Rosie Perez slides into a booth at an upscale Italian restaurant in Manhattan. She pushes up the sleeves on her wool sweater dress and settles in to talk about the state of Hollywood. And women in Hollywood. And Latinos in Hollywood. Or maybe that lack of cultural specificity in the homogeneous blob of film content…

Australian stars Jason Donovan and Peter Andre will return to Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s iconic musical “Grease” at the Dominion Theatre in London’s West End following their acclaimed performances last year. Donovan will play the role of Teen Angel at some performances from Aug. 14-Oct. 28. Andre will play the roles of Vince Fontaine…

“Blue Jean” director Georgia Oakley has signed with CAA. The up-and-coming British filmmaker made her debut feature with the Venice-premiering “Blue Jean,” which bowed to wide acclaim on the Lido in September. Set in northeast England in the 1980s, the pic is centred on a closeted gym teacher (played by Rosy McEwen) who is forced…

Melissa Joan Hart, the actor who became a ’90s teen icon thanks to her roles on Nickelodeon’s “Clarissa Explains It All” and ABC’s “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” revealed in an emotional Instagram video that she helped young children and teachers escape the Nashville school shooting on March 27. Three adults and three 9-year-old children were…

Jeremy Renner will sit down with Diane Sawyer for his first television interview since the critical snow plow accident that nearly cost him his life. The ABC News special, titled “Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview – A Story of Terror, Survival and Triumph,” will air in April ahead of the world premiere of Renner’s new Disney+ series…

Warner Music Group will eliminate 270 positions as part of a wider evolution of the company, new CEO Robert Kyncl announced to the company’s staff in an email obtained by Variety. The memo says that in order “to take advantage of the opportunities ahead of us, we need to make some hard choices in order…

The Academy of Country Music Awards have named their co-hosts for the show’s annual webcast May 11, bringing in Garth Brooks for his first-ever role hosting any awards show — joining repeat ACMs host Dolly Parton, who did it as part of a trio last year and as a solo host back in 2000. The…

Jake Shane, a 23-year-old comedian and TikTok content creator best known for his character dubbed “octopusslover8,” has signed for representation with WME. To date, Shane’s octopusslover8 has gained 1.5 million followers on TikTok alone, with celebs and companies commenting on his posts including Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Hulu. His bio on TikTok reads, “Rating/reviewing…

Note: This article is based on Variety Intelligence Platform’s special report “2023 Media & Tech Trend Tracker,” available exclusively to subscribers. With the rate of growth in digital advertising declining, some market entrants big and small in the social media space are feeling the competitive threat of Meta now more than ever.  After registering as…