Marc Malkin-Senior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Malin Akerman may be starring in a new televisions series. The “Billions” actor exclusively tells me that she recently shot a pilot for a dark comedy that addresses suicide. It was written by her husband Jack Donnelly. For Akerman, who plays a therapist on the show, mental health issues hit close to home because her mother struggled with depression for most of her childhood. The experience inspired Akerman’s work with On Our Sleeves, an organization that helps families talk about mental health. “It was up and down with my mom, as it is with depression,” Akerman says. “Sometimes she went real dark and we didn’t see her for days. She would lock herself in her room. And sometimes she was the best thing since sliced bread. And that was so much fun. She’s such a great person. I feel for her. I feel for anyone who struggles with depression.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Sterling K. Brown could be on his way to Broadway. The three-time Emmy winner will star in a reading of a new stage production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” on May 18 in New York City, sources exclusively tell me. Brown will play Randle P. McMurphy, a character famously portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1975 movie adaptation of Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel. Sources also tell me that Tony winner Laura Benanti will play Nurse Ratched. The team behind the reading have their hopes set on a Broadway run. The reading is directed by Young Vic artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah. Scott Delman produces. Delman is also on board as a producer of the “Thelma & Louise” musical, which has been workshopped with Amanda Seyfried and Evan Rachel Wood starring.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Peppermint wants back on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” She famously was runner-up in Season 9 when Sasha Velour took the crown after her iconic rose petal-filled finale lip sync. “I would love to go on ‘All Stars,’” Peppermint tells me on this week’s episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. She was asked to compete in 2018 but was already booked for the Go-Go’s Broadway musical, “Head Over Heels.” “I will happily go onto the show if they invite me,” Peppermint says. “It is quite expensive and quite an investment, but I do think it could be worth it.” Peppermint will next be seen in “A Transparent Musical,” opening May 20 at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. She plays Davina, a role originated on the “Transparent” television series by Alexandra Billings. Peppermint recalls having “two-person watch parties” with her music producer when the series first premiered on Amazon in 2014.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Martha Stewart had just two months to get ready for her already iconic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover. She upped her Pilates to three times a week, watched what she ate and stopped drinking alcohol. “I had my regular facials but maybe more frequently and I also got a spray tan,” Stewart, who is up for three Daytime Emmys this year, tells me during a phone interview on Tuesday. “And I’m not a hairy person, but I got a complete body wax.” At 81, Stewart made history as the oldest SI swimsuit model. A model in her 20s, Stewart worked with legends like Richard Avedon. “When I was a model and posing all the time in bathing suits and sporty sexy things, that’s the time I should have been on the cover,” she says before adding with a laugh, “But I wasn’t $75-an-hour model then. I was only a $50- and $60-an-hour model.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Javier Bardem is gushing over Austin Butler’s work as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in “Dune: Part Two.” “Seeing him bald or seeing him with hair, he’s an amazing creature to look at,” Bardem told me at the world premiere of “The Little Mermaid” in Los Angeles. “You can look at him for hours and go, ‘Oh, my God — how beautiful you are.’” Bardem continued, “On top of that, he’s so nice. He’s so generous, so funny and so committed. He has done an amazing job. I’ve only had a couple of moments with him, but I would see him and it was like, ‘Wow, [he] is the character.’” Feyd-Rautha is the evil nephew of Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and the brother of the sadistic Glossu Rabban, played by Dave Bautista. The two brothers are in competition to become the Harkonnen family’s successor on the planet Arrakis.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor UPDATED: Tony Awards Productions has altered the upcoming awards ceremony to conform with requests made by the Writers Guild of America, the union announced Monday evening. As a result, the WGA no longer has plans to picket the show. On Friday, the Writers Guild of America denied a request for a strike waiver from the show’s producers, meaning the Tonys wouldn’t be televised on June 11. Earlier Monday, it was announced that producers of the Tonys would file an appeal of the WGA’s waiver denial. A source tells Variety, “Everyone is still trying to see if there is a workable solution.” Now, it seems that the group has been able to negotiate a potential path forward for the telecast. Ariana DeBose was set to return as host, but it is believed that she would’ve exited if the event was icketed.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor UPDATED: Producers of the Tonys will file an appeal of the WGA’s waiver denial. The decision was made Monday during a meeting of the Tonys management committee. A source tells Variety, “Everyone is still trying to see if there is a workable solution.” On Friday, the Writers Guild of America denied a request for a strike waiver from the show’s producers, meaning the Tonys won’t be televised on June 11. Ariana DeBose was set to return as host but it is believed she’ll cancel if the strike is still on. The Tonys were scheduled to take place at the United Palace in New York’s Washington Heights. The ceremony was to start at 8 p.m. ET and air live on CBS, as well as the streaming service Paramount+.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Trace Lysette is in a hotel room on 8th Street in New York City when she jumps on a Zoom video call with Variety to talk about her new movie, “Monica.” In just a couple of hours, she’s set to walk the red carpet at the indie drama’s premiere at the IFC Center. “I used to turn tricks a few blocks from there,” Lysette says. Like so many trans women, Lysette once turned to sex work as a means of survival. “I was a young person alone in New York doing God knows what to survive,” says Lysette, who was raised in Ohio. “Last night we had a screening at The [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community] Center here. That was so heavy for me because I got my gender identity therapy there 20 years ago.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor The Tonys has asked the Writers Guild of America for a waiver in order to go ahead with plans for Broadway’s biggest night of the year. A source confirms that the request was filed with the WGA earlier this week. If the waiver is not granted, the televised ceremony – set for June 11 — will probably be canceled because presenters and nominees are unlikely to cross picket lines. Ariana DeBose is set to return as host but it is believed she’ll cancel if the strike is still on. The Tonys are scheduled to take place at the United Palace in New York’s Washington Heights. The ceremony starts at 8 p.m. ET and air live on CBS, as well as the streaming service Paramount+.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor It’s one thing to see Tom Cruise seemingly defy the laws of sanity in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, but it’s a whole other experience watching the actor complete his stunts in person. Vanessa Kirby, who reprises her role as the White Widow in “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” says she was on set when Cruise parachuted from a motorcycle after riding it off a cliff in Iceland for the eighth installment of “M:I.” “He did it many times in one day,” recalls Kirby. “He did it consecutively … and repeatedly so he could capture all the different angles and sides of it.” If Cruise was nervous, he sure didn’t show it. “He was just so calm,” Kirby says. “He had no fear. He just found it exhilarating. That kind of belief in cinema and what one could achieve and his passion for it is so inspiring. He kind of believes he can do the impossible and then he does…I love being a part of the franchise. I’m really excited to come back.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Jennifer Lopez and the team behind “The Mother” are already thinking about a sequel. “I think it would be ‘The Daughter,’” Lopez told me Wednesday night at the premiere of the new Netflix action thriller. In the film, Lopez plays a former assassin who is pulled back into her deadly work when her 12-year-old daughter’s (Lucy Paez) life is put in danger. Paez agreed. “The sequel will definitely be ‘The Daughter,’” the young actor said. Not only does Lopez’s character kill at least a couple dozen men in the movie, but the actor’s impressive stunt work also includes motorcycle chases and gunfights while riding a snowmobile. “I was achy, but not hurt,” Lopez said. “I don’t think I’ve ever done an action movie like this. I do a lot of my own stunts because I’m athletic. But I have kids so I’m not going to risk anything.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor “Elite” breakout star Manu Ríos will be at the Cannes Film Festival to celebrate the premiere of “Strange Way of Life,” Pedro Almodóvar’s romantic Western short headlined by Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke and co-starring Ríos. At the Met Gala, Ríos shared with Variety that most of his scenes are with both leading men. But during their time off-camera, “I spent a lot of time with Pedro. He’s the best. It was pretty hot because we shot in the desert in the south of Spain, so it was a lot of time without doing anything and just talking.” He continued, “He’s a really funny guy. It was so much fun.” “Strange Way of Life” marks Almodóvar’s second primarily English-language project, after his short “The Human Voice” in 2020.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Lea Michele’s run in “Funny Girl” doesn’t end until Sept. 3, but she’s already plotting her return to Broadway. In fact, the actor-singer tells me she has her next gig lined up. “I already know what it is,” she teases. But Michele is being tight-lipped on details. “You know it,” she says, hinting it could be a revival of some sort. “It’s very different musically,” she adds. Michele made a triumphant return to the stage in September when she replaced Beanie Feldstein in the first revival of “Funny Girl” since Barbra Streisand originated the role of Fanny Brice in 1964.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Joe Russo is sounding the alarm about artificial intelligence. Six days before the Writers Guild of America (WGA) called for a strike, I spoke to Joe Russo at the Los Angeles premiere of “Citadel” about his concerns regarding AI. The use of AI has become a major point of contention between the guild and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTA). “I think everyone should be scared of AI,” Russo said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard any of the Drake ‘songs’ that have been dropping on social media, but it’s here. It’s not going anywhere.” The “Avengers” director said in order for AI to work, it must be a “tool servicing us rather than us servicing the tool.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Judd Apatow thinks the studios and streamers already have an idea of when the writers strike may end. “I think they probably already know what they’re going to bend on,” Apatow told Variety Saturday at the Rock4EB benefit in Malibu. “I would assume they already know what date this is going to end. They’ve probably been planning this for years.” The writer-director reflected comments heard on picket lines in Los Angeles and New York after talks cratered between the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the writers union began to strike Tuesday. Apatow explained that he sees the strike as a calculated business move by Hollywood’s largest employers.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Orville Peck may be nervous about bringing drag queens onstage during his concerts in red states, but he refuses to let fear get in the way of fighting for LGBTQ rights. “We played Knoxville, and we did Memphis, and we played a few places in Tennessee and just the South in general. And I doubled down, and I had a drag queen come out in the middle of the show, and I would do a big speech,” Peck tells me. “To me, drag is extremely important not just because a lot of my lovely dear friends do it,” he continues. “It’s a cornerstone of not just gay culture but gay civil rights. It is literally why I have the ability to be an openly gay man in country music. Was I scared? Yes, but I did it anyway because sometimes you just have to do something no matter what.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Stanley Tucci may not be searching much longer. The actor-foodie says he’s “pretty confident” that he’ll find a new home for his cooking and travel show, “Searching for Italy.” CNN canceled the two-season series in December when the network ended its development of original documentary programming. “We’re talking to different companies,” Tucci told me at the premiere of his new Amazon Prime Video series, “Citadel.” “We’ll find out in a few weeks.” The series received seven Emmy nominations, winning for outstanding hosted nonfiction series in 2021 and 2022. 

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Can you believe that June 2 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the Red Wedding scene in “Game of Thrones”? Richard Madden, whose character Robb Stark met a grisly end in the episode, recalls filming the bloody massacre. “I remember a lot of crying because at the end of it, I was going to be apart from my family that I had lived with for five years — my on-screen mother and my wife and this crew that had spent a lot of time together, so it was traumatic not only to shoot but traumatic because I was losing my family,” the actor told me at the premiere of his Amazon Prime Video series “Citadel.” The Red Wedding included the slaughter of several major and minor characters on the show, including Robb, his mother Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley), his bride Talisa Stark (Oona Chaplin) and their unborn child.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor The excitement and buzz continues to build for “The Little Mermaid.” A source tells me that director Rob Marshall and husband, producer John DeLuca, hosted a private screening of Disney’s live adaptation of the 1989 animated classic on Sunday night at New York’s Whitby Hotel. The guest list of about 80 people included Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Matt Damon and his family, Emily Mortimer, Ben Platt and his “Parade” co-star Micaela Diamond, Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Bob Balaban and Lynn Grossman, Diane and Brian Sutherland, and Scott Ellis. The film’s composer Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who co-wrote three new songs for the movie, were also there.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Nicole Avant and her family have lived through the unthinkable. Her mother, 81-year-old philanthropist Jacqueline Avant, was fatally shot in her Beverly Hills home during a home invasion on Dec. 1, 2021. Jacqueline’s husband, music industry legend Clarence Avant, was also home at the time. “My faith has kept me stable,” Nicole told me Friday morning at the opening of the Jacqueline Avant Children and Family Center at the MLK Medical Campus in the Watts-Willowbrook community. “But it is true that life does begin again and you will smile again. You have to believe that even if you don’t see how that can be, you have to act as if.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor John Mulaney is answering questions about being asked by Comedy Central executives if he was interested in hosting “The Daily Show” when Jon Stewart bowed out in 2015. During a recent appearance on Doug Herzog and Jen Chaney’s “Basic!” podcast, Herzog — who was president of Viacom Music and Entertainment Group, which oversaw Comedy Central, until 2017 — asked Mulaney if he recalled the conversation he had with then-president of Comedy Central, Kent Alterman, about potentially taking over. “I think we were floating your interest in that and you were very lukewarm as I remember,” Herzog said. Mulaney explained that he ultimately passed because, in part, his Fox sitcom “Mulaney” had just been canceled after only one season.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor “Younger” star Miriam Shor has been cast in Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic, “Maestro.” Shor exclusively tells Variety that she is playing actor and model Cynthia O’Neal, a friend of the legendary musician and his wife Felicia Montealegre. Cooper directed the Netflix film, co-wrote it with Josh Singer and stars as Bernstein. Carey Mulligan portrays Montealegre. “I play Cynthia O’Neal, who was a very good friend of the Bernsteins, particularly his wife, Felicia,” Shor said Thursday night at the Los Angeles premiere of her and Cooper’s latest film, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” “I mean, that was unbelievable. Because an actor who also directs, to get to work with Bradley… he’s a savant. It’s miraculous. So that was really special, I was really grateful.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Priyanka Chopra Jonas admits she’d rather not do stunt work if given the choice. “I didn’t want to do my stunts,” she says of her new action-packed spy series, “Citadel.” But the acting veteran is a victim of her own success. “I trust myself to do it,” Chopra Jonas tells me. “The mandate from the filmmakers was, ‘We would love for the actors’ faces to be seen as much as you can and where you feel safe. I’m someone who has tremendous experience with action movies and action parts. Not just with my TV show, but my Bollywood action movies. I was working 15, 20 years ago when I didn’t even have stunt doubles. I had a little man wearing a wig with shaved arms that used to do stunts for me that were too dangerous, because we didn’t even have women at that time. So I learned how to do my stuff.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Bungalow 8 is back – for one night only. Gucci is hosting a Bungalow pop-up in New York City on April 29, two nights ahead of the Met Gala. The fashion house isn’t commenting, but I got my hands on the official invite, which reads, “Amy Sacco & Gucci invite you to Bungalow Gucci.” Idris Elba will deejay the late-night soirée. Sacco opened the original Bungalow 8 in Chelsea in 2001. The small venue at 515 W. 27th St. went onto to become the hottest nightclub in the early and mid-aughts, attracting an A-List crowd — including George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Colin Farrell, Naomi Campbell and every other supermodel, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Heidi Klum — before closing in 2009. Even former President Bill Clinton hosted a fundraiser for his presidential library at the club in 2003.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor “Fatal Attraction” showrunner Alexandra Cunningham says it was at a table read on Zoom when she knew that Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan had the chemistry to make her reimagining of the 1987 movie work. “The entire cast was there and it’s everyone in their little windows,” Cunningham told me at the premiere of the Paramount+ series Monday night in West Hollywood at the Pacific Design Center. “As soon as Josh and Lizzy started talking to each other, there was chemistry. When you have chemistry on Zoom, you’re going to have chemistry when you meet in real life.” She continued, “Immediately it was like, ‘These people are really flirting. These people are really living this moment.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, my god, it’s gonna be okay.’”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor The Met Gala may like to keep its guest list top secret until minutes before the starry crowd arrives for the event, but Elle Fanning has confirmed she’ll be in attendance this year. The star of “The Great” teased her gala look when I caught up with her Sunday at The Daily Front Row’s Fashion Los Angeles Awards at the Beverly Hills Hotel. “I had an idea kind of quickly, I have to say,” she said. “I sort of sketch everything out so I did a little sketch – an homage to Karl Lagerfeld, of course. I am truly going on theme. I have a good story behind the look that is special to me. I’m excited.” This year’s gala takes place May 1 and coincides with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute’s exhibit, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.” Dress code is “in honor of Karl.” Gala hosts include Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel, Roger Federer, Dua Lipa, and, of course, Anna Wintour.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Keke Palmer opened up about sexuality and gender while being honored Saturday by the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “I’m so grateful to be here today to be embraced by a community that I’ve always felt accepted by, and a part of,” the “Nope” star. “I’ve always been my own person. Sexuality and identity for me has always been confusion. You know, it’s, ‘I never felt straight enough. I never felt gay enough. And I never felt woman enough. I never felt man enough.’ You know, I always felt like I was a little bit of everything.” Palmer was presented with a Vanguard Award from Karamo Brown during the center’s annual gala, which took place at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel.

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.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” In his first comments since it was revealed that he and Justin Britt-Gibson are no longer writing the script for director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s “Star Wars” movie, Damon Lindelof tells me the project was a “true labor of love.” “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight is now penning the script. “The movie is still happening, but unfortunately not with me,” Lindelof said at the premiere of “Mrs. Davis,” the offbeat Peacock dramady he is shepherding with showrunner Tara Hernandez. “I wish them all the best of luck. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is an incredible director, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Jake Gyllenhaal is determined to star in another Broadway musical. “There are so many musicals I love so deeply,” Gyllenhaal, who starred in a revival of “Sunday in the Park With George” with Annaleigh Ashford in 2017, told Variety at the Los Angeles premiere of his new action drama “The Covenant” on Monday evening. “At some point, I’ve always loved ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ I’d love to do that.” Gyllenhaal’s godmother, Jamie Lee Curtis, was at “The Covenant” premiere and recalled how the actor was supposed to star as Tevye in a school production of “Fiddler” when he was a high school senior. He left the show when he was offered the lead in the 1999 drama “October Sky.”