no, adding, «I would have!»«No that wasn't real,» Sandler added. «I was just joking.»However, that doesn't mean the pair were joking when talking with Drew Barrymore about wanting to do a movie adaptation of «Talk to the sweatshirted man!» Aniston said, referring to the casually dressed Sandler, when asked about the possibility. «It depends on how everybody responds to this film.»«If they enjoyed themselves and had a good time, Netflix will hopefully just say 'Yup!'» Aniston added enthusiastically.«I mean, honestly, I don't know if that's the one,» Sandler said, referring to the ideal project that he, Aniston and Barrymore could all collaborate on. «But that would be funny, I'm sure, if someone wrote a great script.»However, the real problem is stepping into the shoes of Jack Tripper — an iconic comedy role originally played by John Ritter in the beloved sitcom.«Jack Tripper is the best, by the way.