William Earl: Last News

William Earl administrator Over his 40-year career, director Chuck Russell has had a knack for turning hungry young talent into movie stars, regularly conjuring memorable performances. He advocated for Patricia Arquette to be the lead in her first film role, 1987’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.” He made Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz household names in his 1994 blockbuster “The Mask” — knowing Diaz was perfect even though it was her first movie. And he helped transition Dwayne Johnson from wrestling to the acting world by having him star in the 2002 epic “The Scorpion King.” No matter the genre, scope or budget, Russell loves seeing what raw talent can achieve — a fascination he picked up while cutting his teeth in the world of theater.

William Earl administrator Johnny, the bloodthirsty killer of “In a Violent Nature,” is headed back to the woods. IFC Films and Shudder announced that a sequel for the innovative slasher is in the early stages of development. The news came during the “The Bold Voice of Contemporary Horror” panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where Johnny himself stopped by to freak out the audience.

William Earl administrator Foo Fighters opened their Friday night encore at Citi Field in Queens with the penultimate track from their most recent album, the 10-minute plus “The Teacher.” The song is a bit of an outlier for the group, with frontman Dave Grohl favoring a Gibson double neck for the proggy journey. While the song is dedicated to both his late mother (a teacher) and late former Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins, the title could easily apply to Grohl’s current approach to live shows: A rock ‘n’ roll professor sharing everything he knows about the craft in one blowout three-hour class.

William Earl administrator Perhaps it’s due to his love of horror, but Chris Stuckmann has been fearless in the production of his film, “Shelby Oaks.” Days away from its Fantasia Festival world premiere, he admits, with a laugh, that thinking about the crowd reactions has “been on my mind for, probably, five years.” Luckily, he has crafted a bold feature that can stand alongside many of his favorites. A lifelong filmmaker — he directed his first feature at 15, and it was “about a magical baseball diamond, inspired by ‘Field of Dreams'” — Stuckmann gained fame as an early YouTube celebrity, a devout and sincere film critic who has amassed over two million followers since launching his channel 13 years ago. Starting his criticism career by sitting on his bed in front of two “Dark Knight” posters, Stuckmann kept his crisp criticism accessible to average moviegoers — even as his backdrop and camera grew more professional.

William Earl administrator SPOILER ALERT: This story contains light spoilers about “Longlegs,” now playing in theaters. Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe are the stars of the serial killer movie “Longlegs,” yet the duo rarely share the screen — except for one key interrogation scene near the end. Director Oz Perkins had a unique strategy to ratchet up the tension on set, which was to keep the pair away from each other during the duration of filming until their onscreen meeting. “The whole lead-up to that was crazy,” Monroe said.

William Earl President Joe Biden made an earnest plea for Americans to tone down the political rhetoric and pull together as a nation in the aftermath of Saturday’s shocking assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Biden’s Republican presidential rival in November. “Political rhetoric has gotten very heated,” Biden said in a rare Oval Office address that aired live across multiple networks at 8 p.m.

William Earl administrator “Terrifier” fans rejoice: A new film from the series’ twisted creative team is headed to theaters next month. “Stream” reunites the producers, director and star of the “Terrifier” films for a new slasher, releasing on Aug. 21.

William Earl administrator Eminem‘s new album “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)” was released on Friday and is full of lyrics about current events and celebrity culture, including multiple Diddy disses. But one other new song from the artist seems destined to cause controversy. Eminem raps about the tragic “Rust” shooting — in which Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with an on-set gun carrying live ammunition — in the new song “Fuel,” the ninth track on the album.

William Earl Welcome to Horror Explorer, a new curated column showcasing the month’s best movies, series, books and everything else spooky worth checking out. I’m William Earl, the editor of Variety.com and the publication’s resident horror enthusiast. Please drop me a line at wearl@variety.com if there’s something I should check out for next month’s missive. Congrats to “A Quiet Place: Day One” for officially becoming one of the highest-grossing horror franchises of all time for Paramount Pictures, just three films into its run.

William Earl administrator It’s been 550 days since a new episode of “Yellowstone” aired, which seems absurd for one of the most popular shows on television. But the behind-the-scenes drama since has been as fraught as the dynamics of the Dutton family, leading to the expulsion of the show’s star, Kevin Costner.

William Earl administrator Six Flags is bracing for the scariest time of the year. The amusement park has unveiled its cinematic partners for Fright Fest, the annual weeks-long celebration of Halloween.

William Earl administrator Art the Clown is going literary, thanks to an upcoming novelization of “Terrifier 2.” Titan Books is partnering with Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting to bring the official movie novelization to fans on Oct. 29, during the theatrical run of the upcoming “Terrifier 3.” Tim Waggoner, who also wrote the “Halloween Kills” and “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” novelizations, penned the “Terrifier 2” novel.

William Earl administrator Variety and Sportico have announced additional programming for the second annual co-branded Sports & Entertainment Summit presented by City National Bank on July 12 in Los Angeles. Newly added speakers include UCLA QB and two-time NIL athlete of the year Chase Griffin, 2024 Paralympic track and field athlete Ezra Frech, UConn women’s basketball player Paige Bueckers, NCAA women’s champion Ashlyn Watkins and Jay Williams, chairman and co-founder of Improbable Media and ESPN analyst.

William Earl administrator “Bar Rescue” is one of Paramount Network’s flagship shows, with industry expert and host Jon Taffer attempting to save flailing watering holes across the country. While his common sense advice and industry knowledge make running a successful tavern business seem achievable even for home audiences, the show’s whirlwind filming schedule allows Taffer’s team to record an incredible amount of material at a breakneck pace. After 13 years, nine seasons and an average of 1.3 million viewers, “Bar Rescue” will celebrate its 250th episode, airing June 30.

William Earl administrator Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro presented their first collaboration, the 1973 crime drama “Mean Streets,” and then discussed the film during a De Niro Con presentation at the Tribeca Film Festival. The celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary took place Saturday at the Beacon Theatre, where the screening was followed by a conversation between Scorsese and De Niro, moderated by legendary rapper Nas.

William Earl administrator This year’s Tribeca Film Festival has launched its De Niro Con celebration of its iconic co-founder, and one of the first big events included a rousing discussion with verbal odd couple Quentin Tarantino and Robert De Niro. The event started on Friday afternoon with a screening of “Jackie Brown,” Tarantino’s 1997 third feature — via a handsome 35mm print on loan from Martin Scorsese.

William Earl administrator The core four members of Talking Heads — vocalist and guitarist David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, bassist Tina Weymouth and keyboardist and guitarist Jerry Harrison — split rather acrimoniously in 1991 and have rarely shared stages in the years since. But in celebration of A24’s 40th anniversary reissue of their galvanizing 1984 concert film “Stop Making Sense,” the erstwile bandmates have spoken more kindly of each other and reunited for a series of interviews, and on Thursday night the four sat down for a Q&A with Questlove at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre that followed a screening of the film.

William Earl administrator Horror author Paul Tremblay developed a deep love of spooky stories early on, and he tackles the haunted films genre with his newest novel, “Horror Movie” (out Tuesday via William Morrow and Company). The plot concerns a ’90s cult classic horror movie which left all but one cast member dead and the dark stories that are dredged up as a remake comes closer to reality. Professionally, Tremblay is no stranger to scary movies, as his 2019 novel “The Cabin at the End of the World” was adapted into M.

William Earl administrator There are endless challenges to getting an indie feature-length animated film made: Lack of money, not enough time, fruitless rewrites, a vision that can’t get across the finish line. When asked what the biggest challenge was while making their upcoming comedy “Mars,” co-writers and voice actors Sam Brown and Zach Cregger can’t help but riff an answer to a question that inelegantly ignores the elephant in the room. “Well, Trevor died,” Brown says.

William Earl administrator Period vampire thriller “The Vourdalak” is set to stalk American audiences. Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired the U.S.

William Earl administrator Variety and Sportico will host the second annual co-branded Sports & Entertainment Summit presented by City National Bank on July 12 in Los Angeles. The day-long summit will feature keynote conversations and panel discussions highlighting trends across programming and storytelling, multiplatform game coverage, athlete branding and representation, NIL dealmaking and more.