Rian Johnson Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Film director Jamie Christopher, who was best known for working on the Harry Potter franchise, has died at age 52. Christopher has worked on some of the most popular moves of the 21st century, including all eight of the highly popular Harry Potter movies, multiple Star Wars movies, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Fith Element and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - just to name a few. Christopher reportedly died due to heart complications in Los Angeles on August 29.

Jamie Christopher, who was an associate producer and first assistant director on such Marvel films as Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron and more, died at his home today of heart complications. He was 52.

Sophia Scorziello editor Jamie Christopher, assistant director on Marvel films including “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the entire Harry Potter franchise, died Tuesday in Los Angeles from heart complications. He was 52.

Natasha Lyonne is brainstorming plot ideas for Season 2 of her hit show, Poker Face.

Sophia Scorziello editor Netflix has released the first trailer for the erotic thriller “Fair Play,” which the streamer acquired for $20 million in one of the biggest deals out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. “Bridgerton” star Phoebe Dynevor and “Oppenheimer” actor Alden Ehrenreich star in the film, which unravels the complex relationship of a power-hungry couple contending for power at a cutthroat financial firm.

Natasha Lyonne may have earned her fifth Emmy nomination Wednesday, this time for her role as amateur detective Charlie Cale in Peacock’s Poker Face, but, while the actress is grateful for the accolade, she spent her morning thinking mostly about the looming threat of artificial intelligence.

“As children, we fear the dark. Anything might be out there. The unknown troubles us. There are those who say we should not inquire too closely into who else might be living in that darkness.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer At long last, Netflix has revealed the first footage of its highly anticipated sci-fi epic from “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss — their first large-scale project at the streamer since signing a mega overall deal in 2019 — and Alexander Woo. Based on the book series by Cixin Liu, the eight-episode drama, which recently wrapped production, will launch in January 2024. Per Netflix’s logline for the sci-fi series, “A young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time to a group of brilliant scientists in the present day. As the laws of nature unravel before their eyes, five former colleagues reunite to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history.”

Hunter Ingram The Emmy race has never been more crowded for those working behind the camera on TV’s most acclaimed series. While these directors below have never won Emmys, their work on this year’s juggernaut dramas, side-splitting comedies and affecting limited series could change that come September. Hikari The titular “Beef” between Amy (Ali Wong) and Danny (Steven Yeun) in Netflix’s hit limited series wouldn’t be as raw if not for Hikari’s direction in the pilot episode. Relatively unknown to many audiences, Hikari’s shorts and feature have played film festivals like Berlin and Tribeca and she’s helmed episodes of Max’s “Tokyo Vice.” But “Beef” serves as an undeniable pronouncement of what’s to come.

Ben Croll Running the Monte-Carlo Television Festival since 2012, Laurent Puons has always tried to look ahead. From his embrace of streamers and digital platforms back in 2017 to his growing emphasis on diverse formats, the festival director sees his summer showcase as a bellwether event for the wider television industry – and what the industry could use right now, in Puons’ view, is flexibility.  “There are already so many festivals today dedicated to series,” Puons explains. “But Monte-Carlo follows a wholly different concept. We’re a home for all kinds of content, and one of the only festivals with both fiction and factual competitions. And when you see what’s broadcast on platforms like Netflix and Amazon, [you need to cover that full range.]”

This story about Andy Serkis and “Andor” first ran in the drama issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Andy Serkis was already a part of “Star Wars.”Thanks to the magic of performance capture, the actor starred as Snoke, the gnarled heir apparent to the evil Galactic Emperor, in J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” So it was a surprise when Serkis, in human form, popped up in “Andor,” Tony Gilroy’s live-action prequel series to 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”Serkis plays Kino Loy, an inmate in an Imperial prison that is also holding Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor. Loy is a gruff enforcer who is slowly radicalized by Andor and his escape plan.

This story about Zazie Beetz and “Atlanta” first appeared in the Comedy Series issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.No Emmy-caliber new series relies as heavily on its ensemble of guest actors as “Poker Face” — and fewer still boast the caliber of talent assembled by creator Rian Johnson, star-executive-producer-director Natasha Lyonne and showrunners Lilla and Nora Zuckerman.Lyonne stars in the Peacock comedy as our woebegone hero Charlie Cale, an off-the-grid, muscle car-driving ex-casino worker who’s on the run from a mafioso (Adrien Brody) who wants her head after she learns the truth about the mysterious death of her coworker (Dascha Polanco). An enticing enough premise on its own, there’s another twist: Charlie is, inexplicably, a human lie detector — a skill that makes her a very good gambler and a rough-and-tumble vigilante detective.

Sometimes actors won’t always reap the benefits of a career highlight.

Editor’s note: The interviews conducted in this podcast were recorded at Deadline’s Contenders TV event, prior to the WGA’s strike starting on May 2.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large I’ve been doing this long enough to remember the days when film folks saw doing TV as a bit of a step down, or a one-time novelty — and even TV folks felt like they were in the minors, waiting for that call to join the movie big leagues. That hasn’t been the case for a while, and I like to needle my film colleagues with the now-established fact that TV is where it’s at. The rise of streaming just cemented that. It’s still fun, though, to chat with creatives who have spent most of their career in film, and hear about their experiences in working on TV series. Inevitably, they must admit that working in TV was both gratifying — and perhaps the hardest thing they’ve ever done.

EXCLUSIVE: On the heels of a breakout performance in Showtime’s Dexter: New Blood, Jack Alcott is set to make his feature lead debut in Lone Rider, an indie drama also marking the feature debut of writer-director Adam Jumba.

EXCLUSIVE: Up-and-coming actress Megan Suri (Never Have I Ever) has signed with WME for representation in all areas. 

Ali Wong shows off her culture and heritage with a gorgeous white floral headpiece and dress while arriving for the 2023 TIME100 Gala held at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Wednesday night (April 26) in New York City.

EXCLUSIVE: Nick Nesbitt has been upped to Vice President of on the Studio Film Team at Netflix.

James Cameron climbs the ladder to cut the net for winning Deadline’s 2022 Most Valuable Blockbuster Movie Tournament after cleared over a half-billion dollars in profit after all ancillaries.

Will Ferrell is no stranger to sports comedies, with the likes of “Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby,” “Semi-Pro,” and “Blades Of Glory” already under his belt. Now he’ll tackle territory similar to “Happy Gilmore” and “Caddyshack.” Deadline reports that Ferrell will headline an upcoming golf comedy series about a pro golfer who becomes the controversial face of a new league competing with the PGA.

EXCLUSIVE: In what is shaping up to become one of the biggest TV comedy packages to hit the marketplace in awhile, Will Ferrell & Jessica Elbaum’s Gloria Sanchez Productions and Rian Johnson & Ram Bergman’s T-Street have joined forces to develop a comedy TV series as a starring vehicle for Ferrell, I have learned.

Chris Evans and Ana de Armas are reuniting once again in their new film,, but the dynamic might be a little different this time around.«Whatever Ana's doing, I want at least one day on set,» Evans joked with ET when the pair sat down to discuss their upcoming Apple TV+ action rom-com. The pair previously starred together in Rian Johnson's 2019 murder mystery, , and reunited for the 2022 Netflix action-thriller. But is something else entirely.«It just felt like something I grew up watching,» Evans recalled. «It felt like , something that was charming and sweet and... it's really hinging on the chemistry between the characters.»In the film, directed by Dexter Fletcher, Evans stars as Cole, a hapless guy who goes on one date with de Armas' Sadie — but then never hears from her again.

Peacock’s hit Poker Face has been a hit for creator Rian Johnson, who envisioned recreating the magic of 70s and 80s case-of-the-week classics like Rockford Files and Columbo—and it worked.

Chris Evans has an idea in terms of how his character could maybe rejoin the “Knives Out” franchise.

Star Wars Celebration is in full swing in London. Yesterday, we got some big updates about new films from James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Daisy Ridley‘s return as Rey for the upcoming movie helmed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms.

“Star Wars” fans have received a lot of news coming out of Star Wars Celebration Europe, being held this weekend in London.

Star Wars Celebration in London, Variety spoke with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy about some of the franchise’s future installments. Kennedy was keen to talk about bringing back Daisy Ridley’s Rey for a new “Star Wars” film, which was announced during an April 7 panel. “It was a pretty straightforward phone call,” she said. “I started out by just saying, ‘Hey, I think we’re getting near being ready.’ We’ve been talking a lot about what we’re doing in the movie space and I said, ‘I think we’re getting close to being ready. How would you like to go to Celebration?’ That was really the beginning of it. She was out of her mind excited.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Natasha Lyonne is enjoying something of a career renaissance, and she’s attributing the undeniable success to her female friendships. As she took the stage at Variety‘s annual Power of Women event — on her birthday, no less — she toasted to her “community of women,” among them Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph, who have cheered on each other’s rise in Hollywood. “It’s pretty eccentric to see how much we grow up together in this business and how meaningful it is to stick together along that ride,” she said on Tuesday afternoon at midtown Manhattan’s The Grill. Lyonne joked that she and her “dear pal” Rudolph started the production company Animal Pictures to “ensure we’d have time to hang out with each other,” and that she co-created “Russian Doll” as an excuse to “get existential with my friend and co-creator Amy Poehler.”