U.K. Actors Union Equity to Support SAG-AFTRA Strike by ‘All Lawful Means’

Elizabeth Wagmeister Chief Correspondent Country singer Jimmie Allen is countersuing two anonymous women who sued him for sexual assault. The women, who have been identified as “Jane Doe,” sued Allen separately. Their allegations were unrelated to one another. In the first lawsuit against Allen, filed this past May, the multiplatinum singer was accused of raping his former day-to-day manager, who alleged she endured continuous assault and abuse over the course of 18 months while she was working on the musician’s team. In June, the Grammy-nominated singer was hit with another lawsuit from second woman who claimed she filed a police report after Allen secretly filmed her during sex in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA announced Thursday that it is on strike against the film and TV companies, marking only the second time in Hollywood history that actors have joined writers on the picket lines. The SAG-AFTRA national board held its meeting on Thursday morning and voted unanimously to approve a strike recommendation forwarded by the negotiating committee, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator of SAG-AFTRA, said during a press conference. “Union members should withhold their labor until a fair contract can be achieved,” he told the room. “They have left us with no alternative.”

House of the Dragon” can continue filming in the U.K. despite the SAG-AFTRA actors strike, Variety can reveal. Just as the U.S. actors union announced a strike Thursday, sources confirmed that production is planned to proceed as scheduled on the second season of the “Game of Thrones” prequel. The HBO series’ cast is composed of primarily U.K. actors who are working under contracts governed by the local union, Equity. As such, the series is technically allowed to continue filming because Equity members aren’t legally allowed to strike in solidarity with the U.S. union.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cohen Media Group has unveiled the trailer for “Between Two Worlds,” a drama directed by famed French novelist and filmmaker Emmanuel Carrère, starring Oscar-winning actor Juliette Binoche. The film, which had its world premiere on opening night of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2021, will premiere in New York and Los Angeles on Aug. 11 followed by a national roll-out. “Between Two Worlds” is adapted from the bestselling non-fiction book “The Night Cleaner” (“Le Quai de Ouistreham”) by investigative journalist Florence Aubenas.  Binoche plays Marianne Winckler, a reporter (based on Aubenas) going undercover to investigate the exploitation of France’s workers without job security at the height of the economic crisis. As she becomes a cleaning lady, she discovers a precarious life and finds herself invisible in society, but also forges genuine bonds with some of her companions in misfortune. These friendships are put to the test when the truth comes out. Binoche earned a Cesar nomination for her performance in the film, which sold worldwide.

A.D. Amorosi From a private show in Dubai and its official opening in Stockholm to its Canadian dates last week, most of the globe has gotten at least a glimpse, from afar, of Beyoncé on the Renaissance World Tour — her first in nearly five years. Last night, the United States got its first in-person peek at the vibrancy of Club Renaissance with an opening show at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Center. Four words immediately come to mind in trying to do justice to the show: Daring. Elastic. Silvery. Very. With the wealth of knock-off mirror-ball cowboy hats and barely-there sequined outfits in the crowd to the wide staging of Club Renaissance and its accoutrements — flying horses, group costumes, pianos for Bey to sit on — nearly everything was reflectively silver. Everything. From its epic concept videos between changeovers and its athletic dancers to a sound system that pulsated crisply with each deep house reverberation, Club Renaissance never missed a beat. Over-the-top, yet still elegantly refined, pretty much everything surrounding the show’s vocal and visual centerpiece was exquisitely executed and bolder for it.The only thing more very than all of the technology and vigorous dance moves of Club Renaissance was Beyoncé herself. As a singer, she proved to be righteously elastic with trills to thrill and vocal runs that ran fluidly atop every different musical interlude (and there were many sharp turns and frantic rhythms in which to contend). As a performer and as a curator-producer, her sonic choices and visual cues were often daring. Ballsy even.

AMPTP from the June 30 deadline through July 12, the actors guild formally called for a strike during a press conference on July 13 led by SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and lead negotiator Duncan Crabtree. With Hollywood already largely shut down this summer by the writers strike, which has been ongoing since May 2, the actors strike will complicate things even further. First and foremost, all production will now be forced to shut down completely. Prior to this, some projects had managed to stay up and running by working off of already completed scripts and simply not having any writers on set — including big-budget productions like the second season of HBO’s “House of the Dragon.” Amazon just recently wrapped filming on Season 2 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” in the U.K., making it one of the priciest shows to come in under the wire. Variety has confirmed that “House of the Dragon” will remain in production, however.

Not everything “Foundation” is so serious.

Zayn Malik is getting candid about finding his fashion identity.

world tour has seen the cast delivering delectable outfits in candy colors. Margot Robbie, the film’s lead, has consistently impressed with her custom ensembles for the pink carpet, many of which .At the London premiere on July 12, the Australian actor wowed in an in a delicate baby pink shade.

Rob Kardashian made a subtle return to reality TV this week!

Kevin Spacey has taken the stand for his sexual assault trial in the UK. The 63-year-old actor currently faces

Actress Laura Lee wrote: “Hey @frandrescher, why are you gallivanting around when our strike is looming? Super bad look. And with Kim, who recently crossed the WGA picket line, no less. #gross.”Kardashian has been criticized for shooting “American Horror Story” during the Writer’s Guild Strike, which started in May. She posted a tweet last month saying she was on the set of the show, prompting comments that she was “tone deaf.”“Perry Mason” actor Eric Lange tweeted, “This is a really bad f–king look, @frandrescher.

Messages of support have been shared for the wife of newsreader Huw Edwards after he was named as the BBC presenter facing allegations over explicit images. Vicky Flind revealed his identity in a statement released on Wednesday night.

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ core will more than likely look the same going into the 2023-24 NBA season. Clevelands’ President of basketball operations, Koby Altman has stated that he plans to keep the core four of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley together. This team made their first playoff appearance together last season, even though it did not go as planned.

“Real Housewives of New York City” star Jessel Taank didn’t have quite the night she was expecting at Wednesday’s premiere party.

Jimmie Allen is striking back at the sexual assault allegations levelled at him this year.

Kevin Spacey is defending the way he came out.

Matt Damon is opening up about his love and appreciation for his wife Luciana Barroso. The 52-year-old Hollywood star revealed that the 46-year-old Argentinian was there to support him after he faced recent professional struggles.

Manchester United have begun their pre-season fixture schedule in positive fashion with victory over rivals Leeds United and two players in particular caught the eye of club legends Henning Berg and Ronny Johnsen.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Matt Damon has revealed that the “Oppenheimer” cast talked about their strike strategy before hitting the movie’s red carpet premiere in London on Thursday. “We talked about it,” Damon told Variety on the carpet. “Look, if it’s called now, everyone’s going to walk obviously in solidarity … Once the strike is officially called, [we’re walking]. That’s why we moved this [red carpet] up because we know the second it’s called, we’re going home.” Damon added: “We gave the strike authorization. We voted 98% to 2% to do that because we know our leadership has our best interest at heart.”

William Earl “Hotels on Screen” is a new five-episode video series in partnership with Variety and Hotels.com, spotlighting fictional worlds in fan-favorite TV shows and movies where real-life hotels were used as locations and sets. The series, featuring interviews with actors and artisans, aims to inspire fans and audiences to travel and explore hotels around the world. The new sponsored editorial series launches July 13, featuring the newly released film “Joy Ride” with interviews from stars Ashley Park, Stephanie Hsu, Sherry Cola, Sabrina Wu and director Adele Lim. “It’s exciting for us to partner with a marquee brand like Hotels.com to support artisans and actors who create content that stimulates imagination and fosters a desire in their audiences to experience these locations for themselves,” said Dea Lawrence, Variety’s chief operating and marketing officer.