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Anora scored five Oscars on Sunday, but one of its wins took many, including Jack Antonoff, by surprise. Demi Moore was the odds-on favorite to win Best Actress, but The Substance star fell to Anora star Mikey Madison. But Madison's victory is not very surprising when you get down to it. Here's how she pulled off the win.

1. The stronger movie prevails over narrative

Anora won five Oscars from six nominations, with four wins for Sean Baker: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. The Palme d'Or champ was the Oscar frontrunner for most of the season, with just a short blip after its Golden Globe shutout before it claimed the Producers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America Awards to reassert itself. The Substance had five nominations, a great haul for a body-horror film, and won one, Best Makeup and Hairstyling. It...

For those with Hollywood dreams, whether it's acting in films or directing them, their biggest aspiration may be to win an Oscar. "Academy Award winner" would be forever attached to their name, and presumably, doors would open in their careers that had never opened before.

While the Oscars certainly recognize performers and filmmakers for their exceptional talents and place them in a class above the rest, they also bring high expectations. After winning, there will always be pressure to live up to that title, which may be impossible to achieve again. This is part of the dreaded "Oscar curse." What happens after you've achieved the biggest honor in Hollywood?

Oscar campaigns and wins can be just as much of a story as the movies themselves. Hollywood's publicity machine spins a specific narrative to help an artist win the coveted award — the higher the stakes or the more cultural impact, the better.

After directing a pair of contemporary thrillers “The Stronghold” and “November,” French director Cedric Jimenez is diving into genre for his next movie, “Chien 51,” a dystopian film that once again explores the work and minds of cops but this time in a near-future environment ruled by AI.

“Chien 51,” which reteams Jimenez with French producer Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi (a Mediawan company) and distributor Studiocanal, is based on Laurent Gaudé’s 2022 futuristic thriller novel by the same name.

The movie marks Jimenez’s most ambitious movie to date and boasts a budget in the €40-million ballpark. The 18-week shoot took place on location in Paris, as well as in Marseille and in a studio where set were built. One of 2025’s most anticipated French movies, “Chien 51” will boast extensive visual effects and stylish set designs with some spectacular scenes involving up to 500 extras.

On the eve of the EFM,...

Bertrand Blier, the irreverent French film director behind Oscar-winning romantic comedy Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, has died aged 85.

Blier left his mark on 1970s and 1980s French cinema with films known for their dark humour and cynicism.

He helped to launch the international career of now controversial actor Gerard Depardieu, who starred in the director’s 1974 comedy drama Going Places (Les Valseuses) with Miou-Miou and Patrick Dewaere, about two aimless thugs on a crime and sex spree across the country.

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (Préparez Vos Mouchoirs),about a ménage-à-trois, won the best foreign-language film Oscar for France in 1979 and...

Bertrand Blier, the irreverent French film director behind Oscar-winning romantic comedy Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, has died aged 85.

Blier left his mark on 1970s and 1980s French cinema with his films known for their dark humour and cynicism. His helped to launch the international career of now controversial actor Gerard Depardieu who starred in the director’s 1974 comedy drama Going Places (Les Valseuses) with Miou-Miou and Patrick Dewaere about two aimless thugs on a crime and sex spree across the country.

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (Préparez Vos Mouchoirs) about a ménage-à-trois won the best foreign-language Oscar for France in 1979 and...

The origin story of Jean Valjean, the iconic protagonist of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece “Les Misérables,” is being brought to the bigscreen by Éric Besnard, the French director of 18th-century set movie “Delicieux.”

The movie, which just started filming on Jan. 14 amid the lush landscapes of Southern France, has been boarded by Federations Studios’ sales label Ginger & Fed spearheaded by Sabine Chemaly. The project is being teased to buyers at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris which kicked off on Monday (Jan. 13).

“Valjean” reteams Besnard with French actor Gregory Gadebois who starred in his previous film, the 19th-century set movie “Louise Violet.” Gadebois stars as Valjean, opposite Bernard Campan, Isabelle Carré and Alexandra Lamy.

Clément Miserez and Matthieu Warter at Mediawan-owned banner Radar Films is producing. Warner Bros. France will release the film locally. France 3 Cinéma is a co-producer. “Valjean” is also backed by Ciné+, Ocs, HBO Max,...

The Wolf of Wall Street is a Martin Scorsese black comedy based on Jordan Belfort's infamous tale of business fraud as a stockbroker. In The Wolf of Wall Street, Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) becomes a stockbroker and achieves a moderate level of financial success before losing his job in the 1988 Black Monday crash. He then founds the stock trading firm Stratton Oakmont, which quickly becomes a criminal enterprise as Belfort and his associates trick unsuspecting customers into investing in stocks without showing them the fine print.

Over its three-hour runtime, The Wolf of Wall Street follows the rise and fall of Stratton Oakmont and the wealth Jordan Belfort builds from it. It also chronicles Belfort's tumultuous romance with his wife, Naomi (Margot Robbie), and his increasingly out-of-control drug addiction. Belfort spends much of The Wolf of Wall Street barely keeping one step ahead of the FBI before finally being forced...

Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce are the latest awards contenders to receive honors at this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

On Tuesday, festival organizers revealed “The Brutalist” co-stars will be given the Cinema Vanguard Award at the 40th annual Sbiff next year.

“Both Adrien and Guy have had lengthy, rewarding, and uncompromising careers – and in this year’s ‘The Brutalist’ they each give us their best work to date,” remarked Sbiff’s Executive Director Roger Durling.

Set for release in December, “The Brutalist” is Brady Corbet’s American epic about post-war American life in the 1940s as seen through the eyes of a Hungarian immigrant, played by Brody. Pearce plays a mid-Atlantic titan of industry who hires Brody’s Lazlo Toth, an architect of great renown, to help him with a new project.

Brody is the youngest Best Actor winner ever, having won the award for “The Pianist...

Exclusive: The Santa Barbara Film Festival is lauding The Brutalist stars, Oscar winner Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, with the Cinema Vanguard Award during the 40th annual event on February 13, 2025.

The Cinema Vanguard Award recognizes actors who have forged their own path, taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique contribution to film. Previous honorees include Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Carey Mulligan, Laura Dern, Michael B. Jordan, William DaFoe, Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Rooney Mara, Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams, Jean Dujardin, Bernice Bejo, Nicole Kidman, Peter Sarsgaard, Christoph Waltz, Vera Farmiga, Kristin Scott Thomas, Stanley Tucci and Ryan Gosling.

Directed by Brady Corbet with a scheduled release from A24 on December 20, The Brutalist follows an immigrant architect (Brody) who makes waves in post-World War II America, working for a fierce industrialist (Pearce). They plan to erect a mesmerizing, and defying,...

Russell Crowe starrer “The Last Druid” must rate as one of the highest-profile projects being brought to market at this week’s American Film Market. Its partners – Range Media Partners, Spain’s Nostromo, CAA Media Finance and AGC International – are aiming to shoot in Spain.

Norman Reedus, star of AMC Networks “The Walking Dead: Darryl Dixon” was besieged by fans late August as he shot Season 3 in Madrid, which looks set to double for London, double-decker red bus with signage for Trafalgar Square being caught on video cruising central Madrid streets.

Guy Ritchie filmed Henry Cavill starrer “In the Grey” for 35 days in Spain’s Canary Island of Tenerife last year, having also shot part of “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” in the country.

Led by “Game of Thrones’” Sean Bean, “This City is Mine,” produced by Left Bank Pictures for BBC One, shot in Marbella over March, April and early May.

The Red Sea International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled the lineups for its New Vision and Series strands at the event’s fourth edition in December, featuring new Saudi voices, the Vatican, a new Zorro series with The Artist star Jean Dujardin, an English historian, a deep dive into Turkish telenovela series, and a lot of art. “This year marks the first time Saudi works have been selected in New Vision, underscoring the vibrant evolution of local and regional cinema, while the Series strand highlights exciting new voices from the small screen with four new international television shows,” organizers highlighted.

The 2024 edition of the Rsiff takes place Dec. 5-14 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia after a star-studded 2023 festival.

Four out of the five films in the Red Sea: New Vision strand are Saudi movies. “Saudi voices take center stage this year alongside a diverse selection of international films and series, highlighting...

In 1997, when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote and starred in Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting," it immediately propelled the pair onto the ineffable Hollywood A-list. Both of them had been acting for several years and had participated in a few notable studio pictures, but it was "Good Will Hunting" that pushed the two handsome young blokes onto the top of the heap. Their film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and it won Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (for Robin Williams). Ever since, both Affleck and Damon have remained above-the-title power players, appearing in a long list of both big-budget hits and ambitious indies.

Although, that's not to say that they both haven't had their share of stinkers. Affleck has starred in several notorious films in his career, including widely loathed films like "Gigli" and "Phantoms." Although Affleck was the bomb in "Phantoms,...

At this point, we all know that for better or for worse, Lady Gaga loves going Method for her roles. She claimed that for her role as Ally in "A Star is Born" — the role that won her an Oscar for best original song thanks to the showstopper "Shallow" — she lived in the role for years. More recently, she changed her singing voice and walked the set of "Joker: Folie á Deux" as Harleen "Lee" Quinzel. In 2022, for the biopic "House of Gucci," Lady Gaga took "the Method," where you fully embody your character even when the cameras are off super seriously, and even spoke in an Italian accent for her role as Patrizia Reggiani. Apparently, she also refused to speak to one of her co-stars as a result of her approach to Patrizia.

In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, French actress Camille Cottin — who shared one scene with Lady...

French actor-writer-director Nicolas Bedos has been sentenced to one year in prison with six months suspended in addition to compulsory addiction and psychological treatment for sexually assaulting two women last year. He was acquitted on another charge of sexual harassment stemming from 2018.

Bedos is best known for his Cannes-premiering features as a director including Mascarade, Oss 117: From Africa With Love in 2021 and La Belle Epoque. His last project was Prime Video seriesAlphonsestarring Jean Dujardin.

Bedo’s lawyer Julia Monowski said she plans to appeal “immediately” and called the sentence “totally unprecedented, unjust and totally unacceptable.”

The charges date back...

Roman Polanski’s film An Officer and a Spy is to receive its UK premiere, five years after winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and despite being frozen out of the UK and American film market due to the director’s criminal past.

The Times newspaper reports that the UK Jewish Film Festival will host the first public screening of the film, which explores the real-life Dreyfus affair in France at the beginning of the 20th century.

The chief executive of the UK Jewish Film Festival Michael Etherton told The Times that the subject matter of the film with its theme of anti-Semitism was “highly relevant,” and said:

“And as a festival increasingly faced with silence, which often amounts to censorship of British Jewish culture, we don’t ourselves want to be censoring art. We want to give audiences the choice of whether they want to...

Almost all of the Best Actor winners at this century’s 23 Academy Awards ceremonies have ticked at least one of these two boxes: they were over 40 or portraying a real-life fellow. [The only exceptions: Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”) and Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”) who were 36 and 39 respectively when they won for playing fictional characters.] Of this year’s leading contenders for Best Actor all but one (who stars in a long-awaited sequel to a Best Picture champ) tick at least one of those two boxes. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Actor.)

Ralph Fiennes, 61, is devilishly delightful as a cardinal in Edward Berger‘s thriller “Conclave.” It’s been almost three decades since he was last at the Oscars for his starring role in the Best Picture winner “The English Patient.” His only previous bid was for his scene-stealing role in the 1994 champ “Schindler’s List.”

Colman Domingo, 54, reaped his first...

French actor-filmmaker Nicolas Bedos is facing a one-year suspended prison sentence on charges of alleged sexual assault and sexual harassment under the influence of alcohol, Variety has confirmed.

During a criminal court hearing on Sept. 26, the Paris prosecutor requested a one-year suspended sentence for Bedos, as well as “an obligation of care for a period of two years,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement sent to Variety. Bedos’ attorney Julia Minkowski had no comment.

Charges against Bedos stem from a complaint filed by a woman for an alleged sexual assault which is alleged to have occurred on June 1 in a Parisian nightclub. Bedos allegedly put his hand on the crotch of the woman who was wearing jeans. Two more women since came forward accusing Bedos of sexual misconduct but neither filed a police complaint. One woman said Bedos grabbed her by the waist and kissed her on the...

The Paris prosecutors office has requested a one-year suspended prison sentence against French actor and director Nicolas Bedos, following a hearing on charges of sexual assault and sexual harassment while under the influence of alcohol.

Cannes regular Bedos – whose recent credits include La Belle Epoque, Oss 177: From Africa With Love and Mascarade – was tried on three allegations.

The first complaint was lodged in June 2023, by a 25-year-old woman, who accused Bedos of approaching her in a club and putting his hand on her crotch.

According to her account, he insulted her when she repelled his advances, and his behavior resulted in him being escorted from the club by a security guard.

The 45-year-old actor was reported to have told investigators at the time that if the gesture had happened it was “accidental”.

After a court hearing was set for September 2024, two more accusations came to light, one for sexual assault,...

Exclusive: An eponymous gender-swapped reimagination of the classic masked vigilante Zorro is in the works at CBS from CBS Studios, sources tell Deadline. Zorro hails from filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, his writer-director sister Rebecca Rodriguez and Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens’ Propagate.

John Hlavin (The Man Who Fell To Earth) has joined the project— following Sean Tetra who wrote the second iteration of Zorro— as co-writer alongside Rebecca Rodriguez. The duo will pen a new original script for CBS.

In this contemporary take, a young Latinx woman discovers that her long-deceased father was the legendary hero Zorro. She takes on his masked persona to defend the desperate citizens of her Austin, Texas community from the wealthy forces seeking to exploit them.

Executive producers include Robert Rodriguez; Ben Silverman, Rodney Ferrell and Howard T. Owens for Propagate; Geoff Clark, Eric Bromberg, Jay Weisleder and John Gertz (Zpi/rightsholder).

This is the...

French filmmaker Laurent Tirard, known for films including Little Nicholas, Molière and Asterix & Obelisk: God Save Britannia, has died aged 57 following a long illness, his agent announced on Thursday (September 5).

Tirard directed several features across two decades. His most recent film was 2022’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) about nuns competing in a bicycle race, while The Speech was selected for the pandemic-year Cannes Label in 2020; the filmmaker also served on the Un Certain Regard jury in 1999.

Two of Tirard’s most successful films were his 2009 adaptation of well-known children’s book series Little Nicholas, which sold 5.6 million tickets in France,...

Exclusive: Noé Debré issued a rallying call for public broadcasting as he accepted Deadline’s inaugural French TV Disruptor Award at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous event in Normandy, France.

Debré is one of the most exciting writers and directors in France and has worked on projects for pay TV services and has a new show for Max, but he is known for breakout comedy series Parlement and is currently enjoying pre-launch buzz for Zorro, both of which are for pubcaster France Télévisions domestically.

Speaking as he accepted the award, which recognizes an industry figure with a singular voice and producing outstanding work, he said: “When I was told about the award, I was very flattered and I also looked up what ‘disruption’ actually means. It’s been popularized by tech companies and tech culture, because, as you know, tech companies are now very big in our field. But it turns out...

Laurent Tirard, the French screenwriter and director whose best-known works included adaptations of René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé’s Little Nicholas and Nicolas on Holiday, has died after a long illness. He was 57.

Tirard was a well-liked figure in the French film industry who made 15 features over the course of two decades.

They also included Molière (2007), starring Romain Duris as the historic playwright; Astérix & Obélix: God Save Britannia (2012) with Catherine Deneuve, Fabrice Luchini and Guillaume Gallienne; romantic comedy Up For Love with Jean Dujardin and Virginie Efira, and costume drama Return Of A Hero (2018), also starring Oscar-winner Dujardin.

He also directed early episodes of hit show Call My Agent!.

Tirard’s films rarely debuted at film festivals but regularly achieved healthy box office results at home and sold well internationally too.

“He had a talent for capturing and retelling human stories with a lot of humor and sensibility,” PR agency...

Noé Debré will receive the inaugural French TV Disruptor Award from Deadline at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous market in Le Havre. The writer and director will accept the award as his Paramount+ and France Télévisions series Zorro comes to market, starring Jean Dujardin as the iconic masked hero.

Debré co-created the series with Benjamin Charbit. It comes on the heels of his hit show Parlement. He has wrapped work on the fourth and final season of that series, a Franco-German-Belgian copro, which follows Samy Kantor, a young assistant trying to find his way through the labyrinthine inner workings of the European Parliament.

With Zorro, Debré has taken classic U.S.-originated IP and given it a French action-comedy twist for Paramount+ (selected territories) and France Télévisions. On the small screen, his upcoming projects include an adaptation of ‘Vivre avec nos morts’ (‘Living With Our Dead’) for streamer Max. It tells the...

With French production continuing to grow in all major genres, the 30th edition of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous market kicks off for the first time in Le Havre, welcoming international buyers from around the globe.

Last year, some 200 international buyers from 40 countries, along with 58 French sales companies, attended the Rendez-Vous, and organizers are expecting similar numbers for the current edition.

Speaking with Variety about this year’s event, Unifrance’s president, Gilles Pélisson, and executive director, Daniela Elstner, offer their insights on the latest trends, the significant role of the Rendez-Vous for the industry, and the growing international reach of French programming, from high-end drama to animation and documentary fare.

While international streamers have been pulling back from original production, French productions continue to grow in all major areas, Pélisson points out.

“French production has experienced steady growth over the last years, especially when it comes to fiction. Animation has always been very strong,...

Great guest stars can shake things up when they are handled well. Some shows like '30 Rock' and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' excel at making the best out of their celebrity stars. It's important for guest stars to fit a show's established world and humor, whether they are celebrities playing themselves or not.

Sitcom guest stars can often disrupt the flow of a show, but when they are handled well, they can make the comedy even funnier. Great guest stars need to fit into the established world of the show, but the truly memorable ones can shake things up and provide hilarious new conflicts. Some sitcoms seem naturally better-suited to facilitating guest appearances than others, and some even make cameos part of their identity.

While all sitcoms need guest stars every now and then to keep things fresh, not all of them consistently choose good options. Big stars can sometimes overshadow the main cast.

Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard Segel’s Storyboard Media has begun talks with buyers here on the action thriller Wages Of Sin with Danny Trejo.

Paul Sloan from Green Book stars in the film alongside Trejo, whose credits include Machete and From Dusk Till Dawn, and Jeremy Luke from The Irishman.

The Los Angeles-set story centres on a man who gets framed for a crime and is targeted by a criminal fentanyl enterprise.

Victor Rios makes his directorial debut for 333 Pictures and Boatyard Productions and Stephen Cyrus Sepher wrote the screenplay.

Sepher and Nazo Bravo serve as producers while Costa...

Neon has promoted Elissa Federoff from president of distribution to chief distribution officer and Ryan Friscia from EVP, finance & business development to chief financial officer.

Federoff has been with the company since its inception in January 2017 and will continue to oversee the company’s release strategy.

The executive has steered Neon to one of its most successful periods at the box office since inception, with Sydney Sweeney starrer Immaculate earning more than $16m, 2023 Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall taking more than $5m to become the highest-grossing specialised foreign-language release post-Covid, and Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days on more than $3.7m.

Picture Perfect Entertainment head Patrick Wachsberger arrives on the Croisette with key pre-sales in the bag on his hot-ticket French adaptation of The Incredible Shrinking Man starring Jean Dujardin.

Production began in Brussels last week on the feature based on the Richard Matheson novel and Universal’s 1957 black and white film about a man who faces danger at every turn after he is exposed to radiation and insecticide and shrinks to less than one inch tall.

Dujardin, who won the Oscar for The Artist, reunites with his 99 Francs director Jan Kounen.

Deals have closed in Germany (Leonine), Italy (Rai), Latin...

Quentin Dupieux’s The Second Act gets the opening out of competition berth at the Cannes Film Festival Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival Ahead of next week’s big reveal of the Cannes Film Festival’s main programme for the 77th edition the organisers have jumped the gun by announcing Quentin Dupieux's The Second Act (Le Deuxième Acte) will open the event with an out of competition premiere. The latest production from the wacky and prolific French director, screenwriter and musician will also seen simultaneously at French cinemas across the country on the same night ahead of its French release.

The occasion will deliver a starry cast of among others Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard, and of course, Dupieux himself who has managed to make 13 features including Deerskin, Rubber, Mandibles, Incredible But True and Smoking Causes Coughing shown at Cannes out of competition in 2022.

Quentin...

The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will kick off with Quentin Dupieux’s “The Second Act,” a star-studded surreal French comedy headlined by Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard, Variety has learned.

The anticipated movie is produced by Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi, a Mediawan company, and is represented in international markets by Kinology. The film will play out of competition on May 14 and will be released on the same day in French theaters.

Laced with absurdist humor, the meta movie follows actors starring in a doomed film production. Dupieux is one of France’s most popular and prolific filmmakers. He delivered two films in 2023: “Daaaaaalí,” which played out-of-competition at Venice, and “Yannick,” a French box office hit that sold around the world.

In confirming the film’s selection at Cannes, the festival described Quentin as a “filmmaker who embraces freedom – in tone, form and...

Given that the last Best Actor Oscar recipient with less than an hour of screen time was Jean Dujardin, it’s clear that modern academy voters strongly prefer lengthy lead male roles. That hasn’t always been the case, however, as indicated by the fact that 30 briefer turns than Dujardin’s have been awarded during the category’s 96-year history. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out which 10 Best Actor-winning performances are the shortest of all time.

This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving non-visible or audible scene presence are not factored in. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but his concurrently honored and still-intact turn in “The Last Command” puts him in 13th place here.

Given that the last Best Actor Oscar recipient with less than an hour of screen time was Jean Dujardin, it’s clear that modern academy voters strongly prefer lengthy lead male roles. That hasn’t always been the case, however, as indicated by the fact that 30 briefer turns than Dujardin’s have been awarded during the category’s 96-year history. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out which 10 Best Actor-winning performances are the shortest of all time.

This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving non-visible or audible scene presence are not factored in. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but his concurrently honored and still-intact turn in “The Last Command” puts him in 13th place here.

Dramas based on well-known IP and starring A-list talent were front and centre at this year’s Series Mania.

Mediawan, for example, hosted a splashy showcase of its upcoming mini-series The Count of Monte-Cristo, produced by Italy’s Palomar with France’s Demd Productions, from Danish director Bille August, starring British actors Sam Claflin and Jeremy Irons.

During the festival, Paramount+ and France Télévisions also announced they had teamed up for an eight-episode adaptation of Zorro (working title) starring Jean Dujardin, the Oscar-winning actor of The Artist. France Televisions also announced a series commission for Lucky Luke, an adaptation of the cult Belgian comic book.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here. We’ve been out in force in France this week. To read about our travels, plus plenty more, scroll down, and sign up here.

All That Mania

‘So Long, Marianne’ star Alex Wolff (left) with Series Mania boss Laurence Herszberg

Netflix pulls ahead: Anything but doom and gloom this week at the Lille Series Mania confab, which was buzzy as ever, cementing its place as a must-not-miss event in the ever-crowded TV market calendar. Big stars including Patricia Arquette, Jeremy Irons and Michael Chiklis headed to the city in northern France to tout wares and talk shop. Netflix execs were out in full force, pushing hard against the cross-industry contraction narrative by unveiling dozens of shows in the weeks leading up to the market — and unveiling two more, starring Isabelle Adjani and Famke Janssen — at its showcase. At a time when local content is being rowed back,...

Paramount+ and France Télévisions have confirmed their pact on upcoming, working-titled series Zorro starring Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin as the iconic masked vigilante.

The partners revealed a first image of The Artist actor Dujardin in the role in a release and said the show will launch later this year on Paramount+ before being broadcast on France Télévisions.

Paramount+ has also acquired rights for the UK, Italy, Germany and Latin America. France tv distribution is handling sales for all other territories.

News of Dujardin’s and Paramount+’s involvement in the show broke in the French media late last year but today’s release was the partners’ first official confirmation of their co-production and distribution deal.

The new show is set in 1821 and sees Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro become mayor of Los Angeles to improve his beloved city.

However, the city is facing financial trouble due to a local...

Paramount+ has boarded “Zorro” (working title), an adventure comedy series starring Jean Dujardin, the Oscar-winning actor of “The Artist,” as the iconic character of Diego de la Vega.

Created by Benjamin Charbit (“Gagarine”) and Noé Debré (“Dheepan”), the anticipated show was bought by Paramount+ for France, the U.K., Italy, Germany and Latin America.

In the eight-part series, Dujardin stars opposite well-known Italian comedian Salvatore Ficarra, and French actors, including Audrey Dana, André Dussollier, Eric Elmosnino and Grégory Gadebois. The show will premiere on Paramount+ before rolling out on the pubcaster France Télévisions.

The series unfolds in 1821 as Don Diego de la Vega becomes mayor of Los Angeles and has to face off a corrupt businessman, Don Emmanuel.

Marc Dujardin’s Le Collectif 64 and Julien Seul at Bien Sûr Productions are producing the series which is penned by Charbit, Debré and Emmanuel Poulain-Arnaud (“Le Test”). It’s directed by Jean-Baptiste Saurel...

Since the inception of the Academy Awards, the U.S.-based organization behind them has always strived to honor worldwide film achievements. Their extensive roster of competitive acting winners alone consists of artists from 30 unique countries, three of which first gained representation during the 2020s. The last full decade’s worth of triumphant performers hail from eight countries, while 42.1% of the individual actors nominated during that time originate from outside of America.

The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...

For the first time in 12 years, the Best Picture and Best Actor Oscars have gone to the same film. “Oppenheimer” took the top honor at Sunday’s 96th Academy Awards, moments after Cillian Murphy prevailed for his lead turn as J. Robert Oppenheimer.

“The Artist” (2011) was the last film to accomplish this feat as Jean Dujardin nabbed Best Actor. That came a year after “The King’s Speech” and star Colin Firth pulled off the double. Since these back-to-back wins, there have been a few close calls. “Birdman” (2014) won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, but not for its leading man Michael Keaton. The following year, Leonardo DiCaprio won his long-awaited Best Actor trophy for “The Revenant,” which won Best Director but not Best Picture.

See Full list of Oscar winners

“Oppenheimer” is the 28th film to win Best Picture and Best Actor. Of those, thrice has a film also won Best Actress.

The French legal drama thriller, Anatomy of a Fall, is nominated for five major Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director awards. However, the film will be missing one of its popular stars at the Awards ceremony on Sunday. Messi, the French border collie, played Snoop in the film and became America’s favorite after attending the annual Oscar Nominees Luncheon. This appearance also sparked controversy, which some fans feel speaks a lot about the Academy.

Sandra Hüller in the Oscar-nominated film Anatomy of a Fall

According to reports, some companies, with films nominated for Best Picture and other major awards, complained that the dog’s appearance gave an unfair advantage to the film. Messi first drew attention when he won the Palm Dog award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Anatomy Of A Fall‘s Canine Star Reportedly Worries Other Oscar Nominees Anatomy of a Fall‘s Messi will be...

Devastating news for fans of canine cameos: Messi, the scene-stealing border collie from best picture nominee Anatomy of a Fall and unlikely star of the 2024 Oscar campaign season, will not return to Los Angeles for Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Though reps for the Academy did not comment, a source at the Neon-distributed film says the French pup’s recent Hollywood sojourn, during which he overshadowed every human actor at the annual nominees luncheon, was a one-off. That means those A-Listers who didn’t get face time with Messi will just have to book a part in one of his future projects.

“All of this attention began at Cannes,” trainer and dog mom Laura Martin told The Hollywood Reporter in February, via translator Frederic Cassidy. Cannes is where Anatomy of a Fall started its run on the awards circuit, taking home the Palme d’Or, and where Messi got...

We Oscarologists (ridiculous name) spend our time trying to read certain tea leaves to figure out what a potential Best Picture winner typically needs to win in order to take home the Oscars’ top prize. Best Director was once the most important category to excel in. Then it was Best Editing that we thought a Best Picture hopeful needed to check off. Then, recently, the combination of a writing Oscar and an acting win has proven to be a powerful one for eventual Best Picture winners. But what do the stats say? Well, we’ve combed through every Best Picture winner of this century and documented which other Oscars they won. We then tallied those figures up in this below handy chart:

*A note: For a detailed breakdown of exactly what Oscars each Best Picture winner of this century won, head here while you can find a full breakdown of...

“Oppenheimer” took home an impressive seven Academy Awards at Sunday’s Oscars, including the night’s top prize of Best Picture. The Universal movie also won Best Director for Christopher Nolan and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy amongst a number of other awards. That is one below the total of eight wins we predicted for the film as “The Zone of Interest” beat the movie to win Best Sound. However, seven is still a huge tally and places “Oppenheimer” amongst the Best Picture winners to take home the highest amount of Oscars this century. Scroll down below for a complete list of every Best Picture winner this century ranked by total Oscar wins.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2004) — 11 Oscars won

Dir: Peter Jackson

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin

Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron’s army to...

Alexander Payne movies always do well in two areas come the Oscar nominations: writing and acting. Five of Payne’s movies have been nominated for writing while five of his flicks have also snagged acting bids. However, while “Sideways” and “The Descendants” both took home Oscars for their writing (both for Best Adapted Screenplay), no Payne movie has ever won for acting. Here’s the record.

“About Schmidt” procured a Best Actor nomination in 2003 for Jack Nicholson. He was in a two-horse race for the Best Actor gong with “Gangs of New York” star Daniel Day-Lewis but it was Adrien Brody (“The Pianist”) who ended up winning by splitting the votes. Kathy Bates was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for “About Schmidt” but she lost to Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”).

Paul Giamatti was cruelly snubbed for a Best Actor bid for “Sideways” in 2005 but two of his costars were nominated.

As of this writing the combined predictions of Gold Derby users lean towards Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) with 17/5 odds in this year’s Oscar race for Best Actor. Meanwhile, Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) is close behind in second place with 69/20 odds. However, the former may have more going for him. Here are five reasons why I think Murphy is the favorite.

SEEOscars: Will ‘Oppenheimer’ or ‘Poor Things’ win all three design awards?

1. He’s starring in the Best Picture frontrunner

“Oppenheimer” is expected to be quite a juggernaut on Oscar night. It’s currently predicted to take home eight accolades: Best Picture, Best Director (Christopher Nolan), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Score and Best Sound. With that in mind, it’s possible that Murphy could be carried along in the sweep. He’s the face of the whole thing and carries the film on his shoulders.

Black and white films maintain their freshness and impact, making them suitable for viewing in any era. These movies prioritize high visual artistry over gaudy spectacle, relying on elements like framing and lighting for impact. Compelling storytelling and technical excellence matter more than bright pigmentation, as proven by atmospheric classics like Psycho and Schindler's List.

Black and white films evoke a nostalgic ambiance, reminiscent of a bygone era. They are commonly associated with things of the past. They also reflect a stylistic choice often seen in modern films despite the availability of technicolor. Timeless classics exist across various periods of black and white filmmaking, maintaining their freshness and profound impact, making them suitable for viewing in any era. Though color film has long been the norm, black and white cinema still holds a transfixing appeal. From silent films to film noir, iconic works have immersed viewers while using only shades of gray and shadows.

French filmmaker Quentin Dupieux has been creating some pretty surreal masterpieces over the years, including Deerskin, in which Jean Dujardin’s Georges is obsessed with the tasselled loveliness of a suede jacket, and the utterly bonkers and highly entertaining Mandibles, in which two jokers find a giant fly which they hope will make them their fortune. So it was just a matter of time before this master of madness should focus his attention on the grand master of Surrealism, Salvador Dalí, the two coming together in the perfect storm that is Daaaaaali!

The film takes place in the 1980s and follows journalist Judith (Anaïs Demoustier) as she tries to pin down the artist and get an interview out of him for her documentary. Much of the film takes place in the hotel where said interview is to take place and the scenes in the hotel corridor are a joy to behold.

The French sales outfit has the first image of Tomer Sisley in The Price Of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure.

Goodfellas has boarded Claire Burger’s anticipated coming-of-age drama Langue Etrangère, starring Chiara Mastroianni and Nina Hoss, ahead of this week’s Rendez-Vous with France Cinema this week in Paris.

Langue Etrangère is about teenage pen pals in France and Germany and is produced by Anatomy of a Fall producer Marie-Ange Luciani’s Les Films de Pierre with Belgium’s Les Films du Fleuve and Germany’s Razor Film Produktion. Burger wrote the film in collaboration with The Five Devils’ Léa Mysius.

En garde, worldwide enemies of France, along with all freedom-loving people! Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath Aka super-agent Oss 117 is on the case! Actually, he’s on two cases as a pair of his deadliest missions is now available in a nifty ultra-cool double BluRay gift set. Yes, I know Santa “made the scene” over a week ago, but if you’re wondering what to do with your gift cards or return credits, well…

First, let’s crack open the dossier file on this operative. The character springs from a series of novels begun by writer Jean Bruce, beating Ian Fleming’s 007 by six years. Of course, the movie studios beckoned, and a movie franchise premiered in 1957 and concluded in 1970. Ah, but you can’t keep a good spy down. Five years before they teamed on the Oscar-winning The Artist, director/co-writer Michel Hazanavicius and star Jean Dujardin re-imagined...

Bradley Cooper has gone from the star of “The Hangover” films to a nine-time Academy Award nominee. His career is something to marvel at but, at this moment in time, he belongs in the same group that is populated by the likes of Glenn Close and Peter O’Toole. Plenty of Oscar nominations… but zero wins.

That could change, finally, this year, however, with his musical masterpiece “Maestro,” which explores the marriage between Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan‘s Felicia Montealegre. Both actors deliver powerhouse performances and are expected to pick up nominations for their lead roles, while Cooper could also receive notices for directing, writing, and producing the Netflix film. His best chance at a win, however, could well be for Best Actor, a category that previously looked like “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy might run away with. Now, Cooper is on the rise. And he could be a...

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon and Michael Mann’s Ferrari are facing allegations — surprising for two films focused on straight white male protagonists — of cultural appropriation.

French and Italian critics have taken offense at the directors’ decisions to cast American actors to play national icons — Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte, the general who became French emperor, and Adam Driver as visionary Italian carmaker Enzo Ferrari — and, adding insult to injury, having them speak in English.

“It’s original sin,” wrote a Ferrari reviewer for Italy’s Movieplayer magazine on the casting of Driver, alongside Spanish actor Penélope Cruz as Ferrari’s wife, Laura, and American Shailene Woodley as his mistress. “Not just to have them speak English, but with a dodgy Italian accent.”

“Deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny” was French GQ’s assessment of the very French characters of Napoleon and his lover Josephine (played by Brit Vanessa Kirby) speaking en anglais.