Leo Tolstoy: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: Julian Fellowes is going from crimes of high society to real crimes. The Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age creator is set to write and executive produce a TV adaptation of Swiss-American author Donna Leon’s contemporary Detective Brunetti book series, which is in development at 20th Television.

Michael Nordine “All happy families are alike,” claims the immortal first sentence of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”; “each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And while jaded viewers may opine that all indie dramedies about dysfunctional families in the “Little Miss Sunshine” or “The Squid and the Whale” mold are alike, writer-director Haroula Rose’s “All Happy Families” suggests the genre has moved in a more grounded direction. Whether that’s ultimately a better direction remains to be seen.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Peaky Blinders’ and ‘Gangs of London’ star Joe Cole and ‘True Spirit’ and ‘Titans’ actor Teagan Croft have both just wrapped contemporary neo-noir thriller Override, the fourth feature from directing duo Natasha Merkulova and Alexey Chupov. It marks the English-language debut for the Russian helmers, whose Captain Volkonogov Escaped played in Venice’s Competition strand in 2021.

Naman Ramachandran Rezo Gigineishvili’s “Patient #1” is the 2023 winner of the annual Werner Herzog Film Award. Set at the end of the Soviet era, the film focuses on the decline in power of Konstantin Chernenko, a Russian leader with failing health who is surrounded by a large medical team. He is old and frail, but has a tight grip on power.

The Nutcracker to the Kennedy Center in December. But aside from that famed production, the Joffrey hasn’t performed a full-week engagement at the Kennedy Center in more than 25 years.The company makes a triumphant return with Anna Karenina, a full-length story ballet adapted and told through a contemporary lens to explore the complex politics of family, religion, morality, and gender.A co-production with The Australian Ballet, Anna Karenina is visionary Ukrainian-born choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s take on Leo Tolstoy’s 19th-century epic tragedy of desire and passion focused on a married aristocrat who finds herself caught in a life-changing affair with grave consequences.The ballet features music by Russian composer Ilya Demutsky, which will be performed live at the Kennedy Center by the venue’s Opera House Orchestra.

A work in progress. Melissa Joan Hart and husband Mark Wilkerson still put plenty of effort into keeping their marriage strong after nearly 20 years.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Frederick Wiseman, a voracious reader, doesn’t watch television. In fact, he’d never really gotten through a whole series until recently, when he watched HBO’s “The Wire.” “I don’t know why, but it was interesting,” he tells Variety drily. Every couple of years, the 92-year-old master documentarian behind such seminal films as “Titicut Follies” and “Juvenile Court” has churned out a sprawling documentary fixated on a microcosm of society or some sort of social issue, but when the pandemic paused those efforts for two and a half years, it’s Wiseman’s literary proclivities that drew him to Sofia Tolstoy’s writing for his new fiction film “Un Couple,” which premiered Friday in Venice’s Competition section.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Six decades into a career of over 40 films, the last thing you might request of a new feature from 92-year-old documentarian Frederick Wiseman is that it surprise us. Yet after a run of expansive, richly process-oriented observations of mostly American institutions and communities, his new film, “A Couple,” upends expectations of his work in what feels an almost mirthfully perverse number of ways. For starters, it’s laser-focused on just one person, not a heaving collective of human labor and activity. It’s short — very much so, in fact, barely stretching past an hour. Also, lest we be burying the lede, it’s not a documentary. Wiseman’s first ever narrative feature sees him collaborating with French actor-writer Nathalie Boutefeu on a biopic of sorts: a portrait of Leo Tolstoy’s anguished wife Sophia, dramatizing her marital dissatisfaction and psychic pain with with a lyrical, literate ear.

Christopher Vourlias Powerhouse producers Valeriy Fedorovich and Evgeniy Nikishov, the creative duo behind Netflix’s first Russian original series, “Anna K,” quietly left 1-2-3 Production in early March and are now focused on their Moscow-based shingle MC2.Though the announcement was formally made just days removed from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Fedorovich said the plan to leave the Gazprom-Media-backed production outfit had been set in motion long ago.“When we set up our own company, it was clear that we [would] have to say goodbye to 1-2-3 Production,” Fedorovich told Variety. “We used to work for others; now we want to work for ourselves.”As the co-heads of the Moscow-based outfit which they launched in 2018, Fedorovich and Nikishov were the creative force behind the plague thriller “To the Lake,” a series that made top 10 lists across the globe after it was acquired by Netflix, and wrapped production last year on the streamer’s first original Russian drama series, “Anna K,” a contemporary retelling of Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel “Anna Karenina.” They were also tapped to produce the Netflix original series “Nothing Special.” But the war in Ukraine, which entered its fourth month this week, has left many high-profile Russian film and TV projects in limbo, as global streaming platforms, international distributors and a range of industry partners have either suspended or pressed pause on their Russian operations.Fedorovich and Nikishov could not comment on the status of either of the two Netflix series currently in the pipeline.

Editors note: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had tragic consequences for the Ukrainian people, and the wider ramifications of the conflict are only beginning to be understood. As the West imposes economic sanctions on Russia, the country is facing a period of isolation unseen since the Cold War. Deadline invited one high-profile Russian producer to pen a column discussing their perspective on the situation. At their request they are being kept anonymous for fear of reprisal from Putin’s government as it cracks down on free speech.

Netflix has suspended its service in Russia entirely in protest of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.The streaming service joins a growing list of companies that have stopped serving Russia since the full-scale invasion began on February 24.Netflix had previously announced a hold on Russian projects and acquisitions and refused to carry 20 Russian propaganda channels that it was required to host under Russian law. Now, the service has been shut down entirely in the country.“Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” a spokesperson told Variety of the move.The platform’s previous sanctions on the country had seen four Russian original works put on pause.

Streaming giant Netflix is suspending service in Russia, citing that country’s invasion of Ukraine. They join numerous entertainment companies and other businesses who have halted business there.

Netflix has paused all future projects and acquisitions from Russia amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to reports.The streaming giant has four Russian original series in various stages of production. According to Deadline, Netflix has halted production on one of them, the detective drama series Zato, while another series, one day away from wrapping, will be completed.For the other two projects, Netflix is said to be assessing the impact of the invasion of Ukraine before making any further decisions.

Netflix has responded to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine by pausing all of its production and acquisitions work in the territory, Deadline sources confirm.

Her voice is instantly recognisable to any fans of the Outlander audiobooks and she's been bringing the books to life for nearly three decades.

An old Russian pundit by the name of Leo Tolstoy once confessed, “I do not look, yet not looking is worse.”

Tonight, Jason Sudeikis won his first Golden Globe, for his starring turn in Ted Lasso. His win was also the first for the distributor behind the comedy, Apple TV+.