Glenn Close Reveals What She Hopes the 'Fatal Attraction' Reboot Will Include (Exclusive)

Pat Saperstein Deputy EditorThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced several changes in Oscar rules and campaigning requirements, as well as a return to the calendar year for submissions. While digital screeners will still be available, “The Academy encourages the screening of eligible films in a theatrical setting for its members,” the organization emphasized.The Academy is also underlining the importance of theatrical distribution, emphasizing that “Films that, in any version, receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release will not be eligible for Academy Awards in any category.”Changes include:The eligibility period for Academy Awards consideration is returning to the full calendar year after the pandemic forced changes in the calendar.

Clayton Davis The 75th Cannes Film Festival returns with international auteurs, Palme d’Or winning filmmakers, potential summer blockbusters, and many films that will, if everything breaks their way,  be campaigning for Oscar come the fall.In short, the competition lineup is loaded with promise.The track record for Palme d’Or winners going onto Oscar success has varied over the years. Over the past two decades, Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist” (2002), Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” (2011), Michael Haneke’s “Amour” (2012) and Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” (2019) have received best picture nominations.

Christopher Vourlias Gravel Road Distribution Group has acquired world sales rights with producer Rani Sitaram to “Greytown Girl,” a romantic drama set in Apartheid-era South Africa from Oscar-nominated director Darrell Roodt (“Yesterday”).The film tells the true story of a small-town South African girl, Meena, who was born with physical limitations and abandoned as a baby. Through her personal bravery she’s able to build a better life, even as her journey of self-realization and self-love unspools against the dramatic backdrop of Apartheid South Africa’s journey toward its first democratic elections.“What I love most about ‘Greytown Girl’ is its authenticity.

EXCLUSIVE: Silver Tree (The Flight Attendant, You) is set to direct and executive produce on the upcoming Paramount+ series Fatal Attraction.

Naman Ramachandran Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy winning Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) has revealed his next directorial venture after “Le Musk,” his debut which premiered at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes XR program.The project will be another film in the VR space, titled “Confessions.” “Now this [“Le Musk”] is finished and we’re happy about it, we just want to do something which is much more simpler, but more deeper in emotion,” Rahman told Variety.

Manori Ravindran International EditorForest Whitaker has shed some new plot details about Francis Ford Coppola’s mystery project “Megalopolis,” which is set to start shooting in August.The actor-producer, who is in Cannes to receive the festival’s honorary Palme d’Or, suggested he had a substantial role in the new movie, and spoke favorably of Coppola’s script, which is a long-gestating passion project that’s been in the works for 20 years. Coppola invested more than $100 million of his own resources to make the film, which is his first film since 2011’s “Twixt.”“The cast is coming together,” said Whittaker, who praised Coppola as an “amazing filmmaker” that he was excited to work with.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMarie Kreutzer’s “Corsage,” which premieres in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, has debuted its first clip exclusively with Variety (below). MK2 Films is handling international sales.

Naman Ramachandran “Le Musk,” the directorial debut of Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy winning Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”), will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes XR program.The 36-minute film is billed as a cinematic sensory experience incorporating virtual reality, with motion, music and scent integrated into the narrative. It follows heiress and musician Juliet Merdinian, who, 20 years since she was orphaned, seeks out the men who changed her destiny with one powerful memory — that of their scent.Rahman developed the story from an original idea by his wife Saira.

EXCLUSIVE: Ukrainian-Canadian-American filmmaker Vadim Perelman has inked with Artist International Group for management.

EXCLUSIVE: Leslie Bibb has been tapped to star alongside Kristen Wiig in in Apple TV+ comedy series Mrs. American Pie, executive produced by Laura Dern. Based on Juliet McDaniel’s book, Mrs. American Pie hails from creator Abe Sylvia (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) and director Tate Taylor (Breaking News in Yuba County). Oscar winner Allison Janney also recently signed on to star in the series, in which Dern is poised for a key role.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIcelandic filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson, who made his feature directorial debut with “Lamb,” has signed with CAA, Variety can reveal.Jóhannsson made a splash last year with the Noomi Rapace-led “Lamb,” which the helmer co-wrote with Icelandic author Sjón. The off-kilter film — which became a viral sensation after its trailer debuted — follows a childless couple who discover a hybrid lamb baby that’s half-human, half lamb.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaFusion Entertainment has signed filmmaker Ira Sachs, actor Mya Taylor and writer-director-actor Jude Dry. The management company, which was founded this year by Chris Evans and Adam Kersh, hails the signings as an important step in bolstering their roster of LGBTQ+ talent.Kersh and Sachs have had a long association, having worked together for a decade. Kersh helped spearhead the publicity campaigns for the Sachs’ queer-positive NYC triptych “Keep the Lights On” (2012), “Love Is Strange” (2014), and “Little Men” (2016).

Naman Ramachandran Emmy nominee Paapa Essiedu (“I May Destroy You”) and BAFTA winner Stephen Dillane (“Alex Rider”) have joined Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”) on the cast of “The Outrun.” The film is the feature adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s bestselling memoir “The Outrun,” adapted by Nora Fingscheidt, the multiple award winning director of “System Crasher.” Fingscheidt has written the adaptation in collaboration with Liptrot.Ronan stars as Rona, who fresh out of rehab, returns to the wild Orkney Islands after more than a decade away. As she reconnects with the dramatic landscape where she grew up, memories of her childhood merge with the more recent challenging events that have set her on the path to recovery. Protagonist Pictures has sold all international territories on the film, which is currently shooting on location in the Orkney Islands.

EXCLUSIVE: John Cho rounds out the Season 2 ensemble cast of Apple TV+’s hit murder mystery comedy series The Afterparty, from Oscar winners Chris Miller and Phil Lord.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Prime has quietly picked up domestic rights to UK boxing movie Prizefighter: The Life Of Jem Belcher.

Lise Pedersen The Cannes Docs sidebar of the Cannes Film Market has announced the lineup of its annual Doc Day, which takes place on May 24. The day will open with a morning session dedicated to ACID Cannes 2022 title “Polaris,” described by organizers as “a creative and human journey interwoven with uncompromising, gentle and bold filmmaking by a woman filmmaker, set against the backdrop of the Arctic.” Entitled “A Producing Journey,” the session will bring together Marion Schmidt, the co-founder of Cannes Docs partner DAE (Documentary Association of Europe), director Ainara Vera and producers Clara Vuillermoz (Point du Jour – Les Films du Balibari) and Emile Hertling Péronard (Ánorâk Film).

On this week’s edition of the Deadline Podcast series, TV Talk,  Deadline’s television critic Dominic Patten and Awards columnist Pete Hammond take on network broadcast tv’s Emmy dilemna. Although the Television Academy heavily relies on fees from the four broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) who share the annual Primetime Emmy telecast on a rotating wheel, it is each of those networks that benefit the least from Emmy attention in the major marquee categories of  Drama, Comedy, Limited Series, and other categories which almost exclusively cater to pay cable networks like HBO or streamers like Netflix, Apple, Hulu, Amazon and others who have simply – and successfully – crashed and taken over bragging rights for TV’s most valued award which when the wheel with rights to telecast the Emmys was originally created, the Primetime Emmys was dominated by nominees and winners from those TV networks. My how times have changed.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar winner Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) has cast Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) to lead her second feature film.

James Bond movie, revealing the story he originally had planned for the 25th instalment of the franchise.The director was set to helm Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 before departing the project due to creative differences with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.Speaking to Esquire UK, the Oscar winner revealed that his proposed story was set in Russia and explored Bond’s origins.“I remember thinking, ‘Should I really get involved in franchises?’ Because they don’t really want something different,” said Boyle.

Zack Sharf Danny Boyle was all set to direct Daniel Craig in his final James Bond movie before exiting the project due to creative differences with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar winner Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball) is set to star in thriller Mother Land for Arrival and Stranger Things outfit 21 Laps. Lionsgate will launch sales on the hot package at next week’s Cannes market.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterIndie film sales, financing, and distribution shop WME Independent has bolstered its ranks with several new hires, Variety has learned exclusively.Division co-heads Deborah McIntosh and Alex Walton announced on Monday the arrival of Julia Harris as senior vice president of business affairs, Melissa Martinez as vice president of marketing, and Victoria Romley as an agent focused on international distribution. All appointments are effective immediately.“Julia, Melissa and Victoria each bring unique perspective to the team, and we’re excited to continue the growth of this team with these hires” said McIntosh and Walton.

clip on Instagram, right before she launches into the joke that utilized the titles of a bunch of Oscar-nominated films.“So my husband was going down on me… or as he calls it, ‘Squid Game,'” she said. “So… he’s in my ‘Nightmare Alley,’ my ‘House of Gucci,’ and I say ‘C’mon C’mon,’ you know?” she continued, name-checking some of the past year’s awards circuit films.

Amy Schumer broke out some more of the jokes she couldn’t say at the Oscars!

Glenn Close is a legendary actress whose career in film and television spans more than four decades. But above all else, she is also a mother. In an interview with Glamour published on 6 May, the award-winning actress reflected on the difficulties of working full-time as a single mother, and society’s standards for women as they age.

Clayton Davis Don’t expect an “Emancipation” for Oscar winner Will Smith in 2022. Originally expected to drop on the fall festival circuit later this year, the actor’s next film from Apple, and co-produced by his production company Westbrook Studios, is planning to delay the film’s release to sometime in 2023.Directed by Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”), the movie would have been the first release for Smith following his assault on comedian Chris Rock during the 94th Oscars.

By The night before I was due to meet Glenn Close, I didn’t sleep well. Call it nerves or fear—there’s nothing like preparing to interview an actor who has been nominated eight times for an Oscar and won as many Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards—but multiple times in the early hours, I woke sweatily to flashes of Glenn Close as Patty Hewes from Damages, Joan Castleman from The Wife, Albert from Albert Nobbs, Olivia Pace from Le Divorce (obscure, but a personal favorite), Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction, and Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmations.

Manori Ravindran International EditorA new documentary about “The Power of the Dog” director Jane Campion has been picked up for sales by WestEnd Films and Cinephil.Directed by César Award-winning “Since Otar Left…” helmer Julie Bertuccelli, “Jane Campion, The Cinema Woman” is screening as part of the Cannes Classics line-up.The New Zealand director was the first woman to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, for “The Piano,” and this year won the best director Oscar for her Netflix western “The Power of the Dog.”  Bertuccelli’s documentary on the 68-year-old filmmaker, which spans 40 years, is described as “the portrait [Campion] deserves, in a film that is unapologetically subjective and offbeat, very much mirroring [Campion’s] own trailblazing journey in cinema and life.” The film is produced by Academy Award nominee Estelle Fialon (“The Gatekeepers,” “Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By”), and crew members include editors Laure Gardette (“Capernaum,” “Polisse”) and Svetlana Vaynblat (“Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By”), as well as César Award-winning sound editor and mixer Olivier Goinard (“Adolescentes,” “Le Chant du Loup”).“Jane Campion, The Cinema Woman” is produced by Les Films du Poisson, which had three films in Cannes in 2021. The outfit recently produced the French remake of Hagai Levi’s “In Treatment,” with showrunners Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, which became French broadcaster ARTE’s most watched broadcast with more than 60 million viewers.Bertuccelli said of her documentary: “Jane is the director for whom I have the most admiration and with whom I feel a genuine connection.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment WriterIt’s not every day that one can write a sentence that reasonably connects the Fox animated series “Bob’s Burgers,” the House of Terror museum of fascist and communist regimes in Hungary, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe — but in 2022, anything is possible.Let’s back up.

Glenn Close has opened up about her friendship with Pete Davidson and how she was “dying” to see him and meet his girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, at this year’s Met Gala. The 75-year-old actor discussed the fashion extravaganza during a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, acknowledging how she had the opportunity to hang out with many friends Monday evening. She noted that she not only got to “dance with Amy Schumer,” but she also sat next to some very famous faces while eating dinner.

Glenn Close wows in a bright blue suit at the premiere of her Apple TV+ series, Tehran, held at The Robin Williams Center on Wednesday (May 4) in New York City.

Glenn Close can now add learning Farsi to her list of accomplishments. ET spoke to Close at the New York premiere of her Apple TV+ series, “Tehran”, Wednesday, where she detailed her return to television and the difficulties she faced learning a brand-new language for her role as CIA agent on the second season of the network’s espionage thriller.

Glenn Close can now add learning Farsi to her list of accomplishments. ET spoke to Close at the New York premiere of her Apple TV+ series, , Wednesday, where she detailed her return to television and the difficulties she faced learning a brand-new language for her role as CIA agent on the second season of the network's espionage thriller.«It was just such a new experience. Everything was new,» Close said of her first TV role since wrapping  in 2012. «Filming in Athens was new.

K.J. Yossman VFX giant Framestore, whose recent projects include “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness,” “Moon Knight” and Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming biopic “Elvis,” is expanding its Canadian footprint.

Manori Ravindran International EditorA John Krasinski-produced movie about a fugitive billionaire has found its director in Peter Landesman.Sources tell Variety that the “Concussion” writer-helmer is on board to direct the long-gestating movie, which is based on Daniel Ammann’s biography “The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich.” The film tells the story of the international commodities trader and founder of Glencore, who was indicted in the U.S. on 65 criminal counts that included tax evasion, wire fraud, racketeering and striking deals for oil with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis.Rich had already fled the U.S.

Glenn Close has a lot of love for Pete Davidson.