Abel Ferrara Says Shia LaBeouf Is Writing A Script About Auschwitz

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Bond rumors have been following Idris Elba around for many years, but the actor admitted during a recent interview on the “SmartLess” podcast that he got turned off from the idea of playing 007 when the conversation became dominated by race. Back in 2015, for example, the author Anthony Horowitz notoriously wrote that Elba was “too street” to play James Bond. “The truth is, I was super complimented for a long time about this,” Elba said about originally embracing the idea about playing Bond. “I was like, ‘This is crazy!’ James Bond…We’re all actors and we understand that role. It’s one of those coveted [roles]. Being asked to be James Bond was like, ‘Ok, you’ve sort of reached the pinnacle’. That’s one of those things the whole world has a vote in.”

Gordon Cox Theater Editor With a resumé that includes “How to Get Away With Murder,” “Fire Island” and the upcoming comedy “How to Die Alone,” Conrad Ricamora has gotten some of his best screen work playing queer characters. And the actor, now starring on Broadway in “Here Lies Love,” wouldn’t want it any other way. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor SPOILER ALERT: This story includes minor spoilers for the upcoming R-rated comedy, “Joy Ride.” Stephanie Hsu wants people to know that her big naked reveal in “Joy Ride” is hilarious, but it’s not her. “It’s a body double. Let me be clear and let my mother know,” the Oscar-nominated actor told me Monday at the film’s Los Angeles premiere. “Joy Ride” is a raunchy R-rated comedy that stars Ashley Park as Audrey, a high-powered attorney who travels to China on business. Joining her on the trip are friends Lolo (Sherry Cola) and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu). Hsu plays Audrey’s college friend, Kat, who is now a Chinese soap opera star. The four find themselves in various bonker scenarios that include drugs, sex and even basketball star Baron Davis.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The nation’s biggest media chiefs have for months asked investors to be patient. Wait until the back half of 2023, they’ve said, when ad money will start to flow once again. Now companies like Paramount Global, Comcast, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery need to play a waiting game of their own. Ad budgets are expected to be down in the industry’s “upfront” market, when U.S. media companies try to sew up deals for the bulk of their advertising inventory ahead of the fall launch of their next programming cycle. Big marketers are not only uncertain about what new content will be available come autumn – a writers’ strike has squelched production of everything from late-night programs to scripted comedies and dramas – but what they should expect from the economy over the next few months.

Emiliano De Pablos Banijay’s Shine Iberia and Mexican studio Dopamine are joining forces with renowned Spanish composer Lucas Vidal (“Elite,” “Fast & Furious 6”) on musical interview travel series “Tu vida en 3 minutos” (“Your Life in 3 Minutes”). Created by Shine Iberia’s Begoña Marín in partnership with Dopamine’s writers-directors Xevi Aranda and Sebastián Reyes, “Your Life in 3 Minutes” is one of the four projects selected at Conecta Fiction & Entertainment 2023’s Pitch Feelgood Formats sidebar. The seventh edition of Conecta Fiction runs June 26-29 in Toledo, the capital of Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha. 

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Is it heresy to say that one of the greatest albums of all time just got a little bit better, 57 years after the fact? Possibly, but it doesn’t feel like too strong a statement to make after hearing the just-released Dolby Atmos mix of the Beach Boys’ 1966 classic “Pet Sounds,” as played back in one of the most state-of-the-art Dolby rooms in the world. It’s going to sound different under other listening circumstances, of course, whether the spatially immersive mix is being heard in a home with dozens of carefully calibrated speakers or through one of the all-in-one Atmos boxes that are now coming out. But what’s almost certain is that any status Brian Wilson’s masterpiece might’ve had as your own personal pet project is only going to be elevated with a lusher and richer audio interpretation of the work.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Julian Sands, the British actor who pivoted from the romantic lead in “A Room With a View” to playing sinister characters in films like “Warlock,” was confirmed dead Tuesday after being reported missing near Mt. Baldy in Southern California on Jan. 13. He was 65. On Saturday morning, hikers found human remains in the Mt. Baldy wilderness and contacted the Fontana Sheriff’s Station. “The identification process for the body located on Mt. Baldy on June 24, 2023, has been completed and was positively identified as 65-year-old Julian Sands of North Hollywood. The manner of death is still under investigation, pending further test results. We would like to extend our gratitude to all the volunteers that worked tirelessly to locate Mr. Sands,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department wrote in a statement.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Later this summer, Stitcher — one of the biggest podcast-listening apps — will be going silent after about 15 years. The Stitcher apps and web-streaming audio service will be shutting down on Aug. 29, 2023, according to a notice posted to its site Tuesday. In the “Stitcher Farewell” notice, the service explains it this way: “SiriusXM, the owner of Stitcher, is focused on incorporating podcasts into its flagship SiriusXM subscription business. Subscribers can listen to podcasts within the SiriusXM app and will see an all-new listening experience later this year.” The Stitcher name isn’t totally disappearing, though: The company said it “expect[s] to continue to operate our Stitcher Studios and Earwolf networks” that produce original podcast shows.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer DC Studios has knighted a new Clark Kent and Lois Lane. David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan will play the coveted parts in James Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy.” The latest on-screen iteration of the iconic comic book hero will largely be a workplace origin story, Gunn said when he and fellow DC steward Peter Safran laid out their narrative plans in January. Corenswet, who broke out in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series “Hollywood,” will play cub reporter Kent at the fictional newspaper The Daily Planet. Brosnahan will be his coworker and co-lead. Gunn is directing the project from his own screenplay, based on the character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.  Safran (“Aquaman,” the upcoming “Aquaman 2,” and The Conjuring franchise) will produce. The project is set for release on July 11, 2025.

Deadline revealed today that David Corenswet has been cast as D.C. films’ new Superman in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy. But beyond the requisite piercing blue eyes, exactly who is the 29-year-old Corenswet?

W, who identified the dress as a $6,700 Bottega Veneta sequin minidress in the shade Sherbert. As of this writing, there's one left, and it's a small, .Have to say, far more into this happy, fun dress than I am into the scrunchie that Jacquemus sent her down the runway in. Though the choker is great.

announced as Pat Sajak’s replacement on “Wheel of Fortune” Tuesday following the veteran host’s announcement that he’ll exit the game show next year.However, it remains to be seen whether Sajak’s longtime letter-turning companion, Vanna White, 66, will be joining Seacrest on the revamped program. White, who has appeared on “Wheel” since 1982, has reportedly lawyered up in the wake of Sajak’s retirement amid claims she hasn’t had a pay rise in 18 years.

Amber Heard’s coworkers say she’s become more “resilient” after her experiences.

Back in 2019, Chris Jericho emerged with a new pro-wrestling persona dubbed Painmaker, a deranged and violent character inspired by serial killers that he debuted for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Julie and Todd Chrisley.In a new episode of daughter Savannah's podcast, she revealed that her mom turned down Todd's marriage proposal several times before saying yes.Savannah says Julie was pregnant with their son, Chase, now 27, at the time, and was ready to raise the baby on her own had the pair not married.«I think of my mom in her early 20s when she got pregnant with Chase, so my older brother, who's 14 months older than me,» Savannah began. «My dad had just come off a divorce, he had two kids, and my mom was the preacher's daughter in a small, one stoplight town in South Carolina — preacher's daughter.

Julian Sands has been confirmed dead after going missing more than five months ago.On Tuesday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department revealed that the Coroner's Office had positively identified the human remains found on Southern California's Mount Baldy Saturday as 65-year-old Sands.As for the manner of his death, that is still under investigation.On Saturday, officials announced that hikers discovered human remains while hiking on Mount Baldy, the same mountain area Sands went missing on back in January.The SBCSD announced that the remains were reported by hikers at about 10:00 a.m. Deputies responded and transported the victim's remains to the county coroner's office for identification.Sands was reported missing on the night of Jan.

, FX's acclaimed dramedy about a fine-dining chef who takes over his late brother's failing Chicago sandwich shop, has returned with a stellar — and even more delicious — season 2. Adding to all the excitement and drama in the new episodes are a number of previously unannounced guest stars, from Jamie Lee Curtis to John Mulaney to Oliva Colman, who all make unexpected — but very notable — appearances throughout. Created by Christopher Storer, stars Jeremy Allen White as Carmy, the put-upon chef who returned home in the wake of his brother, Michael's (Jon Bernthal), suicide.

Kim Kardashian's love and support for her big sister, Kourtney Kardashian!Over the weekend, Kourtney and her husband, Travis Barker, announced they are expecting a baby boy — and Kim was on hand with other family members for the sweet gender reveal.Despite Hulu's latest episode playing out Kim and Kourtney's Dolce & Gabbana drama, the sisters are all right.«The whole family is excited for them and thinks Travis is Kourtney’s soulmate,» a source tells ET. «It has been a lot of fun celebrating them. Kourtney and Kim made up, and their issues are over and figured out.

Big cinema advertising platform National CineMedia said today its plan of reorganization has been confirmed by a judge in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. 

Dennis Harvey Film Critic You might think Shia LaBeouf portraying a 20th-century Italian saint under the direction of perpetual bad-boy expat Abel Ferrara is a pretty strange prospect. But that’s just the iceberg tip of the oddities in “Padre Pio,” which, despite the American star’s casting in the title role, often appears uninterested in its own venerated ostensible subject.  Instead, much of this awkward English-language period piece focuses on peasants’ struggle to overthrow padrone control just after the First World War. Depicting that conflict often feels beyond the modest production’s scale — and, in any case, is never meaningfully connected to the angsty histrionics of LaBeouf, who seems to be in his own separate, indulgent, semi-improvised movie. Though coherent relative to Ferrara’s last narrative feature, the impenetrable espionage tale “Zeroes and Ones,” this eccentric misfire will likely puzzle fans of his past cult favorites, while flummoxing Catholic viewers who expect straightforward religious uplift. Gravitas Ventures is releasing to 50+ U.S. markets. 

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Abel Ferrara announced in an interview with The Film Stage that his “Padre Pio” star Shia LaBeouf is currently writing a movie about Auschwitz that the two men are thinking of filming together. No other details were provided at this time. Variety has tapped LaBeouf’s manager for additional details. In Ferrara’s “Padre Pio,” which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival, LaBeouf plays the eponymous 19th century religious figure, who rose to fame in the Catholic world for exhibiting stigmata — crucifixion wounds corresponding to those on the body of Jesus Christ — before becoming a symbol of hope for southern Italians during the country’s turbulent period between the two world wars.