Forest Whitaker: Last News

Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes have shined the spotlight on the relationship between laborers and corporations. If you want to watch programming with those themes, or if you want to kick back, relax and take your mind off of everything, there’s something for everyone. Here’s your essential guide for what to watch and stream.

Megalopolis, the long-awaited passion project from Francis Ford Coppola, is the latest film to land an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA. The film finished production earlier this year so it is unknown what the agreement would be used for but with festival season ramping up it could potentially be getting one in order to be sold on one of the markets or potentially screen an upcoming festival and in need of one for publicity purposes.

EXCLUSIVE: JoAnne Colonna has joined Linden Entertainment as a partner alongside founders Nicole King and Stacy O’Neil. She ends a 20 year run at Brillstein Entertainment Partners, where she was a manager and partner. Colonna will operate between Linden’s LA and NY offices.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes and Lord Afrixana are just a few of the artists whose music is featured in thethird season of MGM+’s 1960s-set “Godfather of Harlem.” “I don’t pick artists based on their names, I pick artists based on what we’re trying to do,” says Swizz Beatz, who serves as the show’s music producer and creative director. In putting the show’s sonic landscape together, Beatz says he tried to be thoughtful when using a placement. “Music is so powerful and with this, I wanted to use it to give the characters an authentic landscape,” he says. He also didn’t want to put himself in a box by selecting music from the 1960s, rather, he was given creative liberties to use new artists which helped him find the right approach and voices.

Charlie Jones is all grown up 13 years on from his role on EastEnders as Ben Mitchell. Charlie, 26, took on the role of 10 year old Ben in 2006 and went on to be a regular face on the BBC soap for four years, featuring on nearly 300 episodes in total. Charlie’s not the only star to have played Charlie though; six actors have portrayed EastEnders icon Phil Mitchell and Kathy Beale’s son over the years.

Michael Douglas is to receive the Honorary Palme d’or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

J. Kim Murphy Adam McKay is partnering with Netflix again for his follow-up to “Don’t Look Up.” The streamer has acquired the director’s next feature comedy, titled “Average Height, Average Build,” which will star Robert Pattinson as a serial killer that looks to leverage American politicians to make murder easier. Amy Adams will star alongside Pattinson. She reunites with McKay after earning an Oscar nomination in best supporting actress for her turn as Lynne Cheney in their 2018 comedy “Vice.” The ensemble also includes Robert Downey Jr., Forest Whitaker and Danielle Deadwyler. Along with writing and directing, McKay will produce under his Hyperobject Industries banner with Kevin Messick. The film does not yet have an official release date.

EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of Don’t Look Up, Netflix and Adam McKay are reuniting as the streamer has acquired Adam McKay’s new star-studded directorial feature, Average Height, Average Build. The film stars Robert Pattinson, Amy Adams, Robert Downey Jr., Forest Whitaker and Danielle Deadwyler. McKay, who has written the script, will direct and produce under his Hyperobject Industries banner with Kevin Messick.

Extrapolations executive producers Dorothy Fortenberry, Michael Ellenberg and Scott Z. Burns, who also serves as creator, writer and director, joined Deadline’s Contenders TV event to talk about what went into creating a potentially fictitious and disastrous future Earth.  

Brillstein Entertainment Partners is looking to “fuel the momentum” of its production company after striking a first-look deal with Paramount Television Studios.

MGM+ has given the green light to Hollywood Black, a documentary series from director Justin Simien that aims to serve as “a definitive chronicle of a century of the Black experience in Hollywood.”

Selome Hailu MGM+ has greenlit a docuseries titled “Hollywood Black” directed by Justin Simien, who executive produces alongside Forest Whitaker. In four parts, “Hollywood Black” focuses on the history of Black actors, writers, directors and producers who fought for their place in the entertainment industry. The series is based on the book of the same name by historian Donald Bogle. Simien is best known for writing and directing the 2014 film “Dear White People” and creating the Netflix series of the same name. He also directed and wrote 2020’s “Bad Hair,” and directed “Haunted Mansion,” the 2023 horror film based on the Disney theme park ride, which debuts later this year.

Megalopolis – with the movie now over 40 years in the making.Coppola’s passion project first came about in 1980 – however, the director didn’t have the funds at the time to make the movie a reality, eventually putting his film on the shelf. The Godfather director finally got the movie off the ground nearly four decades later and has now been completed.The announcement was made on the film’s Instagram page last week, captioned: “That’s a wrap #MegalopolisFilm”.A post shared by Megalopolis (@megalopolisfilm)According to reports, film studios were initially unwilling to support Coppola’s passion project, which led him to fund it alone.

EXCLUSIVE: Yul Vazquez is set as a lead opposite Danny Pino & Michael Chiklis in Hotel Cocaine, MGM+’s upcoming crime thriller from creator Chris Brancato.

Robert Pattinson is gearing up to embody a serial killer in his next big role.

Oscar winner Adam McKay has lined up Rob Pattinson, Amy Adams, Robert Downey Jr, Forest Whitaker and Till‘s Danielle Deadwyler to head the ensemble cast of his next directing vehicle. Titled Average Height, Average Build, the script and package is out to studios and streamers, and the intention is to get it into production by late summer or early fall.

Oscar-winner Adam McKay has lines up Rob Pattinson, Amy Adams, Robert Downey Jr., Forest Whitaker and Till’s Danielle Deadwyler to head the ensemble of his next directing vehicle. Titled Average Height, Average Build, the script and that package is out to studios and streamers, and the intention is to get it into production by late summer or early fall.

Eiza González loved getting to know her castmates in ‘Extrapolation,’ which is now streaming on Apple TV+. Per IMDb, the Mexican actress stars in 5 episodes, including episode 7, titled “The Going Away Party.” In a recent interview, she shared what she loved most about shooting the episode with Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker, and Marion Cottilard. The star-studded limited series revolves around climate change and shares “unanticipated stories” of how it “will affect love, faith, work, and family on a personal and human scale.”Gonazalez’s episode is set in San Francisco in 2068.

TikTok.Romy Coppola Mars, who is the daughter of the Oscar-winning director and Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars, posted a since-deleted TikTok saying she had been grounded for trying to charter a helicopter with her dad’s credit card.In the clip, which has been recirculated on Twitter and watched over 11 million times, she said: “Make a vodka sauce pasta with me because I’m grounded because I tried to charter a helicopter from New York to Maryland on my dad’s credit card because I wanted to have dinner with my camp friend.”The 16-year-old explained she isn’t allowed to have any public social media accounts because her parents “don’t want me to be a nepotism kid,” before adding: “But TikTok is not gonna make me famous so it doesn’t really matter.”Elsewhere in the clip, Romy admits she doesn’t know the difference between a garlic bulb and an onion, and holds up the Grammy award won by Phoenix in 2010 for the band’s fourth studio album ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’.this tiktok of sofia coppola’s daughter… this means so much to me pic.twitter.com/6AQtWNhAgG— savannah ~* (@savbrads) March 21, 2023The clip ends by showing her babysitter’s boyfriend, adding: “My parents are never home, so these are my replacement parents.” She then promises to return with “part two, where I actually make the pasta”.“A perfect short film, we have a third generation of Coppola directors,” one viewer wrote in response.Romy’s grandfather is Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, who is currently developing upcoming sci-fi film Megalopolis starring Adam Driver and Forest Whitaker.Sofia Coppola’s next film is a biopic about Priscilla Presley, based on her memoir Elvis And Me.

Todd Gilchrist editor Producer Nina Yang Bongiovi admits her enthusiasm for being recognized for the profound social and cultural weight of her output. “Usually producers are kicked to the curb when a movie is released,” she says, laughing.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Demi Singleton is the latest addition to the cast of the “Bass Reeves” series at Paramount+, Variety has learned exclusively. Singleton will appear in the period drama as a series regular opposite series lead David Oyelowo, who will star as the titular legendary lawman. Additional cast members include Barry Pepper, Dennis Quaid, Forrest Goodluck, Lauren E. Banks, and Grantham Coleman. Per the official logline, the show “will bring the legendary lawman of the wild west to life. Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.”