County Person Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Michael J. Fox says the celebrities who became famous during the 1980s were much “tougher” than the ones rising the ranks of stardom now thanks to social media. Fox become of the most popular stars of Hollywood during that decade thanks to the sitcom “Family Ties” and his role as Marty McFly in the “Back to the Future” movies.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic There’s one very good scene in “Armand,” a movie written and directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, the grandson of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann. We’re inside a primary school in Norway. Elisabeth, the mother of a student, has been summoned to the school to appear before a panel of teachers.

EXCLUSIVE: Neon has prebought North American rights to Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, the latest project from the Norwegian director that stars Renate Reinsve. 

CANNES: You are no doubt familiar with the work of Renate Reinsve. The Norwegian actress earned accolades for her performance in Joachim Trier’s stellar “The Worst Person in the World,” and if you happened to attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival this past January, you may have seen her in Aaron Schimberg’s lauded “A Different Man.” Reinsive has already proven her prowess as an actress, but there is a scene in her latest endeavor, “Armand,” which, and excuse the justified hyperbole, is simply startling.

Three years ago, Cannes audiences fell in love with Renata Reinsve, the titular star of Norwegian competition entry The Worst Person in the World. Chances are, they won’t be quite as well disposed to her character in this austere drama from fellow countryman Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, grandson of Norwegian actress Liv Ullman and Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman. Tøndel’s lineage should give you a fair idea of what’s in store here, but, surprisingly, Armand doesn’t dig especially deep into the human psyche, finally falling into a strange no man’s land between intense character drama and jet-black comedy.

Before making Joachim Trier’s 2021 hit The Worst Person in the World, Renate Reinsve was about to jack it all in. Three years later — after A Different Man, with Sebastian Stan, Another Life, with Gael García Bernal, and Handling the Undead, a chiller from Let the Right One In writer John Ajvide Lindqvist — she now finds herself not just back in Cannes but doing double duty at the Sundance, Berlin and Tribeca film festivals (“It’s a running joke that I have two movies everywhere”). Reinsve takes the lead in the Swedish drama Armand, directed by Ingmar Bergman’s grandson Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel.

Annika Pham Rome-based sales outfit Intramovies has picked up international rights to “Uncle Jens,” the directorial debut of Norwegian helmer of Kurdish origin Brwa Vahabpour, credited for the hit series “Countrymen.” Renée Hansen Mlodyszewski, associate producer on “The Worst Person in the World,” is producing for True Content Production, the Oslo branch of Scandi group True Content Entertainment, headed by Yellow Bird founder Ole Søndberg. Anda Ionescu of Bucharest-based Tangaj Production serves as co-producer.

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.

The Zone Of Interest filmmaker Jonathan Glazer has reinforced his support for the virtual Cinema For Gaza campaign auction, pledging a new personalized gift to the fundraiser alongside first-time donors Spike Lee, Olivia Colman, and Paul Mescal. 

Alex Ritman Donations from the likes of Spike Lee, Paul Mescal and Olivia Colman have been added to a growing list of items being sold off as part the Cinema for Gaza auction, which has so far raised over £90,000 ($113,000). A framed “Malcolm X” poster signed by Lee, an “Aftersun” poster signed by Mescal and a personalized video message from Colman are among the auction lots launching on Monday, alongside additional items including a “beer on Zoom” with Tessa Thompson with memorabilia from “The Marvels,” a “Worst Person in the World” poster signed by Joachim Trier and the cast and the chance to talk to Susan Sarandon over Zoom about your favorite of her films (plus a signed “Rocky Horror Picture Show” t-shirt).

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Cinetic Media has signed Aaron Schimberg and Vanessa McDonnell, the filmmaker and producer behind the darkly comedic psychological thriller A Different Man, for management across all media.

EXCLUSIVE: Nicholas Braun, Tommy Dewey and Nicholas Podany have joined the cast of Sony Pictures’ SNL 1975, which will be directed by Jason Reitman and based on the real-life behind-the-scenes accounts of the opening episode of Saturday Night Live.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Over the past few years Italian cinema has been making strides in the global arena and 2024 looks likely to bolster its international standing. New works by top auteurs Paolo Sorrentino and Luca Guadagnino will be launching from the festival circuit just as a fresh crop of directors comes to fore, starting with Margherita Vicario, whose first film “Gloria!” scored a Berlin competition slot.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve (“The Worst Person in the World”) star as lovers caught in an unusual bind in Italian director Piero Messina’s unconventional sci-fi film “Another End,” which is competing in Berlin. Set in a near-future when a new technology exists that can put the consciousness of a dead person back into a living body in an attempt to ease the grief of separation, the English-language film sees Bernal play Sal, a man who loses his wife. Reinsve plays Zoe, the woman who rents her body for the implantation of Bernal’s wife’s consciousness.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy — which is the Country of Focus at this year’s European Film Market in Berlin — is flourishing in terms of production activity just as its box office grosses start to pick up. Yet there’s room for improvement in terms of the number of titles that are able to break out internationally. The Cinema Italiano output currently stands at over 350 movies a year, including co-productions, which is up compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Kyle Richards is letting it all out.

Kyle Richards is in her single girl era — but her co-stars AREN’T loving it!

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Here we are, three weeks into January, and the Sundance Film Festival has delivered what promises to be the year’s most uncomfortable date movie: a grubby New York-set fable about a facially distinctive actor (modeled on Adam Pearson) who undergoes an experimental procedure that leaves him looking like Sebastian Stan — presumably an improvement, until he realizes that under the skin, he’s still the same miserable loser. The kind of oddball satire only indie studio A24 would dare to produce, Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man” asks what it means to be “normal,” and whether, if we could wave a magic wand and “correct” those qualities that set us apart, that’s really something we’d want.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Norwegian director Thea Hvistendahl’s zombie movie “Handling the Undead,” premiering at Sundance and to be released in the U.S. by Neon, sees the reunion of Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie, the stars of Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World,” in a poetic, visually-charged chronicling of a hot summer’s day in Oslo when the dead mysteriously come back to life.

Guy Lodge Film Critic If zombies weren’t so fixated on eating our brains, perhaps they’d be poignant to have around: semi-living, semi-breathing semblances of people we’ve loved, there to be seen and held and talked to, not truly present but not absent either. Whether that’s preferable to the void of death is the question underpinning “Handling the Undead” for much of its running time, even as the threat of the undead reverting to their usual habits gives this soft, sorrowful bereavement drama a core of cold-blooded horror.

Marta Balaga Thea Hvistendahl’s “Handling the Undead,” fresh off its Sundance premiere, has already scared multiple buyers into submission, Variety has found out exclusively. Starring “The Worst Person in the World’s” Renate Reinsve and sold by TrustNordisk, it has been picked up by Hungary (Vertigo Media), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), France (KinoVista), Spain (Avalon Distribution), Korea (Pancinema), Japan (Tohokushinsha Film Corp.), Taiwan (Swallow Wings Films) and ANZ (Signature Entertainment). Neon Rated acquired North American and U.K.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and Travis Kelce is already trying to come up with the “right” gift for his girlfriend Taylor Swift!

Travis Kelce knows Taylor Swift is one of the most famous celebs in the world, and he’s not afraid to admit it… or at least allude to it.

Travis Kelce is revealing who’s in his phone – and he’s not giving us the easy answer.

Annika Pham Actors Ewan McGregor, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, directors Ruben Östlund, Ernst de Geer, Ramata-Toulaye Sy and Cannes Film Festival honcho Thierry Frémaux are some of the stellar guests set to walk the red carpet at the 47th edition of Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival. This year’s Göteborg Fest unspools from Jan. 26 to Feb.

Danny Masterson new mugshot is here.

Giant inflatable multi-coloured bubbles have invaded Victoria Square as week two of Bolton’s Put Big Light On Festival gets underway. After the success of last weekend’s centrepiece installation Borealis, a northern lights recreation above the town hall which attracted thousands of visitors, the main attraction currently is Evanescent.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Justine Triet‘s “Anatomy of a Fall” missed out on being chosen as France’s Oscar entry, but the movie has been a critical and commercial hit — including in the U.S., where it’s become the highest-grossing specialized foreign-language release post-pandemic, according to distributor Neon. Released in the States on Oct. 13, “Anatomy of a Fall” has pulled in $3.5 million so far, putting it ahead of Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” and on track to match last year’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness,” another Neon movie.

Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve took the world by storm in 2021 when she starred in, dazzling everyone with her lead appearance in Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World.” It wasn’t her debut performance, but it sure felt like it and was a major breakthrough nonetheless. Her performance earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and she’s taken off ever since.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor MAD Solutions — the Middle East and North Africa region’s leading sales agent and distributor of Arabic-language films — has acquired the world sales rights for Tunisian director Nada Mezni Hafaiedh’s debut feature “Take My Breath,” which world premiered in the International Competition of the Warsaw Film Festival this fall. Hafaiedh’s film, which has found great success in Tunisian cinemas over the past month, follows the life of a young seamstress named Shams, whose tranquil life unravels when their intersex identity is exposed.