Russia Showbiz Latest News and Updates

This Morning's Alison Hammond presented the show on Friday and flaunted a dazzling diamond on her wedding ring finger which has got tongues wagging.

Gregg Goldstein Raoul Peck‘s life is as fascinating as his films, filled with unexpected twists and turns. From his early stints as a cab driver and journalist, to a minister of culture post in his native Haiti, to teaching, to founding his Velvet Film production shingle to his breakthrough when he earned an Oscar nomination as producer/director with the James Baldwin doc, “I Am Not Your Negro,” the common denominator is Peck’s drive to make life better through his work.

My résumé reminds me it was probably spring of 2004 when I knocked on that stranger’s basement-apartment door at 11th and P streets NW. At home, I hoped, was the former Metro Weekly “coverboy” I wanted to interview. He was at the center of a mini maelstrom, working in the office of a GOP congressman.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, Zach Galifianakis and Tom Sturridge team up in Olivier Assayas’ political thriller “The Wizard of the Kremlin”, based on Giuliano da Empoli’s bestseller by the same name. Produced by Olivier Delbosc’s banner Curiosa Films and Gaumont – who last partnered on Cannes prizewinning “The Taste of Things” — “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is one of the hottest packages launching at the Cannes Film Market where Alexis Cassanet, Gaumont’s EVP international sales and distribution, is kicking off pre-sales.

The latest list of Britain's top wealthiest people in 2024 has been revealed.

Ewan McGregor stars in the TV adaptation of Amor Towles’ novel A Gentleman In Moscow.Led by showrunner Ben Vanstone, the show follows aristocrat Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov as he returns to Russia in the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, where he’s arrested and banished to a hotel attic by a Soviet tribunal.Along with starring in the lead role, McGregor also serves as an executive producer on the series alongside Vanstone, Tom Harper and others.Other cast members include Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Fehinti Balogun, Daniel Cerquieria, Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson, Johnny Harris, Leah Harvey and Josh Heffernan.Probably not. The show is billed as a limited series, and while this doesn’t rule out a second season (as shown with Big Little Lies), it does suggest that the chances are low.It’s also hard to imagine considering A Gentleman In Moscow covers all the events in Amor Towles’ original novel, so any second season would have to go beyond the source material.

Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov to Cannes this year with his fourth film in Competition and his first in English. Titled Limonov: The Ballad, it tells the incredible story of Eduard Limonov — pronounced “Le-morrr-nov” not “Limunuv” — a Russian renegade poet who traversed the world, reinventing himself whenever times got hard (and they usually did). To star, the director chose British actor Ben Whishaw, himself a chameleonic actor who’s just as at home taking tea with the Queen in his Paddington guise as he is playing Hamlet onstage at the Old Vic. Here, he talks about getting to grips with an enigma and recalls his first-ever Cannes for her movie Bright Star in 2009.

Jamie Lang Buenos Aires-based production, sales, and distribution outfit FilmSharks is hosting a pair of market screenings for David Bisbano‘s animated feature “Dalia and the Red Book” at this year’s Marché du Film, and Variety has been given exclusive access to the first English-language trailer for the film. “Dalia” will screen twice at this year’s market, on Thursday, May 16, at 2:00 p.m. in Palais E and on Friday, May 17, at 9:30 a.m.

Christopher Vourlias Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa arrives at the Cannes Film Festival this week with his latest documentary, “The Invasion,” worried that the world’s attention has largely drifted from the Ukraine conflict in the two-plus years since Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion. The film premieres with a special screening May 16. Yet from the movie’s powerful opening sequence, which follows a funeral procession for four soldiers killed in battle, Loznitsa reminds us that the war continues to extract a devastating cost from its victims.

Natasha Lyonne is the latest superstar actor to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios keeps adding to its all-star cast for its upcoming The Fantastic Four movie as sources tell Deadline Emmy nominee Natasha Lyonne is set to join highly-anticipated Marvel pic. She joins a cast that already includes Pedro Pascal will play Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby is Sue Storm (aka the Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn is Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach is Ben Grimm (aka the Thing). Julia Garner is also on board to play Silver Surfer while Paul Walter-Hauser, John Malkovich and Ralph Ineson are also on board.

Cannes Film Festival is bracing for a tumultuous 77th edition. As wars rage in Gaza and Ukraine, attendees and organizers anticipate protests, politically charged speeches and pins and flags that signal solidarity with Palestinian civilians, Israeli hostages and Ukrainians looking for more military assistance from the West as they try to fend off the Russian invasion. But if the festival has its way, there will be none of that.

K.J. Yossman The Ukrainian edition of “The Bachelor” is set to return with 28-year-old war veteran Oleksandr Budko as the lead. Produced by Starlight Media (an STB channel) and Warner Bros.

BBC's Eurovision viewership plummeted as a global boycott impacted figures for its broadcast of the Song Contest this year with a significant drop in viewers.The grand finale on Saturday night was snubbed by millions, following a widespread boycott, leading to the BBC witnessing a loss of nearly two million viewers from last year's numbers.The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is a Palestinian-led campaign advocating for various forms of protest against Israel, called for a boycott of this year's contest.This action came after the decision by the Eurovision Broadcasting Union to allow Israel to participate despite its conflict with Palestine, while Russia was excluded from the competition in 2022 due to its military actions in Ukraine.The boycott seems to have made a dent, with a noticeable dip in the viewership compared to previous years. On Sunday, TV critic and podcast host Scott Bryan tweeted: "Eurovision was watched by 7.6 million last night, down from 9.9 million - a 23% fall.

Brittney Griner opened up about the thought of traveling internationally again after being detained in Russia for 10 months.

At the end of a nail biting week of musical performances, the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 finally declared its winner on Saturday evening when Switzerland's Nemo won with their song The Code. The winning performance came after a tense week of surprising mishaps, in which controversy had dogged the 68th edition of the annual song contest for months in the run up to the live shows.

‘No travel’ warnings have been issued by the UK Foreign Office for 24 countries, which effectively means they are off-limits to UK travellers. On the list are some expected destinations as well as countries which may come as a surprise.

EXCLUSIVE: Belgian distribution and production company Belga Films Group is reuniting with award-winning director Jaco Van Dormael to produce The Magician of Auschwitz, which will be his first English-language feature in 15 years after shooting mainly in French.

Selena Kuznikov How do Hollywood creators forge massive universes for their characters? For Ronald D. Moore, executive producer of “For All Mankind” and “Outlander,” it all began with the question: What if the Russians landed on the moon first? From this starting point, “For All Mankind” was born. Moore and his team explored their alternate timeline, weaving cultural, societal, and political shifts with historical events, crafting a rich universe for the Apple+ TV series.

EXCLUSIVE: Verve has signed Tracie Laymon, the filmmaker whose debut solo feature Bob Trevino Likes It won both the Grand Jury and Audience Award at SXSW 2024.

Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg (“Crime of The Future”) returns to the festival circuit with “The Shrouds,” making its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Three first-look clips from the film have made their way online (via the Cannes website), and you can watch those scenes below.

Enrique Iglesias likes to show love for fans in a pretty intimate way… But what does his lady think about all that??

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical has acquired North American rights to Susanna Fogel‘s Winner, a political dramedy based on the true story of NSA whistleblower Reality Winner (Emilia Jones), which world premiered at Sundance 2024. Also starring Connie Britton (Nashville), Zach Galifianakis (A Wrinkle in Time), Kathryn Newton (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) and Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick), the film is slated to hit theaters later this year.

Brittney Griner says she thought about killing herself during the first few weeks she spent in a Russian jail, during her grueling 10-month wrongful detention in Russia in 2022. Now, 17 months after her release, Griner’s still recovering from the trauma; her healing includes mental health support from a therapist.

Christopher Vourlias Ukrainian production powerhouse Film.UA is developing a bone-chilling slate of horror films all set within the same cinematic universe, the company revealed exclusively to Variety on the eve of this year’s Cannes Marché du Film. Steeped in local folklore and delving into the rituals, sorcery and mysticism that are woven into the fabric of Ukrainian culture and mythology, the films will transport viewers into a realm where ancient powers stir and darkness reigns, unspooling stories that are rooted in historical and cultural facts and set against the backdrop of current events.

Isobel Yeung is joining CNN as an international correspondent in the network’s London bureau.

declared “extremist” by the the country’s Supreme Court last year.He was sentenced to 15 days in jail.The 22-year-old was also fined 50,000 rubles — about $548 — for “discrediting the Russian army” in posts criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on his Telegram channel, which has since been deleted.Since the Supreme Court ruling, Russian authorities have cracked down on displays or media depictions of LGBTQ identity, conflating support for LGBTQ rights as contrary to existing social mores and traditional or religious viewpoints.They have also cast pro-LGBTQ movements as potential breeding grounds for liberal Western values, including representation for sexual and gender minorities, as well as opposition to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.Examples of these crackdowns have included raids on bars and nightclubs frequented by members of the LGBTQ community, the disruption of a “My Little Pony” convention for allegedly promoting homosexuality, and fines or prosecutions of individuals or Western media companies accused of displaying LGBTQ symbols or advocating on behalf of LGBTQ rights.In February, a woman was arrested and charged with spreading “LGBT propaganda” for wearing rainbow-colored earrings, while another was prosecuted for displaying a rainbow Pride flag on her Instagram account.That same month, a third woman was fined for displaying a Pride flag in the window of her house.In March, a man was arrested and charged for using “extremist symbols” when he sent a rainbow flag emoji in a private chat.According to France 24, Russian authorities have begun removing books with LGBTQ content from brick-and-mortar stores and from online libraries or catalogs.A new council set up by the Russian Book Union, a nominally

EXCLUSIVE: Matthew Del Negro (City on a Hill) is joining season 3 of Mayor of Kingstown.

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will be raking in a small fortune this month when they fight in Saudi Arabia to unify the world heavyweight division.

EXCLUSIVE: Pascal Caucheteux’s Why Not Productions is joining Alexander Rodnyansky’s AR Content to produce Beanpole helmer Kantemir Balagov’s first English-language film Butterfly Jam. Goodfellas is set to launch sales on the project in Cannes next week.