Austin Butler’s agent told him he would need to gain weight to play the older version of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis.” “I heard that Ryan Gosling when he was going to do ‘The Lovely Bones,’ had microwaved Häagen-Dazs and would drink it,” Butler tells Variety. “So I started doing that. I would go…

Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron wanted to explore making a series of short films honoring the different cultural traditions at the end of the year, from Christmas to Hanukkah to pagan traditions. His concept was to find a director suited to telling the story, depending on the culture. When it came to Christmas, Cuaron says, “That time…

Motown Records has weathered major changes in the last year, not the least of which include the exit of chairwoman and CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam in March 2021, and is now is planning a restructuring that will bring it back into the fold of Capitol Music Group. With that, layoffs have been initiated, Variety has confirmed,…

HBO’s “The Last of Us” is one of the biggest shows of 2023 so far, so big that Sony Pictures Entertainment film chairman Tom Rothman is wishing the studio had gone ahead and turned the video game into a feature film. “The Last of Us” is based on the Sony Playstation game of the same…

It’s old school versus new school for best director at the DGA Awards. Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical “The Fabelmans” is the culmination of more than 50 years of moviemaking. Then there’s the visionary whimsy of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the duo behind the sci-fi comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The veteran and the newcomers…

A judge ruled Thursday that no additional victims — beyond the one woman whose testimony was the basis for Harvey Weinstein’s conviction — will be able to give victim impact statements at Weinstein’s sentencing next week. The ruling comes amid calls from attorney Gloria Allred to allow more victims to speak at the sentencing, which…

The legacy of John Singleton reigned over the black carpet at the sixth and final season premiere of FX’s “Snowfall” on Wednesday night. As the cast filed into the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to view a screening of the first episode, Michael Hyatt (Cissy Saint) and Carter Hudson (Teddy McDonald) reflected on the legacy…

Karl Jacobs, a digital creator and streamer known for his close collaborations with internet superstar MrBeast, is set to make his debut as a featured creator at VidCon Anaheim 2023. As part of his programming, Jacobs will record a live episode of his podcast “Banter” with co-hosts Sapnap and GeorgeNotFound, in addition to doing a…

The good news for Taylor Swift fans: She is participating in Record Store Day again with a vinyl exclusive, for the second straight year. The bad news is that it’s in quantities of … Wait, that’s good news, too — there will be 115,000 copies available of “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions,” worldwide, about…

For most of his career, Billy Crudup has kept his personal life behind closed doors. But “Hello Tomorrow!” — the new Apple TV+ series set in a retro-futuristic world — hits close to home for the actor.  Crudup stars as Jack Billings, who leads a duplicitous operation selling timeshares on the moon. The actor said…