Hungary: Last News

Jack Dunn Legendary horror director David Cronenberg has his own thoughts as to why the backlash against the use of AI in “The Brutalist” was so strong. Back in January, “The Brutalist” editor Dávid Jancsó said AI tools were used to improve the Hungarian dialogue of stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones. The use of the controversial tech soon caused an online outcry against the Oscar front-runner, but Cronenberg believes the backlash was more than just a social media spat.

Paramount co-CEO and head of Paramount Pictures, Brian Robbins, acknowledged to a big CinemaCon crowd that it may be an odd time for the company right now, but Par’s slate remains terrific.   

EXCLUSIVE: Weeks after signing on to lead Reminders of Him, Universal’s adaptation of the novel from It Ends with Us scribe Colleen Hoover, Maika Monroe has found another new project in Place to Be, the latest indie drama from Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó (Pieces of a Woman).

Naman Ramachandran Cannes laureate Kornél Mundruczó is juggling multiple high-profile projects across different continents. There’s the Ellen Burstyn-starrer “Place to Be,” currently filming in Australia, “At the Sea” featuring Amy Adams and now post-production, and a revival of his long-dormant “Elephant Man” adaptation that promises to transform the Victorian classic into a “colorful summer story.” The Hungarian filmmaker, who won the Fipresci prize at Cannes for “Delta,” and the festival’s Un Certain Regard prize for “White God” and gained further recognition with Venice winner and Oscar-nominated Netflix feature “Pieces of a Woman,” is clearly continuing to diversify his portfolio.

Naman Ramachandran “The White Lotus” star Murray Bartlett has returned to his native Australia to film “Place to Be,” the latest project from Cannes and Venice winner Kornél Mundruczó (“White God,” “Pieces of a Woman”), which is currently shooting. In “Place to Be,” Bartlett plays Ron, Pamela Anderson’s hapless brother, with the siblings plotting to re-home their mother Brooke (Ellen Burstyn) and access their late artist father’s inheritance.

Flóra Anna Buda, Andrea Gatopoulos, Xiwen Cong, Simon Maria Kubiena, Constance Tsang and Rodrigo Ribeyro have been named as the latest cohort of emerging directors to participate in the Cannes Film Festival’s La Résidence initiative, which is now in its 49th edition.

The Match Factory has closed multiple distribution deals for by Michel Franco’s illegal migrant drama Dreams following its Berlinale premiere.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Match Factory has closed multiple distribution deals for the Berlinale Competition title “Dreams,” directed by Michel Franco, and starring Jessica Chastain and Isaac Hernández. The Match Factory has secured distribution in France (Metropolitan Filmexport), Germany and Austria (Weltkino Filmverleih), Italy (Fandango), Spain (Sideral), Scandinavia (Lucky Dogs), Poland (Best Film), Benelux (Paradiso), the Baltics (ACME Film), Portugal (FILMS 4 YOU), Greece (Spentzos Film), Ascot Elite (Switzerland), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms), Romania (Transilvania Film), Hungary (ADS), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF MegaCom), Turkey (Bir Film), MENA (Front Row), South Korea (NK Contents), and Taiwan (Andrews Film).

The Brutalist faced throughout awards season for using AI to alter the voices of its leads.The Oscar-winning drama, which follows the fictional Hungarian-born Jewish architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) as he moves to the US with his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), was subject to criticism after editor Dávid Jancsó shared that AI was used to alter Brody and Jones’ Hungarian accents.Soon after, director Brady Corbet clarified the details, saying: “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own”, adding that “Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed”.Nevertheless, the performance was seen as tainted by some, particularly those who were a fan of Timothee Chalamet’s work in Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

Following controversy around The Brutalist‘s usage of AI, David Cronenberg is coming to the Best Picture Oscar nominee’s defense.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent European media conglomerate RTL posted basically stable full fiscal 2024 yearly results on Thursday, driven by more than 40% growth in streaming revenue growth and healthy advertising returns. The powerhouse, majority-owned by German giant Bertelsmann, said 2024 group revenue amounted to €6.3 billion ($6.8 billion) – down 1.5% compared with 2023 – and that it expects to post revenue of roughly €6.45 billion euros ($7.03 billion) in 2025. Total RTL group profit amounted to €555 million ($603 million).

A member of the European aristocracy has tragically passed away at the age of 46, leaving behind her five young children. Archduchess Estelle of Austria died earlier this month in France, where she resided with her husband, Archduke Carl Christian, and their family.The shock news was confirmed in a statement, which expressed that her family is "deeply saddened" by her passing.

Lise Pedersen Swedish director Viktor Nordenskiöld’s “The Eukrainian,” which has its world premiere at Copenhagen’s documentary festival CPH:DOX, is an intimate portrait of Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna, a key figure in the country’s push for European integration. Variety spoke to Nordenskiöld about the film, and debuts its trailer here. Filmed between 2022 and 2024, the doc follows Stefanishyna as she navigates political roadblocks in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, leading her country’s efforts to join the European Union and NATO.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Director Carl Erik Rinsch has been indicted on charges of fraud and money laundering for allegedly taking $11 million from Netflix and spending it on luxury cars, antique furniture and mattresses. Rinsch demanded the funds in order to finish “White Horse,” a science fiction TV series that was never completed, according to the indictment. Instead, he allegedly used the money to make “extremely risky investments,” to pay for stays at the Four Seasons and for other lavish purchases, and to hire lawyers to sue Netflix.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Paradise City Sales (rebranded from Memento International) has closed more deals for “The Ugly Stepsister,” Emilie Blichfeldt’s Cinderella-inspired horror film that premiered at Sundance and turned out to be one of the festival’s buzziest titles. Previously acquired in a raft of territories, including North America, the U.K. and Australia/New Zealand with Shudder, “The Ugly Stepsister” was acquired for Benelux and Turkey (Mubi), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Greece (The Film Group), Ex- Yugoslavia (Discovery Films), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Bionaut / Zero Gravity), Ukraine (Svoekino), Bulgaria (Beta Film), South Korea (Happy Song), Taiwan (Filmware International), Singapore (Shaw Organisation), Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos (EST N8) and Africa (What the Hero Wants).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Agora, the industry section of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, announced its awards Wednesday. Among the awards in the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum section was the IEFTA Award for Best Documentary in Development, accompanied by a 10,000 euro cash prize.

We have our first F1 contract news of 2025!

Iron Maiden is releasing a new visual book titled Infinite Dreams, chronicling the band’s 50-year career.Expected to land in autumn 2025, the hardback book will be packed with images of iconic album and single artworks, the band’s instruments past and present, stage props, hand-written lyrics and archival artefacts. There will also be photographs taken of the band, including some that were previously unseen.The upcoming Iron Maiden book will contain a foreword by bassist Steve Harris and an afterword by frontman Bruce Dickinson.“I’ve been pleasantly surprised at some of the stuff that I’ve managed to unearth for this book,” said Harris, according to Kerrang!.

Sunday night.The pair were all smiles, laughing as they walked arm-in-arm on their way out of the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills following the 2025 Academy Awards, leaving many wondering whether the comedian and the “Conclave” star have struck up a romance.Fiennes was nominated at this year’s Oscars in the Best Lead Actor category for his performance in “Conclave,” his third career nomination, though the British star lost out to Adrien Brody, whose portrayal of a Hungarian architect moving to the US after the Holocaust won him the coveted trophy.Drink in hand, Handler, 50, dressed in a metallic pale champagne-colored dress by KHOON HOOI and gold Manolo Blahnik BB heels, and Fiennes, 62, dashing in a black wide lapel tuxedo and white-edged bow tie from London brand Taillour, cut an elegant figure as they giggled their way out of the posh soirée.The Post reached out to Handler and Fiennes’ reps for comment. The pair’s Oscar party exit follows a saucy bit they performed together during this year’s Critics Choice Awards, which the “My Horizontal Life” author hosted last month.Reenacting Nicole Kidman’s now iconic milk scene from the 2024 erotic thriller “Babygirl,” Handler chugged a full glass of milk at the urging of Fiennes.

Oscars viewers and fans of Timothée Chalamet have reacted angrily to the star losing out on the Best Actor award to Adrien Brody, whose performance was embroiled in an AI controversy.Chalamet played Bob Dylan in the biopic A Complete Unknown, for which he prepared extensively for several years. As well as learning to play and sing like the music legend, he gained weight and perfected the voice of Dylan for the critically acclaimed performance.Adrien Brody has been a front-runner in the category for his performance in The Brutalist, playing a Hungarian architect who struggles after emigrating to Post-War America.The film was embroiled in some controversy in January, however, when it was revealed that the film’s editor Dávid Jancsó used AI software Respeecher to correct a sequence where a letter written by Adrien Brody’s character, László Tóth, is read aloud.Soon after, director Brady Corbet clarified the details.

Yuck frontman Daniel Blumberg won Best Original Score for The Brutalist at the 2025 Oscars last night (March 2).Off the back of a recent Bafta win for the score, the composer won his first Oscar yesterday for his efforts soundtracking the sprawling drama, which charts the life of fictitious Hungarian architect, László Tóth – a role that also won Adrien Brody the Academy Award for Best Actor – who moves to the US after surviving the Holocaust.Blumberg’s work was nominated alongside the scores for Conclave, Emilia Pérez, Wicked and The Wild Robot, and gave a glowing description of his creative relationship with director Brady Corbet, who enlisted him to score his third film after Scott Walker had worked on the first two.“I’ve been an artist for 20 years, since I was a teenager,” he said, “and when I met Brady, I met my artistic soulmate.” He went on to thank the “hard-working, radical musicians” who helped perform his score for the film.NME’s five-star-review of The Brutalist noted “Blumberg’s jagged steam-roller of a score”, which employed jazz infused piano, sax and towering percussion to convey Tóth’s mounting despair.Earlier this year, the musician told Pitchfork that when the film was in post-production, he and the sound team would have screenings with Corbet, and he ran into a problem where every time he watched the film, he cried at the end.Daniel Blumberg – former frontman of Yuck – has won an Oscar for his soundtrack for #TheBrutalist. Here’s the vocalist/guitarist and his band talking to NME 15 years ago about their sound and “massive riffs”#Oscars #Yuck pic.twitter.com/Hr7ao2QAI3— NME (@NME) March 3, 2025“The first time it happened, I just ran out the room,” he recalled.