Focus Features President Robert Walak Exits Role

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFour years after the death of his brother Vittorio, with whom he shared a celebrated career, Paolo Taviani is back in the Berlin competition solo, with “Leonora Addio.” The brothers won the Golden Bear in 2012 with “Caesar Must Die,” about high-security inmates performing Shakespeare.The free-form film he made –– screening on Feb. 15 –– takes its cue from a story titled “Il Chiodo” (“The Nail”) by Italian playwright and author Luigi Pirandello, written shortly before he died in 1936.

Frankie Essex has excitedly announced she's pregnant – and she's having twins! In this week's new! magazine – and here on OK! online – the former TOWIE star is exclusively sharing her joyous news with a stunning shoot.The 34 year old also reveals what happened when she told her family, whether they'll find out the babies' genders and the advice Chloe Sims has been offering. Sign up below, for free, to read Frankie's interview and see all the beautiful snaps from her photoshoot. Are you an OK! VIP ? If not, why not? It’s free and gives you backstage access to stories like this, exclusive home tours, special discounts and so much more! All you need to do is pop your email address below! P.s.

Ben Croll Thrown into uncertainty by the tragic death of star Gaspard Ulliel, production on Betrand Bonello’s “The Beast” will still go forward, the director confirmed to Variety. Bonello and Ulliel recently collaborated on the hybrid, essay film “Coma,” which premiered in Berlin’s Encounters sidebar.A sci-fi melodrama set in 1910, 2014 and 2044 and dealing with questions of reincarnation and technology, “The Beast” was set to reunite Léa Seydoux and Gaspar Ulliel, who both starred in Bonello’s 2014 biopic “Saint Laurent.” Bonello wrote the sweeping project with both actors in mind and planned to start shooting in April.While Ulliel’s sudden passing has upended that specific timeline, the filmmaker still intends to begin production later this year, telling Variety that he will likely recast the role with a non-French star.

Former Emmerdale actor Danny Miller and his fiancée Steph Jones, who share adorable baby Albert together, opened up on how wedding plans are going - and exactly who is on their very exclusive guest list. After forming a strong bromance with former professional footballer David Ginola on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, it’s no surprise that he has been invited to the couple’s special day.

After sharing the special news that she is expecting twins with her boyfriend, personal trainer Luke Love, Frankie Essex sat down with OK! VIP’s to tell us all about the moment she shared the news with her family in an exclusive video interview. The TOWIE star recalled the moment that she told, cousin Chloe Sims, and brother Joey Essex about the news and exactly what Joey is going to be like as an uncle.

Rebekah Vardy has taken to social media amid her ongoing court case with Coleen Rooney – dubbed the 'Wagatha Christie' case.MORE: Rebekah Vardy's home with husband Jamie could be a spa retreat – see insideLawyers have alleged that Rebekah authorised her agent Caroline Watt to access her personal Instagram account, which was then used to monitor Coleen's post and to pass information on to the Sun.WATCH: Rebekah Vardy breaks down as she discusses Coleen Rooney rowReturning to Instagram on Sunday evening, 39-year-old Rebekah chose to ignore the continuing legal drama, and instead shared a snapshot showing her and her daughter at Dancing on Ice.READ: Inside Rebekah Vardy's love lifeMORE: Rebekah Vardy's stunning wedding dress had a royal touch – see photosThe sweet selfie sees Rebekah and five-year-old Sofia beaming for the camera after watching the show. Mum-of-five Rebekah was famously a contestant on Dancing on Ice just last year, when she teamed up with pro skater Andy Buchanan.

David and Victoria Beckham welcomed a new addition to the family on Saturday – an adorable bunny for their ten-year-old daughter Harper.PHOTOS: David and Victoria Beckham's 10 sweetest moments with mini-me Harper SevenThe family have now revealed the rabbit's adorable name, and it pays tribute to one of the family's first dogs, a bulldog named Coco.WATCH: David Beckham bonds with Harper's new petThe Beckham family used to own two bulldogs, Coco and Scarlet, plus shar-pei Barnaby. Now, they have three spaniels, Olive, Sage and Fig.SEE: Victoria Beckham's £6million country house is a family party pad – with a lakeINSIDE: David and Victoria Beckham's cosy bedroom at £150k home is so unexpectedTaking to Instagram on Sunday, David shared a video of himself playing with the bunny and wrote: "Someone's getting a lot of attention.

Christopher Vourlias Training their lens on the largely untold story of the atrocities committed against Thessaloniki’s Jewish population during World War II, Syllas Tzoumerkas and Christos Passalis will bow “The City and the City” Feb. 15 in the Berlin Film Festival’s competitive Encounters strand.Unspooling in six fragmented chapters, the film tells the story of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community from the first half of the 20th century until the present day, where contemporary life reflects a city that violently and irrevocably lost its multicultural character, almost overnight.Natives who both left Thessaloniki in their twenties, the directors said they wanted to focus on what Tzoumerkas described as a “blind spot” in their respective upbringings, in which the suffering and near annihilation of the city’s Jewish community went virtually unmentioned.

Over £6000 has been raised for charity in memory of a much-loved Hamilton girl who died suddenly last year.

Emiliano De Pablos Spanish media giant Atresmedia is joining forces with Portocabo, the production outfit behind Movistar Plus hit series “Hierro,” for a remake of Showtime drama “Your Honor,” starring Bryan Cranston.The Spanish redo is currently at the script stage and initiating casting.With an undisclosed number of episodes, the project production is scheduled to kick off this year.The TV series release date is still unknown. But it would be logical for it to launch on platform Atresplayer Premium before airing on Atresmedia’s free-to-air channel Antena 3 primetime, a windowing strategy usually followed by the group with its new fiction releases since Atresplayer Premium bowed in 2019.

Kris Commons reckons Dave Cormack must choose Aberdeen's next manager wisely - or risk losing the fans.

Plans to erect a 5G mobile phone mast in an Ayrshire conservation area have been rejected by council chiefs.

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are celebrating the Los Angeles Rams’ win!

“We know that you’re a homosexual, we’ve been following you.”Trigger Warning: This story has details of suicidal ideation and might be distressing to some readers. For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.This is what Yvonne Sillett,  a former Australian soldier and cipher operator, was told during a 1988 interrogation into her sexuality in relation to her security clearance. The royal commission is gathering evidence from ADF members who have had suicidal ideation or from surviving family members of those who have died.  Describing her interrogation, Sillett said that “after several hours of this questioning they said they would be taking the matter further and that, based on my sexuality, I could no longer be in Signal Corps as I’d be open to blackmail, and that they were downgrading my security clearance which was needed to do that job. They told me I’d never instruct women again.”According to The Guardian, during her interrogation, she was asked to give up the names of other homosexual military personnel but she refused to do so.With the help of a partner at the time, Sillett was able to “pull through.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentZDF Enterprises, a key production-distribution component of one of Europe’s biggest public broadcaster powerhouses, Germany’s ZDF, is set to operate under the new name of ZDF Studios.Effective from April 1, the title, announced by ZDF Enterprises President and CEO Fred Burcksen on Monday in Mainz, captures much better ZDFE’s current business reach, scale and ambitions.“We are a studio, we cover all elements of our industry, from early development to longtail sales. The new name fits our business model much better and reflects our production and distribution expertise,” Burcksen said.ZDF Enterprises was launched in 1993 to handle worldwide program distribution as new content-avid private TV networks sprang up in Europe and beyond and also to deal with the business affairs of the acquisition of programs from around the world.

Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed Nepalese filmmaker Deepak Rauniyar has cast Indian actor Tannishtha Chatterjee as one of the leads in his upcoming feature “The Sky Is Mine.”Chatterjee’s credits include “Brick Lane” (2007), for which she scored a best actress nomination at the British Independent Film Awards, “Parched” (2015) and “Lion” (2016). She won the Asia Star Award for best Asian filmmaker at Busan for her directorial debut, “Roam Rome Mein” (2019).Rauniyar’s latest work, short film “Four Nights,” is playing at Berlinale Shorts. The filmmaker’s first feature, “Highway,” premiered at the 2012 Berlinale and played Locarno, while his sophomore feature “White Sun” (2016) won awards at the Venice, Palm Springs, Fribourg and Singapore festivals.

Miley Cyrus went all out for her set at this year’s Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest, performing 20 songs including mashups, covers, and a live debut of a ‘Plastic Hearts’ deep cut.The former Disney star opened up the show with her 2013 hit ‘We Can’t Stop’, with a brief interpolation of the Pixies’ 1988 classic ‘Where Is My Mind?’. Later in the set, she blends ‘Wrecking Ball’ with elements of Sinead O’Connor’s Prince-written ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’.A sextet of covers punctuated the setlist, first with ‘Heart Of Glass’ by Blondie, then ‘23’ by Mike WiLL Made-It and ‘Maybe’ by Janis Joplin, with the live debut of her own ‘Plastic Hearts’ track ‘Never Be Me’ sandwiched in-between.

Sam Page, the actor who stars in Kia‘s new commercial with Robo Dog, has welcomed the adorable robot to his family!

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, renowned for his epic cinematic vision, now trains his sights on women’s empowerment tale “Gangubai Kathiawadi,” playing as a Berlinale Special Gala on Feb. 16.Starring Alia Bhatt (2019 Berlinale selection “Gully Boy”) in the titular role, the film is based on the book, “Mafia Queens of Mumbai,” written by S. Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges.

It was a HUGE night for Van Jefferson!

the Super Bowl LVI Pepsi Halftime Show, and delivered a jaw-dropping spectacle that took a lot of work to make happen.ET's Kevin Frazier spoke with Jesse Collins, executive producer of this year's halftime show, and he reflected on what it was like to make such a memorable event really come to life.«We've been in development of this since last September, just talking every week, every single moment, and we've been in hard rehearsals probably for the last three weeks,» Collins reflected. «I think the hardest part of it was getting it [down] to 13 minutes.»«I mean, you've got monster catalogues and trying to figure out how to make this work... I mean I could think of 10 records that I wish they would've done,» he added.

JD Linville There are few places on Earth more visually striking than the Black Sands of Reynisfjara Beach in Iceland, where tourists flock to take pictures and stand a fool’s chance to be smashed against the rocks by sneaker waves, then drowned at sea. These dangerous and beautiful beaches serve as backdrop for Icelandic showrunner Baldvin Z’s crime thriller series “Black Sands,” which will play at Berlinale Series. Written by Baldvin Z, Ragnar Jónsson, Andri Óttarsson and Aldís Hamilton, the limited series follows disgraced detective Anita (played by Hamilton) as she investigates a series of deaths at the beach while balancing the familial shadows of her past.The series, produced by Baldvin Z’s own Glassriver, brings a warmth to Nordic Noir not often seen, with scenes of Anita reconnecting and rekindling her hometown connections after expulsion from Reykjavik.

Tim Dams Since its launch in 2015, the Berlinale Series section has emerged as a kind of a boutique scripted TV fest set within a major film festival.The Berlinale was famously the first A-list festival to embrace changing viewer habits and to officially incorporate television drama into its lineup — and this head-start is reflected in the growing stature of Berlinale Series.Taking place over a concentrated three-day period (Feb. 14-16), Berlinale Series offers up seven world and international premieres from around 200 entries, giving each of them the red-carpet treatment at the Zoo Palast cinema.Running parallel, the Berlinale Series Market — part of the European Film Market — offers up an online conference program, showcases and screenings.

European Film Market has felt lopsided.Sony’s $60 million deal for Tom Hanks’ “A Man Called Otto,” an adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s bestselling Swedish-language novel “A Man Called Ove” — which was made into an Oscar-nominated  Swedish feature — that grabbed headlines early on (Variety understands it boiled down to a bidding war between the studio and Apple), but hasn’t necessarily spawned the usual flurry of deals from Berlin halfway through the festival.One buyer from a major U.K. distributor says the EFM vibe has felt “muted” for a company of its size, with an absence of broad-appeal product available once “Otto” was snapped up by Sony.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentImage Nation Abu Dhabi and low-budget Australian genre label Spooky Pictures have announced “Late Night With the Devil,” the second title under their multi-picture deal following Chloe Okuno’s  “Watcher,” which made a splash at Sundance.“Late Night With the Devil” will be helmed by writing/directing duo Colin and Cameron Cairns (“100 Bloody Acres,” “Scare Campaign”) and is set to start shooting in Australia later this year.Cinetic is handling the U.S./North American rights to the film. Stuart Ford’s AGC Intl.

Tim Dams One of the highlights of the Berlinale Series Market is the pitch event Co-Pro Series, which looks to match projects with suitable co-producers and financiers.Ten international series projects from Europe, Canada and Latin America have been selected to pitch at this year’s Co-Pro Series, where they will also have the opportunity of meeting one-on-one with potential partners.Taking place over two days (Feb. 15-16), and held online once again due to the pandemic, Co-Pro Series has a track record of showcasing drama projects that have not only gone on to be produced, but that have also achieved success.International hit “Babylon Berlin,” Austrian-German crime series “Freud,” Norwegian-German domestic terrorism drama “Furia,” Icelandic thriller “Blackport” and 1920s-set German drama “Eldorado KaDeWe” have all participated in previous Co-Pro Series pitches.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAudrey Diwan, the BAFTA-nominated filmmaker of the Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening,” is set to make her television debut with Haut et Court TV in France, Variety has learned.Haut et Court TV is one of France’s leading production companies with credits ranging from the supernatural drama series “The Returned,” to “Panthers” with Tahar Rahim and more recently “Possession.”Diwan is currently writing the series, which will be an original story about a mother and daughter running a plastic surgery clinic. The plot is under wraps but the series will be similar to “Happening” in that it will deal with women’s relationships to their bodies.

Christopher Vourlias Peter Nadermann’s Nadcon Film and South African genre specialists Gambit Films (“Indemnity”) are teaming up to adapt a trilogy of best-selling crime thrillers, Variety can reveal.The “Revenge Trilogy” is based on the Cape Town-set novels from South African author Mike Nicol. The books will be adapted for screen by Gambit’s Daryne Joshua and will be produced by Gambit Films and Nadcon Film in cooperation with ZDF Enterprises, which co-owns Nadcon.The story begins with ex-gun-runners Mace Bishop and Pylon Buso, who made an illicit fortune while part of the struggle against Apartheid but are now at the helm of a private security company, trying to settle into a comfortable life in Cape Town.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” passed $500 million in total sales and remained unchallenged atop the mainland Chinese box office over the latest weekend.Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed no positional change among the top five films on a weekend that came a week after the Chinese New Year holiday wound down. Bona’s “Lake Changjin II” earned $43.5 million over the Friday to Sunday weekend, ahead of comedy “Too Cool to Kill” with $37.3 million over the same three days. In third place over the weekend was drama “Nice View” with $21.6 million and animation “Boonie Bears: Back to Earth” with $14.0 million.

Christopher Vourlias Belgrade-based Firefly Productions, one of the leading producers of high-end drama in the former Yugoslavia, is launching two new series as part of its slate at this year’s European Film Market.“The V Effect” is an eight-episode drama series inspired by the real-life case of an actor who commits suicide on stage during a live theater production. After the renowned actor’s death, Inspector Sorga will try to find out whether it was an unfortunate accident, a suicide – or possibly murder.“Domestic (Violence)” is a six-part true-crime anthology series set in a small town in Serbia.

Even with Bennifer flaunting their love left and right these days, Alex Rodriguez isn’t afraid to get out there. In fact, he came uncomfortably close to a run-in with his ex Jennifer Lopez at the Super Bowl on Sunday, where both were in attendance. While J. Lo and current beau Ben Affleck were seen dancing sweetly in the stands to the iconic halftime show, Alex shared a smiling selfie from the big game.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorEXCLUSIVE: Focus Features President Robert Walak will be stepping down from his position and moving into an advisory consulting role with the Universal specialty studio. Walak will continue to work with Focus on projects he helped shepherd into development while there, and there are no plans to replace him in the role of President.