Nick Vivarelli International Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Shooting is underway in Italy on Indian action thriller “Salaar” starring Prabhas, who is playing a dual role in the film according to sources. The hotly-anticipated blockbuster written and directed by Prashanth Neel – and produced by Vijay Kiragandur via his Hombale Films shingle – has been filming since mid-March in Matera, the ancient southern Italian town known for its prehistoric whitewashed caves. Matera is the location where, among other international titles, the prologue action sequence for James Bond film “No Time to Die” was shot. The film’s cast also includes Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shruti Haasan and Jagapathi Babu.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Top Middle East broadcaster MBC Group has forged a partnership with U.S. anime and manga distributor Tokyopop under which they are forming a hub dedicated to the licensing, promotion, and production of anime content in the region. The joint venture, called MBC Anime, is led by Stu Levy, the American anime and manga expert who is founder and CEO of Tokyopop, a prominent international distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime and manga. Through the new initiative, MBC Anime “will commission, produce, and invest in a series of world-class quality anime titles,” according to an MBC statement.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Fremantle is restructuring management of its Italian operations by promoting Marco Tombolini to the role of CEO Fremantle Italy. Tombolini, who since May of 2022 was Fremantle Italy co-CEO, will now “Take the helm of all areas and functions of the company, with the senior management of Fremantle Italy reporting directly to him,” a Fremantle statement said. Gabriele Immirzi – who had long served as Fremantle Italy CEO prior to sharing the CEO role with Tombolini since last May – has now stepped down but is staying in the Fremantle fold becoming co-CEO with Lorenzo Mieli of The Apartment Pictures.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Plimsoll Productions, the prominent company specialized in wildlife and natural history programming now owned by ITV Studios, is bolstering its top management ranks. The announcement follows the recent acquisition of Plimsoll by U.K. broadcaster ITV in a deal that valued the company at £130 million ($160 million).  The prolific U.K. outfit – which is coming off its busiest year ever with 20 shows in production, including National Geographic series “The Ascent” with Alex Honnold – has promoted Jonathan Jackson, its former chief financial officer, to the role of COO, while production executive Lucy Bilson has been elevated to head of production.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Venice Film Festival will honor “The Night Porter” director Liliana Cavani and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the Hong Kong star of “In the Mood for Love” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” with its 2023 Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement. Cavani first attended Venice in 1965 with the historical doc “Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy,” which won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary. She was back the Lido in 1966 with her TV movie “Saint Francis of Assisi,” and, again, in 1968, with “Galileo,” followed by Patricia Highsmith adaptation “Ripley’s Game,” starring John Malkovich, in 2002 and “Clarisse,” a doc about an order of cloistered nuns in 2012.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Lamya’s Poem” centers around a Syrian refugee girl named Lamya who draws strength from the verses of ancient poet Rumi after violence forces her to flee from her country. The animated film was recently released digitally in the U.S. roughly around the anniversary of Syria’s 12-year uprising and in the aftermath of massive back-to-back earthquakes that have hit Turkey and Syria.  The timely tale’s impressive voice talent includes Mena Massoud, the star of Disney’s most recent “Aladdin,” as Rumi when he was a young poet; Millie Davis (“Wonder,” “Orphan Black”) as Lamya; and Faran Tahir (“Iron Man,” “Star Trek”) as Baha Walad, Rumi’s father.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent U.S.-Lebanese actor Tony Shalhoub, who played the “defective detective” on “Monk,” is set to star as former auto mogul-turned-fugitive Carlos Ghosn in a high-profile TV series directed by Michael Winterbottom. Ghosn is the French-Lebanese-Brazilian former CEO of automakers Nissan and Renault who in 2020 jumped bail and absconded to Beirut hidden in a music case on a private jet while on trial in Japan for alleged financial misconduct. Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. The six-part series titled “Fall of the God of Cars” is written by Winterbottom, the prolific British director of “Welcome to Sarajevo,” whose TV work comprises hit sitcom series “The Trip” and, more recently, “This is England” starring Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Los Angeles-based Italian director Andrea Pallaoro’s delicate drama “Monica” is finally set to open in U.S. theaters via IFC following its world premiere at last year’s Venice Film Festival. The film starring transgender actor Trace Lysette (“Transparent”) as a woman who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother, played by Patricia Clarkson, marked the first time an openly-transgender actress headlined a Venice competition title. In “Monica” Lysette plays a woman who from Los Angeles goes back to her suburban midwest home for the first time since she was a teenager to care for her mom who had rejected her when she transitioned.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian director Susanna Nicchiarelli, whose trilogy of female biopics, “Nico, 1988,” “Miss Marx,” and “Chiara” all launched from the Venice Film Festival, is set to direct the TV series “Fireworks” depicting the struggle of Italy’s partisans against Nazis and Fascists through the point of view of a twelve-year-old girl named Marta. Shooting is set to start on May 8 in the Piedmontese Alps on “Fireworks,” which is being produced by Domenico Procacci’s Fandango and Rome shingle Matrioska. Fandango, who is the show’s lead producer, is in advanced talks with Italian state broadcaster RAI to come on board. Fandango is also talking up the six-episode limited series at the Series Mania confab in Lille, France, where they are seeking prospective international partners.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent King Charles III seems to be getting into the groove ahead of his official crowning in May. Spotify has released the official Coronation Celebration playlist featuring a slew of British legends and songs likely to get local masses in a festive mood, such as Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” and “Slave to the Rhythm” by Grace Jones. The 27-song playlist, picked on the monarch’s behalf by the U.K.’s Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport, also features songs by more contemporary pop stars such as Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran and Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” which has gained renewed popularity thanks to Season 4 of “Stranger Things.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian Canadian actor Giacomo Gianniotti, who played Dr. Andrew DeLuca on “Grey’s Anatomy,” is set to star in “Inganno,” Netflix’s Italian adaptation of the U.K. TV series “Gold Digger” that starts shooting this week on the Amalfi coast. The taboo-breaking show – which was dubbed a “toyboy thriller” by the British press – depicts the passionate and turbulent relationship between an older woman and a man who is half her age. In this case the affair disrupts and subverts Italian social and family norms. A “Gold Digger” adaptation for Indian audiences is also reportedly in the works. “Inganno,” which means “deceit” in Italian, is being directed by Neapolitan auteur Pappi Corsicato whose “The Seed of Discord” competed at the Venice Film Festival in 2008. Corsicato’s visual style is often compared to Pedro Almodovar, of whom he has been an assistant.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Influential Italian auteur Francesco “Citto” Maselli who worked with Lucia Bosé, Claudia Cardinale, Shelley Winters and Valeria Golino on films that combined his political passion with his bent for female-centered dramas, has died in Rome. Maselli, who was known for making left-wing militant cinema, was 92. The director’s death was announced to Italian news agency ANSA by Maurizio Acerbo, leader of Italy’s small Communist Refoundation Party, the group of die-hard Italian leftists that Maselli championed, and confirmed by the director’s wife. The exact cause of Maselli’s death was not revealed.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Roland Emmerich’s large-scale gladiator series “Those About to Die,” starring Anthony Hopkins as Emperor Vespasian, has started shooting at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios. Several new cast members have been announced, including “Game of Thrones” alumn Iwan Rheon. Rheon, who in “Thrones” played the villainous Ramsay Bolton – and can currently be seen in Emmerich-produced film “The Magic Flute” – will replace Lorenzo Richelmy who has exited the Peacock show due to scheduling conflicts. Also joining the “Those About to Die” cast are Liraz Charhi (“Tehran”) who will play Berenice, Queen of the conquered Judeans; and Rupert Penry-Jones (“The Batman”) as retired general Marsus who aspires to succeed Vespasian on the imperial throne (they are pictured above).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia is launching soft money schemes worth a total $234 million available to both local and international companies over the next three years in its ongoing effort to launch a local film and TV industry almost from scratch. The Saudi Cultural Development Fund officially unveiled its so-called Film Sector Financing Program during the Ignite the Scene event dedicated to the film industry held in Riyadh last week. In an interview on Monday with Variety Najla AlNomair, who is the cultural development fund’s chief strategy and business development officer, said that the Saudi soft money pot is split into two parts: one allocated for loans that amounts to $154 million, and the other for investments, amounting to $80 million.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent March 20 marks the celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. It’s Iran’s first Spring festivities since the death of Jina “Mahsa” Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who died while in police custody for allegedly wearing a loose headscarf. On Nowruz, which means “New Day,” Iranian activist Naza Alakija is paying tribute to Iran’s “Woman. Life. Freedom.” movement with the release of a powerful short film titled “Rise” about a young woman who, like Amini, pushes back agains Iran’s morality police and is kidnapped from the streets of Tehran. Alakija, who is the founder and CEO of London-based Evoca Foundation, produced the short – which features British-Iranian actress Yasaman Mohsani (“Secret Invasion”) as the victim – with partners who have chosen to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from Iran’s security forces, as has the film’s female director.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent French-Moroccan director Sofia Alaoui made a splash at Sundance with her sci-fi thriller “Animalia,” which used genre to explore dark sides of Moroccan society. The filmmaker is now employing similar tropes in the early stages on a TV series titled “Let the Earth Burn.” “Animalia,” winner of the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision within Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, is about a pregnant young woman from a rural Berber background who winds up emancipating herself as aliens land in Morocco. “Let the Earth Burn,” unveiled during the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra Arab film and TV series projects incubator this week, takes its cue from real abductions and slayings in remote areas of Morocco of kids known as “Zouhri” whom the kidnappers believe have supernatural powers.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Hams Fekri, a 29-year-old Saudi wedding singer from Jeddah, has been crowned the winner of the first season of “Saudi Idol” during a moving live finale from The Boulevard Riyadh City recreational complex. The golden-throated Fekri was exultant after battling it out in front of a live studio audience and panel of judges for 13 weeks. She emerged victorious out of three finalists to win most audience votes for the night. Fekri’s mother — who achieved success as a pop singer during the 1980s, but subsequently faded into obscurity — hugged her daughter on stage.  In addition to being named the very first “Saudi Idol,” Fekri also won a recording contract with MBC Group’s Platinum Records label which involves the release of a full studio album in the coming months.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi’s documentary about love, memory and Alzheimer’s disease “The Eternal Memory” has scored a slew of international sales after making a splash at Sundance and Berlin. Dogwoof, the British sales company specialized in high-profile docs, has announced multiple deals on “Eternal Memory,” which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for World Documentary in January and was a recent standout at the Berlinale where it had its European bow. The hot doc is screening later this week at the CPH:DOX documentary film festival in Copenhagen. Dogwoof partnered with MTV Documentary Films to represent “The Eternal Memory” for international sales soon after its Sundance premiere. They have now scored sales on the doc to: Edge Entertainment (Nordics); Madman (Australia and New Zealand); Sherry Media (Canada); I Wonder Pictures (Italy); BTeam Pictures (Spain); Periscoop (Benelux); Atnine Film (South Korea); Synca (Japan); LEV (Israel), and Restart (Former Yugoslavia).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s 40% tax rebates for international film and TV series are a magnet that has been crucial to luring lots of shoots to the country. These incentives are behind the current contemporaneous presence on the Cinecittà Studios lot of Oscar-winner Edward Berger’s new film “Conclave,” Netflix period soap “Decameron,” and Roland Emmerich’s Peacock gladiator series “Those About to Die,” to name a few examples.  That’s why Italian Deputy Culture Minister Lucia Bergonzoni on Oscar week travelled to Los Angeles to meet with Hollywood studio and streamer chiefs. Her mission: to dispel fears swirling in the global film community ever since Italy’s new right-wing government was installed in October 2022 regarding the prospect that the Italian rebates could be pulled or in some way watered down. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Netflix has acquired global rights to Italian rom-com “Era Ora” (“Still Time”), marking a rare instance in which an Italian comedy is set to gain worldwide visibility. “Still Time” is directed by Alessandro Aronadio, a Los Angeles Film School graduate whose first work “One Life, Maybe Two” launched from Berlin’s Panorama section. The concept comedy stars Edoardo Leo (“Perfect Strangers”) as a workaholic named Dante who is perpetually late to everything important and Barbara Ronchi, soon to be seen in Marco Bellocchio’s “La Conversione,” as his girlfriend Alice with whom Dante winds up leaping ahead a year every few hours, just as he wants to slow down.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Aardman Animations’ founder Peter Lord and “Waltz With Bashir” director Ari Folman are set to receive Pulcinella Career Awards at Italy’s Cartoons On The Bay TV animation festival which is broadening its scope. The event launched in 1996 by Italian state broadcaster RAI has now expanded beyond TV toons to comprise video game productions, the comic book world, transmedia storytelling and metaverse animation content. Reflecting its more high-tech horizons, the fest’s 27th edition – which will run May 31-June 4 in the Southern seaside city of Pescara – will also be celebrating “Cuphead,” the hit Canadian video game that’s become a Netflix series, and bestowing its creator Maja Moldenhauer with its new Transmedia Award.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “The Last of Us” has become the most-viewed title ever on HBO’s subscription streaming service in Europe. Warner Bros. Discovery announced on Tuesday that the first season of the nine-episode apocalyptic-drama has smashed HBO’s SVOD European viewer ratings. This result comes after the season one finale set another ratings high in the U.S. on Sunday night, delivering 8.2 million viewers across HBO Max and linear telecasts, based on Nielsen and first party data. The series, which is based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation, has been a hit from the get go. “The Last of Us” is now averaging 30.4 million viewers in the U.S. across its first six episodes, according to HBO, with the first episode approaching 40 million viewers in the U.S. Outside of the U.S.. The show is now also the most-watched show ever on HBO Max in Latin America.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Dubai-based CEO Sam Barnett leads the Middle East’s largest broadcaster MBC as it turbocharges its Shahid streaming service through a scripted content drive, and gives Netflix a run for its money. Shortly before the holy month of Ramadan, which is marathon TV time in the Arab world, Barnett spoke to Variety about the still crucial relevance of Ramadan season in luring eyeballs, MBC’s need to offer “interesting new types of content” outside of the holy period, and why the company remains resolutely pan-Arab while riding the wave of Saudi’s production boom. There is a perception that MBC is becoming more “Saudi-centric” since it now plays an important role in Saudi’s drive to become a major content producer. Can you talk to me about how this shift is playing out in your overall production strategy?

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has announced a dozen projects from young filmmakers from Saudi, and the wider Arab and African region, selected for its development program, the Red Sea Lodge, in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab and sponsored by the Film AlUla film commission. The Lodge is a 10-month mentorship program that has now opened up to African works along with Saudi and Arab projects. Winners will take home a portion of the total $200,000 pot in prizes that will be awarded during the fest’s 2023 edition in December.  The selected projects from Saudi Arabia are:

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Brian Eno, the influential British musician, producer and visual artist who has helped define and reinvent the sound of top music artists including David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads, and Coldplay, will be honored by the Venice Biennale Music section with its Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.  Eno is being honored “for his research into the quality, beauty and diffusion of digital sound and for his conception of the acoustic space as a compositional instrument,” the Biennale said in a statement. Eno, 74, who describes himself as a ‘non-musician’ is best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop and electronica and has been on the cutting edge of technology and artistic innovation for the past 50 years.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Kuwaiti-born writer-director Zeyad (also known as “Z”) Alhusaini, whose action movie with comedic undertones “How I Got There” recently won the audience award at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival, has joined United Talent Agency for representation in all areas. The groundbreaking film about two best buddies from childhood, named Salem and Asad, who stumble upon a gun shipment and try to seize this opportunity to get rich quick is set entirely in the Persian Gulf. “How I Got There” provides a relatively realistic glimpse of Kuwait’s present-day melting-pot of cultures, and its underworld of gun-running mercenaries, gangs, and terrorists, plus the local rap scene.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla, the entity looking to attract international productions to a sprawling area of desert and giant boulders that boasts an ancient city, is forging fashion world ties. The film commission for the swathe of northwest Saudi Arabia roughly the size of Belgium that also comprises a lush oasis and vast sandstone canyons, is launching an initiative called AlUla Creates involving use of an eco-friendly studio and the possibility of tapping into development funds for projects by female directors at the intersection of film and fashion. AlUla Creates has partnered with the British Fashion Council and with Saudi actress Mia Al Zahrani (“The Perfect Candidate”); British filmmaker and creative director Alec Maxwell – founder of digital platform Kloss Films whose clients include Bulgari, Stella McCartney, and Carolina Herrera –; and fashion models Helena Christensen and Eva Herzigova as “ambassadors” to promote the platform, according to a statement.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian producer Andrea Iervolino is planning to bring to the big screen “Maserati: a Racing Life,” an English-language biopic about the family behind the high-performance automobiles that, along with Ferrari and Lamborghini, Italy is known for.   Iervolino’s AMBI Group – in which he is partnered with Monika Bacardi – previously produced the Bobby Moresco-directed biopic “Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend” and is also among producers of Micheal Mann’s upcoming “Ferrari” with Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley. He told Variety he sees “Maserati” as a natural segue to those films about Italy’s iconic automakers.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Locarno Film Festival is launching a first-of-its-kind contest, offering a free complete restoration service to a selected vintage cinema classic. The contest is part of The Swiss fest’s Heritage Online program that was launched in 2021 when its Locarno Pro industry side branched out into vintage cinema creating a platform that serves as a database of film titles that premiered prior to 2005. The goal of the fest dedicated to indie cinema is to play an active role in restoring older films to their former glory and also to become a business facilitator between rights holders and classic film distributors, streaming platforms and other outlets.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Prominent Arab journalist Nakhle Elhage, who ran the Al Arabiya news network for 16 years, is launching a digital startup called Blinx to produce news and short form storytelling content targeting Gen Z and millennials in the Middle East and beyond. Headquartered in a high-tech Dubai Media City studio, Blinx is being dubbed as the first digital native storytelling hub in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It “will soon launch on multiple platforms,” according to a statement. The digital startup, which is financed by unspecified UAE-based investors, is offering a “more story, less noise approach,” the statement said, with content made by young people “delivering relatable content to a young audience in a way the MENA region has yet to see,” it added.