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The stars of Megalopolis are back on the red carpet!

Emma Stone and Willem Defoe arrive for the screening of their new film “Kinds Of Kindness” at the Cannes Film Festival in southern France, on May 17, 2024.Eva Longoria, Demi Moore and Hunter Schafer were among the stars who joined them on the red carpet.

The cast of Kinds of Kindness took over the red carpet at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on Friday afternoon (May 17).

arrived at the premiere of Kinds of Kindness, her third film in collaboration with writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos, dressed in a stunning shimmery Louis Vuitton gown in the deep-V silhouette she's all but made her signature. The intricate beading almost created the illusion of velvet or chenille, adding to the overall uber luxe vibe.The rich burgundy color complemented her auburn hair, which she wore in loose waves that just brushed her collarbone.

Well, that was quick!

Francis Ford Coppola has lamented the state of modern cinema, claiming some major studios no longer focus on making high quality films.Speaking at a press conference at Cannes Film Festival following the world premiere of his new dystopian drama Megalopolis, Coppola expressed his view that studios are mostly focused on making money due to their high levels of debt.“I fear that the film industry has become more of a matter of people being hired to meet their debt obligations because the studios are in great, great debt. And the job is not so much to make good movies, the job is to make sure they pay their debt obligations,” Coppola told Variety.However, The Godfather director believes streaming services could interrupt the old system and potentially have a positive impact on the industry.

Rachel Leviss‘ legal team just filed new docs as part of her ongoing revenge porn lawsuit against Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix, and they are NOT holding back!

Who is RMF? We never do find out. Yorgos Lanthimos’ trio of stories in Kinds of Kindness are titled The Death of RMF, RMF is Flying and RMF Eats a Sandwich. 

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Chris Pratt paid tribute to his late stunt double Tony McFarr in a heartfelt message on social media in which Pratt remembered their time on several movie sets together. McFarr was Pratt’s stunt double on some of the actor’s biggest films, including the “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Jurassic World” franchises. McFarr passed away May 13 at the age of 47.

Naman Ramachandran A short film fund aimed at championing female and non-binary filmmakers led by “Doctor Who” star Jodie Whittaker has unveiled its first project winner at the Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes 2023, women’s and non-binary visibility platform Primetime and Bournemouth Film School’s Funding Futures unveiled an initiative to spotlight women and non-binary filmmakers.

EXCLUSIVE: Whitney Peak (Hocus Pocus 2, Molly’s Game, Gossip Girl) has been cast in Aisling Walsh’s Ethel, alongside the previously announced cast of Shira Haas and Sarah Paulson. Bankside Films first launched the title, which is currently in pre-production, earlier this year and has completed a number of international pre-sales in Cannes. 

EXCLUSIVE: Justin Lin has rounded out the cast for his next film Last Days with five additions: Toby Wallace (Babyteeth), Ciara Bravo (Cherry), Claire Price (The Capture), Dieudonné Ngabo (Forever) and Marny Kennedy (Between Two Worlds).

EXCLUSIVE: Jeff Pierre (Walker) has landed one of his first major film roles in Mercy, Amazon MGM Studios‘ sci-fi thriller from director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted).

He might be best-known for his music career, but Harry Styles‘ acting career has well and truly taken off!

Barry Keoghan‘s forthcoming film Bird received a seven-minute standing ovation following its premiere at Cannes Film Festival.The Saltburn actor stars in the new drama directed by Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank).Also starring Bafta-winning Top Boy actor Jasmine Jobson, Passages star Franz Rogowski, and child actor Nykiya Adams, Bird centres around a 12-year-old named Bailey (Adams) who, after searching for attention and adventure outside of her family, comes across a mysterious stranger named Bird (Rogowski) who asks for her help.The film premiered at Cannes on Thursday (May 16) and received a seven-minute standing ovation from the audience upon its conclusion. The festival is known for its lengthy applauses, with the longest-ever thought to last 22 minutes for Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 fantasy-horror Pan’s Labyrinth.Elsewhere at the festival, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga received a six-minute standing ovation.

EXCLUSIVE: Even though his traditionalist strategy made him an unlikely candidate, we included Sony Motion Pictures Group chairman Tom Rothman in our 2022 Cannes Disruptors magazine. At a time when every other major prioritized the building of streaming services above all else because of the Netflix juggernaut, Rothman was invited to defend his model. The one that sustained studios forever, where turning movies into tangible culturally relevant entities through aggressive marketing would lead to big ancillary sales through Sony’s output deal with Netflix, the place everyone else had cut off. His argument that Wall Street would soon realize that subscriber growth was a false metric and that profit is the telltale indicator would soon come to roost as the shine came off streaming ventures that have costs rivals billions to build.

Jordan Moreau John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds are imagining box office success this weekend. Their new movie “IF,” which stands for and follows “imaginary friends,” has made $1.75 million in previews so far at the box office. The family-friendly Paramount film is on track to dethrone last week’s box office champ, Disney’s “The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” “IF” is projected to make around $40 million in its opening weekend, with some estimates lower at $35 million and others as high as $45 million.

Tatiana Siegel An iconic woman needs an apt setting. So, to mark its 100th anniversary, Columbia Pictures has teamed with the Municipality of Cannes to put the studio’s instantly recognizable Torch Lady and roster of legendary actresses on full display as part of a free photographic exhibit in the historic city’s town square, just off the Croisette and with the Palais and Mediterranean Sea serving as a backdrop.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Mallory Wanecque, the breakout actor of “The Worst Ones” who headlines Cannes competition title “Beating Hearts,” is starring alongside Sami Bouajila (“Through the Fire”) in “Vultures,” a thriller directed by Peter Dourountzis (“Rascal”). Produced by Mediawan-owned 24-25 Films (“Black Box”), “Vultures” is represented internationally by Ginger & Fed, the new international film sales arm of Federation Studios headed by former TF1 Studio boss Sabine Chemaly.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Neon has bought North American rights to “The Unknown” (“L’Inconnue”), the hotly anticipated next movie from “Anatomy of a Fall”’s Oscar-winning co-writer Arthur Harari. As revealed by Variety earlier this week, the movie will star Léa Seydoux (“Dune 2”) and is being represented in international markets. Harari is rolling off of “Anatomy of a Fall” which he co-wrote with director Justine Triet, abd won an Oscar, two Golden Globes, a BAFTA and the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: June Diane Raphael (Grace and Frankie) is the newest addition to the cast of Weapons, New Line‘s mysterious new horror thriller from director Zach Cregger.

Todd Gilchrist editor Chronicling the eponymous Navy flight squadron across a season of demonstrations, “The Blue Angels” easily ranks near the top of the many Hollywood films to be considered “military propaganda” for their glowing depiction of the activities of U.S. men and women in uniform.

Neon has picked up North American rights to The Unknown, the next feature from Anatomy of a Fall writer Arthur Harari. 

Tim Chan If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The highly-anticipated trailer to “It Ends With Us” dropped Thursday, giving viewers a first look at the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover‘s bestselling book of the same name. Starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, “It Ends With Us” tells the story of Lily Bloom (played by Lively in the film), and follows her loving yet tumultuous relationship with husband Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni).

Alex Ritman Sam Taylor-Johnson has pushed back against criticism of how “Back to Black,” her Amy Winehouse biopic starring Marisa Abela as the late iconic singer, depicts some of its main characters. The Focus Features film finally lands in the U.S. today, more than a month after it released in the U.K.

Jamie Lang Iair Said‘s first fiction feature, “Most People Die on Sundays,” will world premiere in this year’s Acid section at Cannes, although until recently, the filmmaker knew little about the platform. “It was something new to me,” he told Variety in a recent interview when asked about being picked for this year’s lineup. “I’m not very informed about these kinds of industry things; I just make films to express myself.” Although the Acid sidebar is new to Said, this isn’t his first time at Cannes.

Ireland’s screen industry is having a moment. With the Cannes Film Festival well underway, there’s a notable strong Irish presence in this year’s line-up including Element Pictures’ three entrants – Competition title Kinds of Kindness from Yorgos Lanthimos, Rungano Nyoni’s sophomore feature On Becoming A Guinea Fowl and Ariane Labed’s directorial debut September Says (both in Un Certain Regard). There’s also Competition title The Apprentice, which is co-produced with Irish outfit Tailored Films and Lorcan Finnegan’s Nicolas Cage starrer The Surfer premiering in the Midnight Screenings strand. Even Andrea Arnold’s Competition title Bird is rich with Irish talent with star Barry Keoghan and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Robbie Ryan both having worked on the film. 

A group of 86 producers responsible for generating the lion’s share of film and TV in Hollywood have banded together to form Producers United. While acknowledging they have made a good living, the collective aims to address the fact that producers typically spend lengthy periods in development with little to no pay or benefits. This means that only tenured producers — those with enough personal assets to survive long, speculative stretches — can survive within the current system. And, without essential support, up-and-comers struggle to find a foothold. Producers United members want to open the doors for the future generations of producers-in-training, and they feel that inaction will not only hurt the producers, but surely whittle down the influx of creative minds in the business, and thus the quality of future projects.

It’s been 31 years since Screen Ireland (formerly the Irish Film Board) was re-established by the now President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins. In those years, the government has continued to give strong support to the screen sectors, with the country offering an attractive 32% tax incentive on eligible spend for film and television production. Last year, the country’s government increased its section 481 tax incentive cap on eligible expenditure from €70 million to €125 million in a move to attract larger scale productions.  

Surreal. That’s how Misan Harriman describes his first time at the Academy Awards earlier this year. Six years before, his wife had bought him a Fujifilm X100 for his 40th birthday and encouraged him to start taking pictures with it. Then there he was, surrounded by the global industry’s most overachieving, himself an Oscar-nominated director.