Marc Malkin-Senior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Broadway is coming to Santa Monica. Jenna Ushkowitz (“Glee”) and Merle Dandridge (“The Last of Us,” “Station 19”) are teaming up and gathering their singer friends to raise money for Harvest Home L.A., a non-profit for unhoused pregnant women. “Jenna, Merle, and Friends: A Night of Song” will feature pop and Broadway tunes performed by Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family”), Cheyenne Jackson (“American Horror Story”), Katie Lowes (“Scandal”), Kevin McHale (“Glee”), Austin Mackenzie (“Spring Awakening”), Adam Shapiro (“Never Have I Ever”), Tracie Thoms (“9-1-1”), Carly Thomas Smith (“Rent”) and Kim Dawson (“Sing Off”).

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Simu Liu’s hosting reel keeps on growing. The “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star’s past hosting gigs include the Time 100 gala and the Junos. He also hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2021 and has guest-hosted “Jimmy Kimmy Live!” Now, he’s taking the reins of the People’s Choice Awards.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Riley Keough, Bob Odenkirk and Danny Ramirez will star in a live reading of the Oscar-nominated drama “Anatomy of a Fall,” as will Jay Ellis, Kate Berlant, Quincy Isaiah and Olivia Wilde. Keough (“Daisy Jones & the Six”) takes on the lead role of Sandra, which earned Sandra Hüller an Oscar nomination for best actress at the upcoming Academy Awards. In addition to the human cast, the movie’s dog Messi will reprise his role as Snoop.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events SPOILER ALERT: This story contains mild spoilers for “Lisa Frankenstein,” in theaters now. Zelda Williams has no problem admitting that her feature directorial debut “Lisa Frankenstein” isn’t destined to be considered a cinematic masterpiece. “First and foremost, this movie ISN’T a groundbreaking spiritual journey that will change your worldly perceptions,” she wrote in a filmmaker’s statement, “but it IS a ride — so maybe just try to put your hands in the air and let the coaster take you!” And that it is — a rollercoaster homage to 1980s slasher films.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events The new HBO documentary “Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero” chronicles the Grammy winner as he embarks on his debut concert tour of the same name. The behind-the-scenes film includes the Grammy winner talking about how his family has come to not only accept his queerness, but embrace his sexuality. He’s even taken his dad to a gay bar.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events It was recently announced that Joel Kim Booster was teaming up with Searchlight Pictures again following the awards-nominated success of his 2022 queer rom-com “Fire Island.” This time around, Booster’s new script is about the gay best friend (Booster) of a bride-to-be who’s in charge of making sure his bestie’s wedding goes off perfectly. However, Booster says he’d like to start moving away from playing the “gay best friend.” “I know how the industry works,” Booster tells me on this week’s episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “I know that there are a couple more gay best friends in my future.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Anne Hathaway walked out of a Vanity Fair photo shoot Tuesday morning in support of the Condé Nast Union walk out. Nearly 400 union members who work at Condé Nast are currently holding a 24-hour work stoppage to protest negotiation practices they claim are unlawful. Hathaway was unaware of the work stoppage when she arrived at the New York City photo shoot.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Shortly after the Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday morning, “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan recalled watching Cillian Murphy transform into J. Robert Oppenheimer for the first time. “It was really in the hair and makeup tests, which we shoot on Imax and in black-and-white,” Nolan told Variety.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor have been dating for about eight years, but they’re not looking to work together onscreen anytime soon. “I can’t imagine,” Taylor told Variety on the Emmys red carpet. “I don’t like seeing couples doing things because I’m always aware of the coupledom.” Holland did reveal that they have been pitched “one or two” projects and admitted that she can see them on stage together in “The Chalk Garden,” a 1955 play by Enid Bagnold about a murder mystery involving a grandmother, her granddaughter and a governess.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events “Succession” said farewell last year after four seasons, but we may not have seen the last of the Roy family. Brian Cox, who played patriarch Logan Roy on the hit HBO series, says he’s open to a “Succession” movie. “We’ll see,” Cox told me on Saturday at the BAFTA Tea Party at the Maybourne hotel in Beverly Hills.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Neve Campbell announced in June 2022 that she was leaving the “Scream” franchise because she didn’t feel she was being properly compensated to reprise her role of Sidney Prescott in the sixth movie. Even so, she could see herself coming back some day “under the right circumstances,” Campbell told me Saturday at the BAFTA Tea event at the Maybourne hotel in Beverly Hills. That said, it’s unclear what is happening with the franchise at the moment after director Christopher Landon dropped out of the seventh film.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Niecy Nash-Betts may be the nicest person in Hollywood. In a town where getting your next role could be cutthroat, Nash-Betts actually tells her actor friends to audition for roles that she may already be reading for. “Before I was even cast in ‘Getting On’ on HBO — I had not even gone in yet — I called every actress I knew and was like, ‘This is going to be something.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Olivia Rodrigo hasn’t completely abandoned her acting career for music. The “Vampire” singer tells me she’d love to star in a film. “I love movies, I love telling stories,” Rodrigo said at the Academy’s Governors Awards on Tuesday night in Hollywood.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Penélope Cruz has no plans at the moment to slip into spandex and a cape, but the Oscar winner says she’d love to do a superhero movie. “If it’s something interesting, why not? It’s fun,” Cruz told me Friday at Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch brunch at the Parker Palm Springs. “As you could imagine, that’s what my kids ask me sometimes, ‘Are you ever going to do that, mom?’ Because I’ve done so much drama and so many films I can’t show to them yet.” Cruz said she has had “conversations here and there” about appearing in a superhero movie, “but nothing specific that will happen soon.” What is probably happening soon is a musical movie.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Goodbye, Christmas and New Year’s. Hello, awards season! The Golden Globes are upon us, and that means the festivities kick off with W Magazine’s annual Friday night soiree toasting its Best Performances Issue. Expect to see well-heeled, A-List celebrities mix and mingle elbow-to-elbow in the penthouse suite of the Chateau Marmont.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events If the Jacob Elordi “Saltburn” bath water candles are sold out, just blame his co-star Barry Keoghan. “I already have 10 of them,” Keoghan joked with me Wednesday night at the opening of the Louis Vuitton pop-up in West Hollywood. “They’re all burning at my house right now.” At least, we think he was joking.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Jeremy Allen White may co-star with Zac Efron in Sean Durkin’s new wrestling drama “The Iron Claw,” but the Emmy-winning “The Bear” actor has something to admit — he has never watched a “High School Musical” movie. “I haven’t seen them,” White says on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast. “Sorry, Zac.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events After diving in to play Diana Nyad’s best friend and swim coach in the real-life Netflix sports drama, “Nyad,” Jodie Foster is ready for her next cinematic adventure. “I really like doing things where I learn stuff,” Foster tells me. “I don’t know how to play any musical instruments.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Jennifer Lopez admits not everyone in her camp initially supported the idea to document her romance with husband Ben Affleck in her upcoming “This Is Me…Now” album and companion film. “As artists, we have to follow our heart and this is me following my heart and doing something that maybe everybody didn’t think was the best idea, but I had to do it,” Lopez tells me. Lopez is set to drop “This Is Me…Now,” a new album that marks the 20th anniversary of “This Is Me…Then,” on Feb.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Annie Starke doesn’t want to talk about last Christmas. The host of the freshly minted Magnolia Network show, “The Mountain Kitchen,” admits her family dinner was a disaster. “I probably had too many drinks in the morning,” Starke tells me, laughing.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events With so many Broadway icons — including Christine Baranski, Kelli O’Hara, Michael Cerveris and Nathan Lane, to name a few — starring in HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” Morgan Spector thinks a musical episode of the series is overdue. “You know what we should do? There’s the British tradition of the Christmas special,” Spector tells me on this week’s episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “If we could have a Christmas special, then we could have some singing and it would be great.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events “The View” co-host Sunny Hoston is taking a little more time to enjoy the TV milleu. The multi-hyphenate is in the early stages of developing her first novel, “Summer on the Bluff,” as a television series for Amazon MGM Studios. The series will be produced Hostin’s Sunny Hostin Productions, Amazon MGM Studios and Octavia Spencer’s Orit Entertainment.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events As we know by now, Zack Snyder has massive plans for his “Rebel Moon” universe. The franchise launches with the Netflix movie “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire,” followed by a sequel that will be released next year. Snyder is developing a “Rebel Moon” comic book series, mobile game (“I would love to do big console game,” he says), an animated component, and is even releasing his first book of photography featuring a collection of black and white portraits he shot on set.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Lena Waithe can’t be anymore direct when talking about “A Thousand and One,” writer-director A.V. Rockwell’s feature film debut. “Films like this oftentimes are not always seen or recognized by the Academy,” says Waithe, a producer on the Sundance Film Festival winner.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events While the LGTBQ rights movement has made tremendous strides since that first rock was thrown at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969, there are still many areas of the U.S. where the queer community doesn’t feel safe. In the new Hulu documentary, “We Live Here: The Midwest,” director Melina Maerker and producer David Clayton Miller chronicle queer families living in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Ohio.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events As Fantasia Barrino rides the awards season buzz for her feature film acting debut in “The Color Purple,” the second season “American Idol” winner is thinking of her next moves on the big screen. “I want something very challenging,” Fantasia told Variety Tuesday night at Elle’s Women in Hollywood event in Los Angeles, where she was honored alongside her co-stars Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Jennifer Lopez may have gotten a ton of awards season buzz for her work in the 2019 drama “Hustlers,” but she didn’t walk home with any major honors. In fact, she reflected on not receiving any top prizes in the entertainment world at Monday’s Elle Women in Hollywood event. “I don’t have an Oscar.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Gael García Bernal is nursing a slight cold. He thinks he may have caught a bug during a flight to Los Angeles. But he theorizes it could have also come from the Academy Museum Gala, held in the museum’s open-air atrium, which he attended two nights before I meet him for breakfast at Chateau Marmont.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Director Lukas Dhont is the new guest curator for Galerie, Indian Paintbrush’s digital film club. Dhont, whose 2022 coming-of-age film “Close” was nominated for best international feature, names 18 films that influenced him the most for Galerie members. Among the entries is the 1975 documentary “Grey Gardens.” “A teacher in film school showed us ‘Grey Gardens,’ he writes about the film, which tells the story of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ eccentric and reclusive aunt, Edith “Big Edie” Ewing Bouvier Beale,” and cousin Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Joey King is speaking out about her “Kissing Booth” co-star Jacob Elordi’s criticism of their hit Netflix rom-com franchise. “I think it’s unfortunate anyone would feel that way,” King told me Saturday at the Balenciaga fashion show in Los Angeles. “I had a great time making those movies no matter what anyone says.” Elordi disappointed the casts of the three “The Kissing Booth” films as well as their fans when he slammed the film in his GQ Men of the Year cover story.