News

Back in 2003, Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem saw electronic duo Daft Punk teaming up with late manga and anime legend Leiji Matsumoto for an anime visual album like no other. Now the feature—which had Kazuhisa Takenouchi directing and Toei Animation producing—is coming back to cinemas around the world in a 4K remaster. A curated selection of Daft Punk music videos—from the likes of directors Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Seb Janiak, Roman Coppola and Warren Fu—will play after the film. Check out the poster and screening details: Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem Screening Date: December 12, 2024 Tickets for the global showing from Trafalgar Releasing will be available starting November 13 at the official website . Description: Interstella 5555 tells the story of the abduction of an alien music band by an evil human character who has dark plans. The hour-long...

Francis Ford Coppola has a date with American Film Institute next year.

The filmmaker has been selected to receive the 50th installment of the organization’s highest honor, the AFI Life Achievement Award, at a ceremony scheduled to take place at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on April 26, 2025. He will be 86 at the time. The tribute will air on TNT with encore presentations on Turner Classic Movies. All proceeds from the gala will support AFI’s education and arts initiatives.

The AFI Life Achievement Award is presented to an honoree “whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art, whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public, and whose work has stood the test of time.”

“Francis Ford Coppola is a peerless artist, one who has created seminal works in the canon of American film, and has also inspired generations of filmmakers who...

When Mejuri’s Jacob Jordan met filmmaker Gia Coppola and the team at creative production firm The Directors Bureau, the vibes were, as the kids say, pretty immaculate.

“We immediately felt a strong creative and personal connection,” the fine jewelry company’s chief brand officer tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It felt like I was sitting down with a group of old friends. We were intuitively aligned on pushing the limits of marketing, storytelling and the conventional idea of a ‘campaign.'”

The spark of that meeting has produced a new endeavor for Mejuri with the launch of A New York Minute, a series of new “microfilms” that reimagine the Mejuri story as episodic content with Coppola at the helm directing a group of young female friends with jewelry pieces as supporting players. The collaboration is also part of a recent wave of creativity from fashion brands like Gucci and Saint Laurent...

Few people nowadays probably can’t say that they have a favorite film company because of how much the industry has changed. The film genre has become oversaturated with superhero films, leading most people to start a conversation by asking, “Marvel or DC?” We don’t talk about what other companies are putting out or even acknowledge the future films that are coming out. Also, the way Walt Disney Studios has bought other companies makes it challenging for the common audience to step out and watch anything else. However, one company has been talked about a lot recently due to the films they’re distributing or making, and it's the A24 company. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement...

Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including events for Cobra Kai, UnPrisoned and Gucci.

Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project Block Party

Charlize Theron hosted her annual Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project Block Party on the Universal Studios backlot on Saturday, which both supported her organization and celebrated the upcoming release of Twisters with stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Lainey Wilson and Charlize Theron Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell

Cobra Kai season 6 premiere

Netflix celebrated part 1 of the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai in Los Angeles on Wednesday, with cast members Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Xolo Maridueña, Jacob Bertrand, Mary Mouser, Tanner Buchanan, Peyton List and Gianni Decenzo.

Executive producers Josh Heald, William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg Gianni DeCenzo, Xolo Maridueña, Jacob Bertrand, Peyton List and Mary Mouser

Jawbreaker 25th anniversary celebration

F.L.U.I.D.,...

Fresh off his recent Oscar win, Wes Anderson made his first-ever visit to the Annecy Animation Festival, where he reminisced about his past while also sharing a bit about the shoot for his next feature.

Anderson took part in a conversation Wednesday aimed at giving animation students insight into his upbringing, influences and pre-Hollywood projects. The event began with a montage of animated moments from his movies, leading the filmmaker to note that he didn’t realize he had dabbled so extensively in animation and that he didn’t even have a clear memory of some of those clips from his own work.

During the session, Anderson was asked about the importance of family in his career, given that he has worked with brother Eric Anderson and is also known for collaborating multiple times with various members of his films’ cast and crew. This led him to discuss the process of making his next movie,...

Reports that Wes Anderson was aiming for a scaled-back cast for espionage thriller The Phoenician Scheme may well have been off the mark.

When reports first surfaced that Wes Anderson’s next film would be an espionage thriller, minds were left agog pondering what he was actually up to. After all, Anderson used the iconography of 1950s sci-fi films to unveil something far more intricate with 2023’s Asteroid City, so who knows what Anderson’s good old spy movie could secretly be a Trojan horse for?

One early report we did hear suggested that for this film, Wes Anderson would be scaling back his cast and not working in the same ensemble-driven way that he so often does. That report now looks like it could have been wide of the mark (or perhaps things simply evolved) as the full cast list for the film has now been released and well,...

Nathalie Emmanuel’s first trip to the Cannes Film Festival was certainly a memorable one.

The “Fast and Furious” franchise star and “Game of Thrones” alum knows what it’s like to be in the spotlight, but Cannes is unique. First, consider the fact that she’s the leading lady in legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s longtime passion project “Megalopolis,” which made its world premiere at the festival. Then, there’s the reality of ascending the famed red steps to the Palais des Festivals.

“This whole experience has been like nothing I’ve ever had before,” Emmanuel told Variety the next day. “That moment was so much bigger and so much grander — I just had no concept of how crazy it would be, how exciting it would be, how many people there would be. … It was quite overwhelming, but really exciting and felt like a real celebration.”

“And obviously,...

Francis Ford Coppola has done well at Cannes, winning the Palme d’Or twice, for “The Conversation” (1974) and “Apocalypse Now” (1979), another film mired in controversy during production that sailed into release as a critical and box office success ($85 million worldwide), nominated for eight Oscars and winning two. Now the winemaker is back in Cannes with controversial “Megalopolis,” a 2 hour, 18 minute movie which he debuted at a gala premiere Thursday night to the usual sustained standing ovation (measured between seven and 10 minutes). There were a few boos at the press screening. He had dreamed of making the overstuffed extravaganza for 40 years since he wrote early versions of it in the ‘80s, but finally spent $120 million of his own money to produce and direct it.

Coppola faced drama on the set. He replaced VFX and art department members over clashes in filmmaking methods. Adam Driver, who plays a Robert Moses-style builder who...

On Friday afternoon, at the most anticipated press conference of the 77th Cannes Film Festival, legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola fielded questions about his latest work, Megalopolis, which had its world premiere at the fest in competition on Thursday night, deeply diving critics and audience members. The presser started more than half an hour late, a little unusual for Cannes, which unlike Hollywood events, generally run on time. But the filmmaker arrived in high spirits, stating that hearing applause at the premiere gave him feelings of “relief and joy.”

Coppola, 85, spent decades — and $120 million of his own money — trying to get the sci-fi epic across the finish line. The shoot was chaotic, THR reported in real time, with key creative talent quitting or being fired along the way; and this week The Guardian quoted sources from the set who suggested that Coppola made unwanted advances towards actresses.

Coppola was not...

Francis Ford Coppola shared his thoughts on the current studio system during the Cannes Film Festival press conference for his self-financed epic “Megalopolis,” saying that they might not be around much longer.

“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 said in response to a question from Variety. “Obviously, new companies like Amazon and Apple and Microsoft, they have plenty of money, so it might be that the studios we knew for so long, some wonderful ones, are not to be here in the future anymore.”

The presser also veered into the political, with Coppola being asked if the film is a commentary on Donald Trump,...

The most awaited film this year at the Cannes Film Festival, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, had its world premiere Thursday night, with the dystopian epic decades in the making landing a seven-minute standing ovation.

Coppola, the 85-year-old director and five-time Oscar winners, bowed as the lights came up inside the Grand Theatre Lumiere. He was congratulated by his Cotton Club star Richard Gere and got a hug from Cannes boss Thierry Fremaux as the ovation carried on.

Said Coppola to the crowd finally: “Thank you all so much — it is impossible to find words how I feel.” He then introduced those around him — including his granddaughter and son and collaborator Roman Coppola and sister Talia Shire. He called his cast “family” and emphasized the movie’s end message: “We should pledge allegiance to our families…that children should inherit a beautiful world from us.”

Coppola gives a speech after...

Francis Ford Coppola’s long-gestating and much-discussed sci-fi epic Megalopolis had its world premiere on Thursday night at the Cannes Film Festival, and was greeted with a 10-minute standing ovation inside the Grand Lumiere Theatre, as he gave a hug to each of his his principal stars — among them Nathalie Emmanuel, Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza and Giancarlo Esposito — and threw his hat into the cheering crowd.

Coppola, who lost his wife Eleanor last month, eventually interrupted the applause to take a microphone and introduce the members of his family who were with him, including his son, Roman Coppola, and sister, Talia Shire, both of whom worked on the film. He then said of his other collaborators on the film: “They were all my family. And in fact, as [Driver’s character] Cesar says [in the film], ‘We are all one family.'”

Added the filmmaker: “The most important thing we have, the most...

While Wes Anderson continues production in Germany on his new film The Phoenician Scheme, starring Benicio Del Toro, Michael Cera, Bill Murray, Riz Ahmed, and Mia Threapleton (Kate Winslet’s daughter), we have another treat from the filmmaker today. After teaming with cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel on his latest feature, he’s now collaborated with Linus Sandgren for a new short film / ad for a company that certainly fits his brand.

To mark a century since the pen Meisterstück was first introduced in 1924, Montblanc has partnered with Anderson to create a campaign that journeys into the Maison’s extraordinary world as seen through the filmmaker’s eyes. Directed by and starring Anderson, who co-directed with Roman Coppola and co-stars with Rupert Friend and Jason Schwartzman, the humorous three-minute feature was shot over two days in Berlin.

Anderson also shot alternate versions for other countries, featuring Maude Apatow and Waris Ahluwalia as...

Riz Ahmed has landed a part in Wes Anderson's latest film.The 41-year-old actor is to feature in the acclaimed director's untitled new project that is currently shooting in Berlin.Plot details have not been disclosed but the movie is expected to be a typical Anderson ensemble piece with many of his usual collaborators – although it will be the first time that Riz has worked with the 'Asteroid City' helmer.Benicio Del Toro and Bill Murray both feature in the cast of the project along with Michael Cera – another working with the filmmaker for the first time.The picture has a script from Anderson and Roman Coppola, who has worked with the director on five previous movies, and had been set to start production late last year before the Hollywood strikes caused a delay.Meanwhile, Riz recently revealed how the work of legendary director Martin Scorsese had...

Wes Anderson provoked chatter at this year's Oscar ceremony by not being there to accept his award for Best Live Action Short Film for The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar. But he had a good excuse — he was kicking off work on his next film. While some the cast included the predictable likes of regulars such as Bill Murray and Benicio Del Toro, we now also know that Riz Ahmed is among their number.

Anderson's latest is still largely under wraps, with no official word on a plot yet. But the director has cameras cranking away in Berlin, working from a script he wrote with Roman Coppola. Production was supposed to kick off last year, until the dual strikes put paid to that plan. And while it has yet to be confirmed, the title for the new project is rumoured as The Phoenician Scheme. Michael Cera is also on...

Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) has been tapped for a role in the newest film from Wes Anderson, Deadline can confirm.

Details as to the plot of the untitled feature, as well as Ahmed’s role are under wraps. But this is the actor’s first project with Anderson, who is coming off his first Oscar win for his Netflix short The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, based on the story by Roald Dahl. Michael Cera will also be introduced to Anderson’s world in the new film, as previously reported, with his regular collaborators Benicio del Toro and Bill Murray on board for roles, too.

Currently filming in Berlin, the film is written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, whose collaboration goes back to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. No word yet as to who will serve as its distributor. Anderson hinted at the project in a September 2023 interview with Deadline,...

Riz Ahmed is now a Wes Anderson featured player.

The actor, last seen in Apple’s love drama Fingernails, has joined the roster of acclaimed auteur’s latest project, an untitled feature that is now shooting in Berlin.

Plot details are being kept in the breast pocket, but it is shaping up to be another ensemble piece with several of his usual cadre of artists.

Benicio Del Toro and Bill Murray are also on the call sheet for the project. The feature has a script from Anderson and Roman Coppola, who has worked on five of the filmmaker’s movies. Michael Cera, also cast in the picture, is among the other Anderson first-timers.

The project was at one point eying a fall 2023 start, but the twin strikes last year pushed the start of production.

The feature has no distributor at this stage, although Anderson’s previous outing, 2023’s Asteroid City,...

Eleanor Coppola, the matriarch of a Hollywood dynasty who won an Emmy for directing the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse and helmed her first narrative feature at age 80, died Friday. She was 87.

Coppola died at her home in Rutherford, California, her family said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Survivors include her husband of 61 years, five-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, 85; their daughter, Sofia Coppola, the director, producer and Oscar-winning screenwriter; and their son, Roman Coppola, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter.

Her oldest child, actor Gian-Carlo Coppola, died in 1986 at age 22 in a speedboat accident.

Eleanor Coppola often went on location with Francis, and during the making of his Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now (1979), she was in the Philippines to shoot footage with a 16mm camera and conduct interviews, material that supposedly was to be used by the United Artists publicity department.

It would all be seen in Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.

Eleanor Coppola, who won an Emmy for the Apocalypse Now documentary Hearts of Darkness, directed Paris Can Wait and Love Is Love Is Love and was married to Francis Ford Coppola for 61 years, died Friday at her home in Rutherford, CA. She was 87.

She also is the mother of Oscar-winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola and American Zoetrope president Roman Coppola.

Eleanor Coppola won an Emmy and a DGA Award for helming Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, the 1991 documentary about the making of her husband’s seminal Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now. The production of that 1979 classic – which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar – was plagued by problems related to budget, casting, script, the weather – a typhoon destroyed much of the set – and even an active insurgency in the Philippines, the battle with which pulled away helicopters on loan from the government.

Eleanor Coppola, the longtime wife of Francis Ford Coppola, mother of Sofia and Roman Coppola, and documentary filmmaker who became a key player in the New Hollywood movement, has died at the age of 87. The news was confirmed by the Associated Press, which received a statement from the family. She died Friday April 12 at home in Rutherford, California.

Born in Los Angeles in 1936, Coppola studied design at UCLA and began her career working in the art department on film sets. While serving as assistant art director on “Dementia 13,” she met Francis Ford Coppola, who was making his directorial debut on the independent film. The two were married in 1963, beginning a partnership in life and filmmaking that spanned the next six decades.

An established documentary filmmaker in her own right, Coppola is best known for chronicling the often tumultuous behind-the-scenes drama on film sets. She accompanied her husband to the...

Eleanor Coppola, an American filmmaker who won an Emmy for chronicling her husband Francis Ford Coppola’s taxing 238-day production of “Apocalypse Now” in her documentary “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse,” died Friday at her home in Rutherford, Calif. She was 87.

Coppola’s death was confirmed in a statement by the Coppola family to the Associated Press.

A lifelong creative partner to her husband Francis, Eleanor Coppola took up filmmaking during the production of his Vietnam war feature “Apocalypse Now.” A highly anticipated follow-up to “The Godfather: Part II,” the planned five-month Philippines shoot more than doubled in length due to a litany of headaches and complications, including initial star Harvey Keitel’s replacement with Martin Sheen, typhoons wrecking sets, a reworked ending and Sheen’s hospitalization due to a heart attack.

The footage that Eleanor Coppola shot behind the scenes became the 1991 documentary “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse,...

Outside of perhaps Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kamiński, there may be no director-cinematographer collaboration that’s more extensive in modern-day cinema than that of Wes Anderson and Robert Yeoman. Having shot all of his live-action features, along with his recent Oscar-winning The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Yeoman is now taking a break for Anderson’s next feature The Phoenician Scheme.

Stepping in as director of photography, as he did for the Coens when Roger Deakins wasn’t available for Inside Llewyn Davis, is Bruno Delbonnel, who also shot Amélie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Across the Universe, and The Tragedy of Macbeth. However, it won’t be the first time the cinematographer has worked with Wes Anderson, as he shot his H&m holiday ad “Come Together” and even briefly appeared in The French Dispatch.

Co-written by Roman Coppola and Wes Anderson, this new film stars Benicio Del Toro,...

Legendary director Wes Anderson won his first Academy Award at the 96th Academy Awards for his work on The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, receiving the award for Best Live Action Short Film. Unfortunately, the director was not at the event to accept the award himself because he was occupied with his upcoming movie, The Phoenician Scheme.

Benedict Cumberbatch in Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Industry insider Jeff Sneider has revealed some interesting information about the film, including Kate Winslet’s daughter, Mia Threapleton’s casting. Sneider has confirmed that Anderson is in Germany right now to start the production of The Phoenician Scheme. As of now, there is no information regarding the film’s release but it’s safe to say the film won’t be released until 2025.

Wes Anderson couldn’t take his first Academy Award because of his next movie, The Phoenician Scheme...

Wes Anderson has started production on his latest feature The Phoenician Scheme in Germany.

The film is shooting at Studio Babelsberg where the US director has previously filmed of five of his previous films including The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch, and Asteroid City.

Benicio Del Toro, Michael Cera and Bill Murray are confirmed to star, while some of Anderson’s other regular stars are reportedly expected to feature.

The script was co-written by Anderson and frequent collaborator Roman Coppola, with details of the plot under wraps. Anderson is producing The Phoenician Scheme with Indian Paintbrush.

Last year, the...

During this year's Academy Awards, at least one longstanding wrong was finally righted. Even as someone who's generally found Wes Anderson's work to be somewhat hit or miss, it's always felt like a serious oversight that the acclaimed filmmaker had yet to win a single Oscar. You're telling me the guy behind "The Royal Tenenbaums," "Moonrise Kingdom," "The Grand Budapest Hotel," and "The French Dispatch" could only muster a grand total of seven nominations over the course of 20+ years? Poppycock, I say!

Well, that ignominious streak finally ended this past Sunday. But while Anderson's long-overdue win came in the live-action short film category for "The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar," he wasn't even in attendance to accept his award. Some viewers may have interpreted his absence as an intentional thumbing of the nose towards a voting body that hasn't exactly shown him much love over the decades, but...

With eleven feature films under Wes Anderson’s belt, we can now quickly add another. While the director’s recent batch of Roald Dahl adaptations were released as short films––so the first could compete for the Oscars––now that Anderson has indeed taken home his first Academy Award, he’s realizing his complete vision for the project.

Just after he nabbed his Oscar, Netflix announced they will release Wes Anderson’s anthology feature The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More, combining all four shorts and adding a new original song by Jarvis Cocker, this Friday on the platform. Just as another Netflix anthology release, Coens’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, is considered a feature, from this day henceforth let it be known The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More is Wes Anderson’s twelfth feature.

As for why Anderson couldn’t make it to Los...

After missing the chance to accept his first Oscar in person, following his win for Best Live-Action Short for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson has addressed the circumstances surrounding his absence and what he would’ve said in his speech.

“If I could have been there, I (along with [producer] Steven Rales) would have said ‘Thank You’ to: the family of Roald Dahl; the team at Netflix; Benedict [Cumberbatch] and Ralph [Fiennes] and Ben Kingsley and Dev [Patel] … and more [of the cast and crew],” Anderson stated. “And also: If I had not met Owen Wilson in a corridor at the University of Texas between classes when I was 18 years old, I would certainly not be receiving this award tonight — but unfortunately Steven and I are in Germany and we start shooting our new movie early tomorrow morning, so I did not actually receive the award [in person] or get a chance to say any of that.”

Anderson...

In one of the biggest ironies of the 2024 Oscars, Wes Anderson — whose fans had been waiting for him to win an Oscar since The Royal Tenenbaums‘ nomination in 2001 — won his first-ever Academy Award but was unable to accept it in person. While the auteur didn’t get a chance to give his acceptance speech onstage, Netflix shared his statement on his win.

“If I could have been there, I (along with [producer] Steven Rales) would have said ‘Thank You’ to: the family of Roald Dahl; the team at Netflix; Benedict [Cumberbatch] and Ralph [Fiennes] and Ben Kingsley and Dev [Patel] … and more [of the cast and crew],” the filmmaker wrote.

Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar received the Academy Award for best live-action short film. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as the titular character, who develops clairvoyant abilities, allowing him to cheat at gambling.

Anderson’s statement continued, “And also: If I had not...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2023 Oscars Predictions:

Best Original Screenplay Past Lives, from left: Teo Yoo, Greta Lee, John Magro, 2023. © A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection

Weekly Commentary: Following its victories at the Golden Globes for best screenplay and the BAFTA for original screenplay, it appears almost inevitable that “Anatomy of a Fall” will secure the Oscar for its co-writers,...

The worlds of fashion and film are tailor-made for each other in Season 5 of the critically acclaimed “Mubi Podcast.”

The new season of the global streaming platform, production company, and film distributor’s ongoing audio series debuts January 25, and IndieWire announces this year’s slate of guests and topics below. Titled “Tailor Made” and hosted by arts and travel reporter Rico Gagliano, the documentary podcast’s newest installment is available on all major platforms and via Mubi’s publication, “Notebook.”

Each episode of the season “tackles a landmark movie that captured a major fashion look of an era, and then decodes what that look meant — to the culture that spawned it, the people who wore it, and the audiences who watched it on screen,” per Mubi.

From Jean Seberg’s inimitable style in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” to a two-part exploration of how fashion folds into Sofia Coppola’s entire career,...

Wes Anderson has recruited his next star-studded cast for a new movie led by Bill Murray, Michael Cera, and Benicio del Toro, reports Deadline.

Anderson co-wrote the film with his frequent collaborator Roman Coppola. Details are officially being kept under wraps, but it’s set to go into production this year.

Last June, Anderson gave insight into the movie during an interview with Le Monde. “My next feature film will be linear, with Benicio Del Toro in every shot,” he said. “I can’t tell you much more than that except that it will be about espionage, a father-daughter relationship, and, let’s say, with a rather dark tone.”

Recent reports have also said the plot revolves around “three key characters,” with other Anderson regulars playing smaller roles.

While the currently untitled movie will mark Cera’s first time working with Anderson, Murray and del Toro have previously worked with the filmmaker.

Exclusive: Bill Murray (The French Dispatch), Michael Cera (Life & Beth) and Benicio Del Toro (The French Dispatch) have been set to star in the newest feature from seven-time Academy Award nominee Wes Anderson, which is set to go into production this year, Deadline has confirmed.

Anderson wrote the film with Roman Coppola, his regular collaborator going back to The Life Aquatic. Details as to the plot are under wraps. Anderson hinted at the project in a September 2023 interview with Deadline, noting that he and Coppola had just finished the script for a Del Toro-led feature before the start of the writers strike. Further cast is also under wraps at this point, but given Anderson’s tendency to pursue huge ensembles, expect many more names to emerge in the coming weeks to months.

Anderson is coming off of Asteroid City, a quirky alien invasion dramedy that follows a writer going about penning a world-famous fictional play.

Since the academy expanded the Best Picture category at the Oscars in 2010, Best Original Screenplay has gone to writers of a wide-range of genres: dramas; comedies (“Midnight in Paris”); biopics; true-life stories (“Spotlight”); memoirs (“Belfast”); period pictures (“Django Unchained”); war movies (“The Hurt Locker”); sci-fi (“Her”), thrillers horror (“Get Out”) and fantasies (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) . (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2023 Oscar predictions for Best Original Screenplay.)

Regardless of the type of film, a nominee needs broad academy support to win this race. Indeed, all 14 of the most recent Best Original Screenplay winners were, at the least, Best Picture nominees. And seven of them won the big prize, bringing the total number of Best Picture champs with Oscar-winning original screenplays to 18. By comparison, 42 films have done this on the adapted side including the 2022 double dipper “Coda.”

In 2023 all five nominees for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards were crafted by writer/directors.

Following a vintage year in 2023, Wes Anderson is looking to enter 2024 in productive fashion, it seems.

Even by his (presumably beautifully-appointed) standards, Wes Anderson enjoyed a stellar 2023. He doesn’t appear to be stopping for long to take it all in.

His feature film Asteroid City was hailed as an outstanding achievement, while the filmmaker’s series of Roald Dahl short films released on Netflix to no shortage of acclaim. Following a vintage year, it seems that Anderson is looking to challenge himself once more in 2024 as he looks to take on the espionage genre. It’s said to be an unconventional three-hander that is set to shoot in the spring.

Focusing largely on three cast members is unconventional for Anderson in two senses: firstly, the filmmaker is renowned for building larger ensemble casts while this (as yet untitled) project is said to focus almost entirely on three actors played by Benicio del Toro,...

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with Asteroid City, Wes Anderson’s latest film that had its world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Anderson penned the script with his frequent collaborator Roman Coppola after the two previously teamed on the Anderson-directed The Darjeeling Limited, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch and Moonrise Kingdom, the latter of which scored the pair an Original Screenplay Oscar nom in 2023.

The plot is set in 1955 and revolves around the American Southwest desert town of Asteroid City (population: 87), whose famed attraction is a giant meteor crater and observatory. The one-telephone-booth town is playing host to the military and astronomers honoring five Junior Stargazers with awards for their scientific inventions. It’s also the weekend celebrating Asteroid Day, commemorating September 27, 3007 BC, when that Arid Plains meteorite made impact.

It’s also the weekend an alien appears,...

Exclusive: production designer Nathan Crowley explains how his early work on Steven Spielberg’s Hook and Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula led to the practical sets of Wonka.

About the younger years of the magical confectioner Willy Wonka, director Paul King’s musical prequel Wonka is an ingenious fusion of cutting-edge CGI and traditional effects and props. A performance-captured Hugh Grant may play a particularly grumpy Oompa Loompa, but the film also takes in practical sets, location filming, and real props.

The town square that hosts at least one song-and-dance sequence is a huge, lavish set built at Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden; its nearby port was filmed on location in the UK’s picturesque Lyme Regis. The portable chocolate factory owned by Wonka himself (played by a fresh-faced Timothee Chalamet) was a real, mechanical prop, gently overlaid with a bit of VFX here and there. Even the chocolates were often edible,...

Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” is a nesting doll of a film—a television broadcast of a documentary about a play, assembled with the same precision and detail as Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “The French Dispatch” among others. Thematically, the connective tissue between its layers of reality, like many of those earlier films, is the notion and processing of loss. But Anderson, who co-wrote the movie with longtime collaborator Roman Coppola, says one of his longtime leading men inspired him to assemble its pieces in the first place.

“The movie ends up being about grief, but it evolved into that,” Anderson tells Variety. “Roman Coppola and I started this one with the idea that we wanted to build something around a role for Jason Schwartzman.”

He and Schwartzman, one of Coppola’s cousins, have worked together since he cast the then-young actor as precocious,...

It’s rare for a studio to become a brand, but A24 has managed it. Since its humble beginnings as a New York-based distribution company founded by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges in August 2012, A24 has become synonymous with quality for film lovers, the place that releases the must-see indies everyone is talking about.

A24’s first film was the little-seen and little-loved “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III” from Roman Coppola, which hit theaters in February 2013 to muted fanfare. But the movie that really put the company on the map was “Spring Breakers,” Harmony Korine’s wild crime comedy that hit theaters in March that same year and established many of the conventions fans associate with the brand: artful neon cinematography, shocking content and stylized violence, and cool-kid cleverness suffused in every frame. That’s not to say every movie that the company distributes...

Sofia Coppola, whose awards contender “Priscilla” is now in theaters, is just one of several filmmakers whose parents were already major names in the industry. Both her father, Francis Ford Coppola, and her mother, Eleanor Coppola, are directors, as is her brother Roman.

Here are some of the most notable second-generation directors in Hollywood, including Jason Reitman, Rob Reiner, Mario Van Peebles and Colin Hanks.

We’re also a big fan of Francesca Scorsese’s TikTok videos with her dad, Martin Scorsese, especially the one where he auditions the family dog.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Ivan and Jason Reitman

Jason has picked up the “Ghostbusters” mantle from his father, who died in Feb. 2022. He directed “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and the fourth film in the franchise is due in 2024. Jason’s films include “Up in the Air,” “Juno” and “Thank You For Smoking.”

Photo credit: Getty Images

Brandon and David Cronenberg

The...

Sofia Coppola zeroed in on her artistic signatures early on: The very first shot in her debut as a director, the 1998 short film Lick the Star, shows a teenage girl staring pensively out a car window. She did it again with a shot of Kirsten Dunst in a taxi in The Virgin Suicides (actually via her brother, Roman Coppola, who shot second unit). “And then when we were shooting Lost in Translation,” Coppola says over a recent breakfast in a West Village café, “I was like, ‘Roman, can you get the girl-out-the-window shot?...

Test screenings are always stressful, but especially so when it’s your first film. And while most of us all love the entire oeuvre of Wes Anderson, his debut, 1996’s Bottle Rocket, was far from being perceived as the classic it is today. As Kumar would say, Wes Anderson blew it, man.

Speaking at the Lumière Film Festival, Wes Anderson recalled the confidence that came along with being green in the movie industry – although it may have played a role in the initial public reaction of Bottle Rocket. “I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and no one could convince me that we shouldn’t do it, my confidence was the highest, then. When we finally made it and showed it to an audience, they hated it. I was so shocked, it was a disaster.”

Still, that fateful Bottle Rocket screening proved to be a pivotal moment for Wes Anderson.

Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Cailee Spaeny with her Elvis, Jacob Elordi at the 61st New York Film Festival press conference Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The press conference for Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, a portrait of Elvis Presley’s (Jacob Elordi) wife, born Priscilla Ann Wagner (Cailee Spaeny), was attended by the two stars, plus producer Youree Henley, production designer Tamara Deverell, and Coppola’s longtime costume designer Stacey Battat (Somewhere; The Bling Ring; The Beguiled; On the Rocks). Stacey also worked with Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola, and Alex Timbers on Mozart In The Jungle; Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer on Still Alice; Scott McGehee and David Siegel on What Maisie Knew, and Sebastián Lelio on Gloria Bell.

Yuree Henley reading Sofia Coppola’s letter with Cailee Spaeny Jacob Elordi, Stacey Battat and Tamara Deverell Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

“I am honoured to be back at the New York Film Festival with my...

While it’s too easy to consider filmmaker Wes Anderson’s cinematic world one entirely of his own creation, the iconoclastic creator’s impeccably built tales have always hinged on his long-running professional bonds with everyone from his perpetual co-writer Roman Coppola to his merry band of performers.

And, of course, there’s been Roald Dahl.

While the iconic if controversial British author passed away before Anderson even shot his first feature, “Bottle Rocket,” the mannered and fantastical world the “James and the Giant Peach” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” author built on the page is a striking match for Anderson’s cinematic obsessions.

In 2009, Anderson tried his hand at his first Dahl adaptation with his winsome and charming stop-motion feature “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and now, nearly 15 years later, Anderson wades even deeper into the rich waters of Dahl’s bibliography with his latest work: a series of short...

Exclusive: A24’s Sofia Coppola directed movie, Priscilla, will now go wide on Nov. 3 instead of Oct. 27.

The news comes on the heels of a glowing world premiere out of the Venice Film Festival where the movie based on the Priscilla Presley’s memoir Elvis and Me grabbed a 94% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

With Dune: Part Two moving off of Nov. 3, it creates more breathing room for others movies and availability of theaters. And, true, it’s also the last weekend ‘official’ weekend of the Taylor Swift: Eras Concert movie.

Talent and creators of the film including Coppola, Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi are now cleared to promote the film since it was granted a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement ahead of its world premiere.

The movie stars Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and Jacob Elordi as Elvis. Coppola adapted the memoir. Producers are Coppola, Lorenzo Mieli and Youree Henley. EPs are Roman Coppola,...

The 2023 Venice Film Festival is underway, and while the Hollywood strikes have kept the bulk of the stars from attending the lauded fest, the red carpet isn’t entirely devoid of actors and has been host to a number of filmmakers from Wes Anderson to Michael Mann (directors are not on strike). Actors like “Ferrari” star Adam Driver were able to attend after receiving an Interim Agreement from SAG-AFTRA that allows for independent productions that adhere to SAG-AFTRA’s terms to move forward during the strike.

This gallery will be updated as the festival continues, but right now peruse red carpet photos featuring Driver, Mann, Anderson, Patrick Dempsey, Caleb Landry Jones, Jane Campion, Mads Mikkelsen, Anna Diop, David Fincher, Sofia Coppola and more.

Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Leonie Hanne arrives on the red carpet ahead of the “Finalmente L’Alba” screening during the 80th Venice International Film Festival...

The world premiere of Priscilla, the latest film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, took place this evening at the Venice Film Festival. The movie stars Cailee Spaeny in the titular role as Priscilla Presley, with Jacob Elordi portraying Elvis Presley and Dagmara Dominczyk also featuring in the cast.

Coppola secured a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement for publicity, granting the cast permission to participate in the premiere and promote the feature. Attending the premiere included Elordi and Spaeny and much of the main cast.

Related: ‘Priscilla’ Review: Sofia Coppola Finds Meaning In The Small Things, Giving Fresh Point Of View To Familiar Elvis Story

Coppola adapted the book based on the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me co-authored by Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon. Producers on the pic are Lorenzo Mieli, Coppola, and Youree Henley. EPs are Roman Coppola, Chris Hatcher, Fred Roos, and Presley. A24 is releasing domestically while Mubi has snapped up rights across multiple territories,...

Anderson becomes latest high-profile figure in Venice to address industrial action.

US filmmaker Wes Anderson says “people are suffering” as a result of the actors’ and writers’ strikes, and “an equitable deal has to be reached for anybody to go forward.”

Speaking at a press conference in Venice ahead of the world premiere of his short film The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar, Anderson said, “I’m a member of both the Writers’ Guild and Directors’ Guild for 20 years. I can’t say that I have answers or real suggestions; I think an equitable deal has got to be reached for anybody to go forward.

Ahead of its world premiere in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, which follows the Presleys from the perspective of the King’s young bride, has secured a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement.

While this is another A24 feature production to nab an interim agreement, the film gets a clearance by SAG-AFTRA due to the fact that the movie was shot in Canada under the production company Tcb Productions Canada.

Related: 15 Movies About Labor Unions And Strikes – Photo Gallery

Lost in Translation Original Screenplay Oscar winner Coppola is a member of WGA, Deadline understands. You’ll remember that SAG-AFTRA, in solidarity with the Writers Guild, has modified its interim agreement policy to exclude any projects shot in the U.S. that are covered by the WGA. Specific wording is “shot in U.S.” SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland explained to Deadline at Comic-Con...

It is a rare thing when just the studio attached to a movie can get butts in seats, but that is just what Independent Film Company A24 has done since they were formed in 2012. From humble beginnings with the Roman Coppola directed A Glimpse Inside The Mind of Charles Swan III to break out hits like Ex Machine and The Witch. More recently the studio became the first one to ever sweep the top six awards at this past years Oscars when their films Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Whale took home Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Picture. As their latest film Talk To Me continues to put up impressive numbers at the box office, we wanted to know: What A24 releases has been your favorite? We compiled a pretty comprehensive list, but if you don’t see your favorite listed,...