Ramin Setoodeh: Celebs Rumors

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorIf Will Smith was feeling any remorse about slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday night, he didn’t show it. The 53-year-old best actor winner, who took home the trophy for his performance in “King Richard,” arrived at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party just after midnight with a large entourage and immediately hit the dance floor.As the DJ played a medley of Smith’s biggest ’90s hits, the actor sang along to “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” and “Miami” as he shimmied in the middle of a mosh pit of his fans at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, swinging his gold statue in the air.Will Smith is at the #VanityFairOscarParty dancing with his Oscar to ‘Gettin Jiggy With It.’ pic.twitter.com/PvKrRICQEN— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) March 28, 2022“It’s all about love,” Smith told Variety, when asked how he was doing.Just hours prior, Smith overshadowed the 94th Academy Awards when he stormed the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorWhen Channing Tatum was promoting his latest movie “Dog,” he got the same question over and over again: Does the title character survive through the end credits?“People were saying I will not see this movie unless I know the dog lives,” Tatum says, laughing. “‘Marley and Me’ scarred everyone so hard.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorMeryl Streep chatted with Venus Williams. Lady Gaga reunited with Bradley Cooper, her co-star from “A Star is Born.” Andrew Garfield and Jamie Dornan fanned out for Cousin Greg (also known as Nicholas Braun) from “Succession.” And Will Smith, as warm as ever, mingled with practically everybody.Yes, it was like old times in Hollywood at the Santa Monica Barker Hangar on Sunday night. The 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards pulled off the first in-person awards ceremony of 2022, moving ahead as if things were normal after other gatherings canceled or went entirely virtual due to the omicron variant.

William Earl Brent Lang has been promoted to Executive Editor of Variety.In his new role, Lang will help guide the venerable showbiz brand’s editorial operations across digital and print platforms. He will continue to oversee Variety’s film, media and theater coverage, and he serves as leader of the New York bureau. “There’s an infinite number of words I would use to describe Brent Lang and my admiration for his breadth of genius, talent and skills as a journalist,” said Claudia Eller, Variety Editor-in-Chief. “He is also one of the most trustworthy, thoughtful and collegial people I’ve ever worked with and it’s a joy to watch him continue to flourish.”Lang most recently served as Executive Editor of Film and Media and New York Bureau Chief.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorChanning Tatum and his producing partner Reid Carolin aren’t just the brains — and brawn — behind “Magic Mike.” They’ve built up their company Free Association into a place to go for innovative storytelling, including the road trip movie “Dog” (which opens on Feb. 18), which they co-directed; the Starz TV series “Step Up: Highwater”; and the thriller “Pussy Island,” which will be Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut.“I think it’s a good partnership,” says Steven Soderbergh, who is directing “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” which Tatum will star in and Carolin wrote. “I think they have a shared sense of people and how the world works.”Tatum and Carolin speak to Variety about Free Association.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorAfter two movies, Channing Tatum thought he was done playing Magic Mike. But he’ll take one more swing around the stripper’s pole in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” which begins shooting in London in March.In this week’s issue of Variety, Tatum talks about taking a four-year hiatus from acting to produce TV shows and movies with Free Association, the company that he launched in 2014 with his producing partner Reid Carolin. One of the company’s most anticipated projects is “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” the third and (supposedly) final movie in the franchise that was inspired by Tatum’s days as an exotic dancer.The film, which will be directed by Steven Soderbergh from a script written by Carolin, will premiere on HBO Max.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorIn this week’s Variety cover story, Channing Tatum talks about the road to co-directing his first movie, “Dog,” with his longtime producer partner Reid Carolin.But before he came up with the idea for the MGM indie (which opens on Feb. 18), Tatum and Carolin spent four years developing “Gambit,” a raunchy stand-alone movie based on the “X-Men” mutant.The superhero project was set up at Twentieth Century Fox in 2016, and Tatum and Carolin had lobbied to share the director’s chair. “The studio really didn’t want us to direct it,” Tatum says.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorThe New York Film Critics Circle will begin announcing its winners on Friday morning, as one of the early critics groups to weigh in on awards season. The organization is made up of about 50 critics and journalists based in the East Coast, from publications that that include Time, Vanity Fair and Variety.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorAfter 42 shows and nearly three months, for the final song of his continent-spanning “Love on Tour” tour, Harry Styles wanted just a little bit more.“This is the last song of the entire tour,” Style said, raising his arms in the air, as he cut into the sexually provocative lyrics of the banger “Kiwi” at the new UBS Arena just outside New York City. “I’m going to need a little bit more.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorJoe Manganiello proved that he could change shapes as the werewolf Alcide on HBO’s “True Blood,” and since the hit series wrapped in 2014, he’s starred in films like “Magic Mike XXL” and “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.”He’s also managed to live a childhood dream by becoming a consultant and designer for some of his favorite fantasy properties, working with Hasbro and Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, he’s been a lifelong fan of D&D — the tabletop roleplaying game that originated in the ’70s, and continues to be a phenomenon, with its own movie, TV series, video games, action figures and clothing line.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorThe Swifties have spoken. If they had their way, “All Too Well: The Short Film” would sweep the Oscars and Grammys too.Before the 10-minute film is released later tonight, Swift attended a premiere of the project — which she wrote and directed — on Friday afternoon at the AMC Lincoln Square 13 (which has the same number of screens as her favorite number) in New York City.

William Earl Variety took home three Eddie & Ozzie Awards on Thursday night. The journalism prizes are awarded by Folio for editorial and design excellence, and they were handed out at a dinner gala in downtown New York.The magazine won best full issue for lifestyle of entertainment with its Gamechangers cover story, which chose the 50 people — from Louis Armstrong to Kathryn Bigelow — who changed the face of Hollywood.

The power this has! Angelina Jolie and daughter Zahara, 16, met poet Amanda Gorman at Variety’s Power of Women dinner in Beverly Hills on September 30. The trio were captured exchanging niceties before posing for a photograph together in a video shared by the outlet’s executive editor Ramin Setoodeh on Twitter on Thursday.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorThe Venice crowd at the Sala Grande theater could not take their eyes off Anya Taylor-Joy during Edgar Wright’s trippy psychological thriller “Last Night in Soho.”But when the movie ended just after midnight on Saturday and the spotlight shone on the cast to receive applause from the festival attendees, as is tradition, Taylor-Joy was nowhere to be found.Had she left her own movie?Director Edgar Wright and Matt Smith applauded along with the crowd — as confusion set into the auditorium. After about a minute, Taylor-Joy (dressed in a pink Dior Haute Couture gown with a matching beret) swung open the doors to the theater’s balcony and quickly returned to her seat, to a swarm of loud applause.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorKristen Stewart as Princess Diana? You better believe it.Judging by the rapturous response at the premiere of “Spencer” at the Venice Film Festival on Friday afternoon, the 31-year-old actor has pulled off one of the most dazzling onscreen transformations of the year.As the closing credits of the dramatic film, which bills itself as a “fable” based on true events, the Venice crowd hooted and cheering, showering Stewart with a three-minute standing ovation.Stewart looked teary-eyed at the end of the film, as she hugged director Pablo Larraín (who also directed “Jackie,” starting Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy following the assassination of JFK).In “Spencer,” Stewart plays Diana over the course of three days

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorDirector Denis Villeneuve hopes that audiences will watch “Dune” in movie theaters.“At the end of the day these are difficult times for everybody safety first, if the audience feels comfortable I encourage them to watch it on the big screen,” Villeneuve said at a press conference on Friday at the Venice Film Festival.In December, Warner Bros. — the studio that is releasing “Dune” — announced that its entire movie slate for 2021 would premiere both in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day, as a result of COVID-19 shuttering movie theaters.But Villeneuve wants audiences around the world to make their way to a movie theater, even if “Dune” is available to screen in their homes.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorIn recent years, the Venice Film Festival has become a launching pad for the Oscars, particularly as the Academy has added more international members to its voting body.On Thursday afternoon in Italy, Netflix scored a four-minute standing ovation for what could be one of its stronger awards contenders this year, Jane Campion’s period drama “The Power of the Dog.”As the crowd inside the Sala Grande cheered, Campion embraced stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst in a group hug.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorJane Campion, only the second woman to ever been nominated for an Oscar for directing, has been encouraged by the efforts she’s seen to get more women in the director’s chair.“All I can say is since the #MeToo movement happened, I feel a change in the weather that’s substantial,” Campion said on Thursday morning at a press conference at the 78th annual Venice Film Festival.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorSome critics were giving Venice bad reviews on the second day of this year’s film festival — but it had nothing to do with the quality of the movies.Long security lines operated by Italian police officers to get into the press screenings of two movies, Netflix’s “The Hand of God” and Focus Features’ “The Card Counter,” meant that some journalists weren’t able to make it inside their seats before the opening credits rolled.At the 8:30 a.m. showing of Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” on Thursday morning, the security line was so long, dozens of critics missed the beginning of the movie.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorAt the Venice Film Festival, the masks stay on, even during the standing ovation.At least that became protocol during the festival’s opening night movie, “Parallel Mothers,” on Wednesday night in Italy.Director Pedro Almodóvar and his muse Penelope Cruz didn’t so much as touch their face coverings during an enthusiastic five-minute standing ovation at the historic Sala Grande for the Spanish film.As soon as the credits rolled, Cruz leaned over and clutched Almodóvar’s arm in a gesture of affection.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorPenelope Cruz first fell in love with director Pedro Almodovar at the age of 16, when she snuck in — then too young to see an R-rated film — to watch 1989’s “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!”Since then, they’ve worked together on seven projects, and she’s served as his muse in everything from 1997’s “Live Flesh” to 1999’s “All About My Mother” and 2006’s “Volver.”Their latest project, “Parallel Mothers” premieres as the opening night movie at the 78th annual Venice Film Festival on Wednesday. Before the film’s gala, Cruz and Almodovar appeared at a press conference together at the Palazzo Del Casino, where they talked about their 24-year working relationship.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorCOVID-19 can’t kill the movies. That was the message from Venice Film Festival jury president Bong Joon Ho at a press conference on Wednesday morning in Italy to kick off the 78th annual festivities on the Lido.The Oscar-winning director of “Parasite” acknowledged that the pandemic had hurt filmmakers by shuttering movie theaters around the world.“But in a way looking back on it, it feels like this was a test and It showed the life force of cinema,” Bong said.He added: “As a filmmaker, I don’t believe that the history of cinema and cinema could be stopped so easily.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorLil Nas X has already shown his acting chops in music videos for “Montero (Call My By Your Name)” and “Industry Baby.”  In this week’s cover story for Variety‘s Young Hollywood issue, the 22-year-old hip-hop star reveals that he plans to one day follow in the footsteps of artists such as Lady Gaga and Beyoncé by starring in movies.“Absolutely, that’s going to happen for sure,” Nas says.When asked what kind of acting he envisions for himself, Nas explains: “Honestly, I want to dabble around in a lot of things like I do in music,” he says, before listing of some well-known films in different genres. “‘A Star is Born.’ Let’s also do a ‘Grown Ups 2.’ Let’s do an ‘Obsessed’ with Beyoncé.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorSharon Stone wasn’t getting the bids that she wanted.Around midnight on Friday night in France, after a dazzling fashion show on the lawn of a mansion in Antibes, the actor-turned-emcee was auctioning off 32 one-of-a-kind gowns by designers such as Versace, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy and Balenciaga at the amfAR Cannes gala.Joined onstage by the 32 models who’d walked a makeshift runway — which was so slippery, two of them had tripped — Stone was ready to pocket a big check for the non-profit devoted to fighting HIV/AIDS.But the money didn’t flow as freely as the bottles of champagne that amfAR waiters poured over a five-hour dinner for a crowd of about 400 European high rollers, business titans and

Regina King is attending the Cannes Film Festival, where she spoke at the Kering Women in Motion Talk.

Manori Ravindran International EditorWhen Regina King was asked to take part in this year’s Oscars as a presenter, the “One Night in Miami” director had no idea what she was in for, and found out just 24 hours before the ceremony that she would in fact be opening the whole show with a “country mile” jaunt into the building.In a Kering Women in Motion talk in Cannes on Friday, King revealed the last-minute nature of her iconic entrance to Variety executive editor Ramin Setoodeh.“I knew I was presenting and the category, and then they said the category would be up first.

“Aline” is shaping up to be a hit.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorSean Baker’s “Red Rocket” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday afternoon to another standing ovation, as one of the stronger U.S. films to debut in the South of France.The drama, which will be distributed in the United States by A24, received five minutes of sustained applause inside the Palais.“It’s amazing to be here at the Cannes Film Festival, especially this year, in which we’re seeing cinema come back,” Baker said in brief remarks to the crowd.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorCeline Dion did not make the trip to 74thCannes Film Festival for the premiere of “Aline,” a French musical drama inspired by the life of the Quebecois superstar.But if she’d attended the premiere on Tuesday night in the South of France, it’s hard to know if she’d be flattered or horrified. The most likely answer? Probably both.“Aline” is directed and stars comedian Valerie Lemercier (think of her as the Kristen Wiig or Ana Gasteyer of France) in the title role, a musical sensation known as Aline Dieu.But “Aline” is more of an homage — with traces of a Lifetime movie — than a roman a clef.

Pranks are always a little more fun with an audience, aren’t they? While Timothée Chalamet, 25, received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival in France on Monday July 12, Tilda Swinton, 60, decided to slap the name tag from her seat onto her French Dispatch co-star’s back. She also slyly turned his back to the camera for the whole auditorium to see. At least it wasn’t a “Kick Me” sign!

Tilda Swinton showed off her cheeky sense of humour during the premiere of “The French Dispatch” on Monday, July 12. 

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorRacy sex in a convent? Explicit dreams about Jesus Christ? A coming-of-age lesbian love story? Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” featured all that and more, leaving its premiere audience at the Cannes Film Festival searching for words to describe the movie they’d just seen.But in the end, the French approved. The period drama screened on Friday night at the 74th annual Cannes, where it was showered with a robust five-minute standing ovation.The foreign-language movie — loosely adapted from the book “Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy” — stars Belgian actress Virginie Efira as Benedetta Carlini, a 1800s French nun who believes she is possessed by Jesus Christ.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorThe Cannes Film Festival isn’t known for launching sequels. But on Thursday morning, Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part II” held its first screening as part of the Directors’ Fortnight lineup.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorSpike Lee is making history at Cannes Film Festival. The Oscar-winning director is the first Black president of the jury, where he’ll head the nine artists and actors — including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tahar Rahim and Song Kang-ho — tasked with voting on the prestigious Palm d’Or.“Cannes is the world’s greatest film festival,” Lee said on Tuesday afternoon in the South of France.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorOn Monday afternoon, Olivia Wilson had arrived from her home in Tennessee to the Cannes Film Festival, where she’ll be working as an intern at the American Pavilion. But before she got to enjoy the flashiest film festival in the world, she had to spit over and over again in a plastic tube to make sure she didn’t have COVID-19.In Cannes, the saliva test will be the preferred method of checking for COVID by Biogroup, the laboratory hired to fight the spread of the virus that has killed 4 million people around the world.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorAnya Taylor-Joy didn’t hold anything back from “The Queen’s Gambit.” In an interview for Variety‘s Actors on Actors TV issue, the 25-year-old actor said she committed everything she had to portraying Beth Harmon, the 1950s chess champion in the Netflix limited series. In a conversation with her “Emma” co-star (and “The Crown” actor) Josh O’Connor, Taylor-Joy revealed she even let Beth keep some of her own mannerisms.“I’ve never given so much of myself to a character before,” Taylor-Joy says.