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Exclusive: Lucy Punch (Amandaland) has been cast as a series regular in AMC and AMC+’s untitled Jonathan Glatzer Silicon Valley drama headlined by Billy Magnussen. Also added as a series regular is Everett Blunck.

The series, produced by AMC Studios, is set within the delusion bubble of Silicon Valley. The story follows an ethically compromised tech CEO (Magnussen) who is outrunning reputational damage as he tries to rescue his company from the brink of failure by any means necessary. Dragged into his chaos are his family, his kid’s elite prep school, an assortment of Sv power players and his psychiatrist (Sarah Goldberg).

Punch will play tech CEO’s wife who is having a retaliatory affair after her own husband’s infidelity. Blunck will play a high school student who moves to Silicon Valley to stay with his mom and stepdad.

In addition to Magnussen and Goldberg, they join fellow series regulars Meaghan Rath,...

Gold Derby’s top news stories for Jan. 29, 2025 Lady Gaga opens up about Joker: Folie à Deux bombing

While promoting her newest album Mayhem, which drops on March 7, Lady Gaga spoke with Elle about Joker: Folie à Deux being a flop at the box office and with critics. “People just sometimes don’t like some things,” she said. “It’s that simple. And I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it. And you keep going even if something didn’t connect in the way that you intended.” Speaking about her fear of failure, she added, “When that makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of. It’s part of the mayhem.” While the Joker sequel was snubbed at the Oscars, it did pick up a leading six Razzie Award nominations. But, don’t forget:...

Annette Bening is set to star alongside Anya Taylor-Joy in the upcoming Apple TV+ limited series “Lucky,” Variety has learned.

It was announced that Taylor-Joy would star in the series back in December. It is based on the novel of the same name by Marissa Stapley. The book was a New York Times bestseller and a selection for Reese Witherspoon’s Reese’s Book Club.

Per the official description, Taylor-Joy stars as “a young woman who left behind the life of crime she was raised in years ago, but must now embrace her darker, criminal side one final time in a desperate attempt to escape her past.”

Bening will appear in the role of Priscilla. This marks the second major TV role she has lined up in the past few years, with Bening having recently starred in the Peacock drama “Apples Never Fall.” That show was based on the book...

The best Annette Bening movies and TV shows prove that she is one of the top actresses in Hollywood history. However, she also has one disappointing fact about her career. She is one of the few actors to ever earn nominations at the Oscars, Emmys, and Tonys, yet never walk away with a single win. Bening got her start working in theater for a Shakespeare company in the 1980s and then finally moved into movies right as the decade was coming to an end.

Bening earned her first Tony nomination before she made her name in movies and TV shows, but when she took on the role of con artist Myra Langtry in The Grifters, she picked up her first Oscar nod, and her film career was officially rolling. Bening went on to earn Oscar nominations four more times, with roles in American Beauty, Being Julia, The Kids Are All Right,...

The new TV shows and movies arriving on Netflix in October 2024 see the streaming platform offering a plethora of titles across a diverse range of genres. Netflix emerged as one of the first major streaming services, helping to reshape how people watch content. From there, their library grew to include Netflix Original programming as well as many licensed movies and TV shows. With an already extensive library of content, Netflix is adding new titles each month with some highly-anticipated new additions in October 2024.

September 2024 was a big month for Netflix, marked by some talked-about original content. The Perfect Couple emerged as the latest engrossing murder mystery series while the thriller Rebel Ridge became a surprise hit for Netflix. October 2024 is another exciting month for Netflix users, with a number of popular shows returning with new seasons, like Outer Banks, Heartstopper, and The Diplomat, providing a wide variety of viewing options for Netflix users.

Fall is here, which means it’s time to bundle up on your couch and stream the weekend away. Let’s get into it: There’s plenty to enjoy in October on Netflix, from a new Ali Wong special to new seasons of shows like “Love Is Blind” and “Unsolved Mysteries.” The real unsolved mystery is how it feels like there is more “Love Is Blind” dropping every month, but I digress.

October also brings with it the chance to watch Season 1 of “Yellowjackets” (a Showtime hit) for the first time on the Netflix platform, as well as more “Outer Banks” and “The Lincoln Lawyer.” The best bet, however, is the return of Keri Russell.

Top Pick: “The Diplomat” Season 2

Russell returns as U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Kate Wyler in this “The Americans” meets “Homeland” Emmy-nominated hit. Season 1 ended with a massive cliffhanger, so the six-episode Season...

Spain’s Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival will fete Annette Bening with its Icon Award at this year’s edition, which runs from October 30 to November 5.

The award will be presented at the festival’s opening ceremony on October 30. Bening will attend the ceremony. As part of the festivities, she will also introduce and discuss a special screening of Stephen Frear’s The Grifters, for which Bening received her first of five Academy Award nominations in 1990.

Bening’s previous honors include a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards. Some of her credits include Bugsy (1991) with husband Warren Beatty, American Beauty (1999), and Being Julia (2004), which won her the Golden Globe for Best Actress, with additional Oscar nominations to follow for her leading roles in The Kids Are All Right (2010) and most recently, as swimmer Diana Nyad in the Netflix biographical film.

On stage, Bening was last seen...

Twenty years ago this month, the fairy tale-like romantic comedy “13 Going on 30” starring Jennifer Garner made its way into cinemas. The actress played Jenna Rink, a socially awkward soon-to-be 13-year-old who quickly realizes that she “hates being 13.” She makes a birthday wish to be “thirty, flirty and thriving.” With the little help of some wishing dust, she wakes up the next morning to discover that her wish has come true.

It was a defining moment in Garner’s early career. Her role as Sydney Bristow in the television action thriller series “Alias” had made her a breakout star (including at awards shows) just a few years earlier. She won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Actress in 2002 and had competed again in 2003 and earlier in 2004. She had also been nominated for two Emmy Awards one Screen Actors Guild trophy.

While Garner already had a number of film credits on her resume,...

From the enchanting halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to the thrilling battles against the dark forces of Voldemort, J.K. Rowling’s masterpiece Harry Potter series has been alluring people irrespective of age limit. While children discover the wizard world on their first touch, adults love to revisit the characters and become nostalgic.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

Meanwhile, Miriam Margolyes, who starred as Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Pt 2 has recently upset the adult fans.

Suggested“We didn’t need her anyway”: Fans Slam Harry Potter Actress for Humiliating $9.5B Franchise, Saying It’s No ‘Charles Dickens’

Margolyes said in two interviews that she is worried about Harry Potter fans. She reaffirmed that it is for children only.

Miriam Margolyes Worries about Adult Harry Potter Fans

Miriam Margolyes, the 82-year-old actress,...

Australian actress Miriam Margolyes who portrayed Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series (2002-2011) decided to annihilate the adult fans of the franchise. In one of her recent interviews, Margolyes claimed that Harry Potter is “for children” and adult fans should get over it, now. For a lot of people between the ages of 25 and 35, the franchise played a key role in shaping their childhood. So obviously, the Harry Potter films are still comfort films for a large part of the generation.

Miriam Margolyes as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter franchise

The Harry Potter film series is undoubtedly one of the most popular film franchises of all time and Margolyes has admitted that getting a role in the franchise was a golden opportunity that she is grateful for. The 82-year-old actress has won several prestigious awards, including a British Academy Film Award for her work in The Age of Innocence...

Actress Emma Stone has made waves this year with her Oscar-nominated performance in the dark comedy Poor Things. The actress was universally lauded for her performance as Bella Baxter in the period comedy which also starred Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, and Ramy Youssef. The film was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who collaborated with Stone again after The Favorite.

Emma Stone has been nominated thrice before, winning Best Actress once for La La Land. This time, Stone shares the nominations with actresses such as Lily Gladstone, Sandra Huller, Carey Mulligan, and Annette Bening. Despite her worldwide stardom, the Easy A star is reportedly not the richest actress in the nominations. That post reportedly goes to veteran actress Annette Bening, who is nominated for her role in Nyad.

Emma Stone Is Not The Richest Actress In This Year’s Best Actress Oscar Nominees Emma Stone in Poor Things

Emma Stone has been...

By delivering performances that averaged out to 98 minutes in length, the five women who competed for the 2023 Best Actress Oscar achieved the category’s all-time highest screen time mean, shattering a record that had stood for over half a century. They will continue to hold that distinction until at least 2025, as the present lineup’s average falls below those of the last two groups. What’s more, this is the first year since 2020 that the lead actress contenders have less collective screen time than their male counterparts.

The 2024 Best Actress nominees have an average screen time of one hour, 14 minutes, and 33 seconds, or 52.18% of their respective films. Exactly 23 minutes and 24 seconds and 16.70 percentage points separate them from last year’s record-breaking group. In terms of actual time, their average is the 12th highest in the category’s 96-year history, while their percentage mean is the 32nd lowest.

The last 10 recipients...

Annette Bening really should have gotten an Oscar by now, shouldn’t she? A consummate professional, Bening has been a star since 1990, when she received a Supporting Actress nod for her turn as a sexed-up con artist in “The Grifters.” Since then, she’s been a constant welcome presence on film, an actor that can be relied upon to give a charismatic, layered, and smartly calibrated performance. But, for one reason or another, she’s never quite taken home the gold.

Now on her fifth overall nomination and fourth Best Actress nod, Bening doesn’t seem overall likely to change that this year. She’s not a top competitor for her role in “Nyad,” in which she plays the eponymous long-distance swimmer with a penchant for self-mythologizing. Bening is one of the categories longshot competitors, as the likes of Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone are widely seen as frontrunners for the overall prize.

Exclusive: Annette Bening, who just received her fifth Oscar nomination last week for her portrayal of champion swimmer Diana Nyad in Nyad, has been named as the inaugural recipient of the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s Arlington Award.

The Arlington represents the first new award the festival has created in more than two decades and is named for the historic venue where all the fest’s annual tributes timed to Oscar season take place. It will be presented on Friday, February 16, 2024 at the theater, preceded by an in-person conversation I will be moderating covering her entire career.

“This is the first award added to our slate in 20 years. It is made to honor an artist who is greatly admired and who has demonstrated an incomparable commitment to film and its craft. Ms. Bening has not only displayed all of those qualities, but is considered by us to be a friend of the film festival.

Annette Bening, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, is one of the most talented and admired actresses of her generation. Vanity Fair has called her “a leading lady from the old school,” who “epitomizes the wit and glamour of modern Hollywood.” The Los Angeles Times has said she “brings to mind such Golden Age actresses as Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert and Barbara Stanwyck — sassy, ready-for-anything heroines a half-step ahead of their man.”

Over the course of some 35 years in the business, Bening has given standout performances in films like 1990’s The Grifters, 1991’s Bugsy, 1995’s The American President, 1999’s American Beauty, 2004’s Being Julia, 2010’s The Kids Are All Right, 2016’s 20th Century Women and 2017’s Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. Most recently, she starred in 2023’s Nyad, in which she portrays Diana Nyad, a woman who spent years of her...

Annette Bening is an actor’s actor. Like many of the greats before her, she began her career in the theatre. Through the 80s, she quietly compiled a library of rich, complex characters before making her Tony-nominated broadway debut in 1987’s “Coastal Disturbances.”

Bening then made her well deserved transition over to Hollywood with John Hughes’ “The Great Outdoors.” The film didn’t perform as well as hoped, nor did Milos Forman’s “Valmont” which was released the following year, but they both paved the way for Bening’s eventual Oscar-nominated breakout as Myra Langtry in Stephen Frears’ “The Grifters.”

She got particularly close to Oscar gold with “American Beauty” in 2000. Annette bagged the BAFTA and SAG award for her iconic portrayal of the colourfully volatile wife-in-crisis, Carolyn Burnham. She lost to Hilary Swank (“Boys Don’t Cry”) though, who had edged her out at the Globes.

Swank clearly was Bening’s kryptonite,...

Exclusive: Annette Bening is joining Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein lore feature at Warner Bros; the studio making it official that this is a go-project. Cameras roll in Q1. This package with its attachments has been out there since it was at Netflix, and the deals have finally closed with everyone. Jessie Buckley is the star of the movie which follows Frankenstein’s pursuit of love.

There’s already been word out there about the cast, including Buckley, and it’s a murderers’ row with Christian Bale, Penélope Cruz, and Peter Sarsgaard. Bale and Buckley have been circling this project well before the strikes.

Logline: A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the...

Through its six-season run, classic HBO drama The Sopranos featured several unexpected cameos from real life celebrities. These included: director Jon Favreau, actor Ben Kingsley, and most hilariously: New York Jets head coach Eric “Man-genius” Mangini.

Of all the celebrity cameos on The Sopranos, however, none hit quite as hard as actress Annette Bening’s brief appearance in the season 5 episode “The Test Dream.” Bening, who is one of the most accomplished performers of her era, kindly stopped by to film a couple of scenes for the 20-minute dream sequence that Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) experiences for much of the episode’s runtime. It’s such a bold, out of left field casting decision that even nearly 20 years later it still stands out.

Bening talked about filming the episode with The Daily Beast in 2020, saying:

“I received the episode out of nowhere, and read it, and thought, ‘Wow—this is fantastic,...

Glenn Close delivered a killer Golden Globes acceptance speech in 2019 when she pulled off an upset in Best Drama Actress by winning for “The Wife.” Lady Gaga was the frontrunner for her performance in “A Star is Born” but it was Close who took to the stage.

We could be in for a similar situation this year as Annette Bening looks to claim a career win of her own. The frontrunner for Best Drama Actress is Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”). Also nominated are Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”), Greta Lee (“Past Lives”), and Cailee Spaeny (“Priscilla”). Bening’s path to a Golden Globe victory isn’t just merited by her veteran status, however. She also has the backing of the critics.

Richard Lawson (Vanity Fair) opined: “Nyad is played by Annette Bening, who trained for a year to ready herself for the physical demands of the role.

When Annette Bening likes a project, she jumps in. That’s what happened with Netflix’s festival hit “Nyad,” based on the story of 60-ish cranky competitive swimmer Diana Nyad and her refusal to abandon her dream. When she signed on to star in Nyad’s story of swimming 110 miles in open ocean from Cuba to Florida, Bening wasn’t thinking about the details of what playing the title character would entail. She just wanted to play the part.

Over the course of her three-decade career, which has yielded four Oscar nominations, Bening’s dramatic and comedic roles have run the gamut from con artist, Machiavellian schemer, and gangster’s moll to angsty suburban housewife. But she’s never been identified as a physically athletic actress.

“I’ve always been an athletic person in my personal life,” she said over Zoom. “I’m an exercise person since I was 20.” In “Open Range,...

Annette Bening, who recently starred in Netflix’s biopic “Nyad,” will receive a special Golden Medallion tribute award from the Telluride Film Festival on Jan. 6, 2024. Meg Ryan will present the award to her at Netflix’s Tudum Theater in Los Angeles. The event will also feature a conversation focused on her career trajectory, which Bening’s “Nyad” co-star Jodie Foster will moderate.

Due to the actors strike, Bening was unable to accept the honor at the Telluride Film Festival in September, marking the first time Telluride has presented an honor outside of the dates of the festival. Previous Golden Medallion recipients include Cate Blanchett, Anthony Hopkins and Kate Winslet.

Bening was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for portraying Diana Nyad. She has also received Oscar nominations for “The Grifters,” “American Beauty,” “Being Julia” and “The Kids Are All Right.”

Charles D. King to Receive Milestone Award at 2024 Producers Guild...

Almost every year, there is at least one performer who finally takes home that elusive Oscar. In 2022, Jessica Chastain won for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” after two prior nominations, and, in 2020, Joaquin Phoenix prevailed for “Joker” after three previous bids. Expect this year to be no different — we have a whole crew searching for their first Oscar wins after years of nominations, near-misses, or just plain being snubbed. Here are a so far unlucky seven contenders who could break that curse this year and win long overdue Oscars. (We’ve updated this post to include Ryan Gosling after his absence was pointed out by several readers.)

Annette Bening — “Nyad” (Netflix)

Dir: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin

Co-Starring: Jodie Foster, Rhys Ifans

Release Date: October 20 in theaters, November 3 on Netflix

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

“64-year-old marathon swimmer, Diana Nyad, attempts to become the first person ever to swim from Cuba to Florida.

Graphic: Images: IMDBAmerican Beauty (1999)

A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter’s best friend.

Rating: 8.3/10

Stars: Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham), Annette Bening (Carolyn Burnham), Thora Birch (Jane Burnham), Wes Bentley (Ricky Fitts)

20th Century Women (2017)

The story of a teenage boy, his mother,...

Netflix’s “Nyad” tells the remarkable true story of swimmer Diana Nyad and her quest to swim from Cuba to Florida while in her sixties. Annette Bening stars in the titular role while Jodie Foster turns in a key supporting performance as Nyad’s coach, Bonnie Stoll. “Nyad,” which is out in US theaters on Oct. 20 before heading to Netflix on November 2, could well earn Bening a fifth Oscar nomination for her title role as the impressive swimmer. But, before that, let’s take a look back at Bening’s four Oscar races to date.

Bening first found herself on the academy’s radar in 1991 for her role in “The Grifters,” Stephen Frears‘ crime thriller about a conman (John Cusack) who finds himself torn between his mother (Anjelica Huston) and girlfriend (Bening), both of whom are con-artists themselves. Bening had something of a rocky road on the way to the...

In “Nyad,” the titular character is entitled, mean, self-centered and treats people around her terribly… and she’s our hero? Supporting actors Jodie Foster and Rhys Ifans manage to keep the film moving along, but the main subject, played passionately by Annette Bening, is one who is difficult to connect with and root for in this modern take on a sports drama.

A still Oscar-less Bening could be a possibility for traction in the best actress race – at least, Netflix hopes so. With four career nominations to Bening’s name, the streamer believes the fifth time could be the charm with her turn as a marathon swimmer who achieves the impossible in the drama.

Premiering at the Telluride Film Festival one day shy of the 10-year anniversary of Nyad’s famous distance swim from Cuba to Florida without the assistance of a shark cage, the film was introduced by co-directors...

Annette Bening was center stage in 2004 at the Toronto International Film Festival when Being Julia, directed by Istvan Szabo, served as the opening night film. “We are thrilled to open this year’s festival with Being Julia,” Piers Handling, the TIFF Group’s then CEO and director, said. “Annette Bening gives an award-worthy performance surrounded by tremendous Canadian and international talent.” And, in fact, Bening went on to receive the third of her four Oscar nominations for her performance as a middle-aged London stage actress who discovers a new lease on life when her husband (Jeremy Irons) introduces her to a young actor (Shaun Evans) with whom she begins an affair.

“We love our movie. We’re hopelessly partial to it,” the actress enthused to Hello! Magazine on the red carpet. “It’s something that I worked very hard on and I really care very deeply about it.” Accompanying her was her husband,...

The married filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi made their names with docs about extreme athletic accomplishments — see 2015’s Meru, 2018’s Free Solo (for which they won the best documentary feature Oscar) and 2021’s The Rescue — and have now made their narrative directorial debut, Nyad, about one woman’s decades-long pursuit of one of the greatest of all: becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the benefit of a moving cage to keep away sharks, jellyfish and other dangerous sea creatures.

As with, say, Argo, Sully or, well, The Rescue, I suspect that most people will know, going in to Nyad, how it ends. Spoiler alert: Nyad realized her dream, some 35 years after she first tried to, at the age of 64. But I suspect that most will not know, going in, just how many personal and professional obstacles Nyad had to overcome in order to do so.

As of this writing, based on the combined Oscar predictions of Gold Derby users, Fantasia Barrino is the front-runner to win Best Actress with 9/2 odds for playing Celie in “The Color Purple.” Currently in seventh place with 11/1 odds is Annette Bening for “Nyad.” Bening is long overdue for her first win. So could this be similar to 1985 when another overdue veteran beat an actress playing Celie in “The Color Purple?”

In “The Color Purple,” Barrino plays Celie Harris Johnson, an African-American woman struggling to live in the South during the early 1900s. In “Nyad,” Bening plays Diana Nyad, a real-life swimmer who, at age 60 and with the help of her best friend and coach (Jodie Foster), commits to achieving her life-long dream: a 110-mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida.

SEEOscar predictions: Fantasia Barrino (‘The Color Purple’) is the early favorite for historic Best Actress victory

During the 1985 season...

While Oscar voters love nominating performers for portraying real-life people in biopics, it turns out that to win Best Actress it is better to play a fictional character. Over the past decade 29 of the 50 nominations have been for original turns, with a whopping seven of those winning. Here’s the complete breakdown.

As you can see four out of five contenders last year were actresses playing fictional people. The one exception was Ana de Armas, who was nominated for portraying Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde.” The last time all five nominations went to actresses playing fictional people was back in 2011 when Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”), Annette Bening (“The Kids Are All Right”), Nicole Kidman (“Rabbit Hole”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone”), and Williams (“Blue Valentine”) were all nominated, with Portman winning.

However, that could happen again this year as our current predicted nominees for Best Actress are Fantasia Barrino (“The Color Purple...

Every year, there are one or two performers who finally land the Oscar wins that they have been long overdue. Last year, Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis both won for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” after years of never quite getting the attention they deserved. In 2022, Jessica Chastain won for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” after two prior nominations, and, in 2020, Joaquin Phoenix won for “Joker” after three previous bids. Expect this year to be no different — we have a whole crew of actors all searching for their first Oscar wins after years of nominations, near-misses, or just plain being snubbed. Here are eight actors who could break that curse this year.

Annette Bening — “Nyad” (Netflix)

Dir: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin

Co-Starring: Jodie Foster, Rhys Ifans

Release Date: October 20 in theaters, November 3 on Netflix

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

“64-year-old marathon swimmer, Diana Nyad, attempts to become the first...

TheLifetimeAchievement Award of the twentiethSoundTrack_Cologne 2023goes to Mychael Danna.

Danna is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning film composer who has composed over 80 film scores and is recognized for his blending of non-western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. He composed the transculturally inspired, 2013 Oscar and Golden Globe winning film score for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi. Danna also composed the scores for Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm and Ride With the Devil.

Other well-known films Danna has composed music for include Academy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated films such as The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica and Ararat from his longtime collaboration with director Atom Egoyan; also Moneyball and Capote with director Bennett Miller, Monsoon Wedding, Little Miss Sunshine, Being Julia, Stillwater, The Addams Family 1 and 2, Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur and The Song of the Crayfish.

Danna won an Emmy Award for outstanding music composition for the mini-series World Without End.

Four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening will star in Peacock’s upcoming limited drama series “Apples Never Fall,” based on “Big Little Lies” and “Nine Perfect Strangers” author Liane Moriarty’s No. 1 New York Times bestselling novel.

The role marks “The Kids Are All Right” actress’ first TV project in nearly 20 years, since she starred in HBO’s “Mrs. Harris” (2005), which garnered her an Emmy nomination in the miniseries or movie category.

Also Read:

‘The Palace': Kate Winslet Glowers in First Look at Stephen Frears’ HBO Limited Series (Photo)

“Apples Never Fall” hails from writer, showrunner and executive producer Melanie Marnich (“The Oa”) and Oscar-nominated EP David Heyman (“Gravity”). Chris Sweeney (“The Tourist”) is set to direct multiple episodes, including the pilot.

Bening will portray Joy Delaney, a former tennis coach who shares four adult children with her husband. The series centers on their family, who appears to be enviably content by all measure.

Annette Bening has signed on to star in the upcoming Peacock limited series “Apples Never Fall,” based on the Liane Moriarty novel of the same name.

Variety exclusively reported that “Apples Never Fall” had been ordered to series at the streamer back in February 2022.

Per the official logline, the series “centers on the Delaneys, who from the outside appear to be an enviably contented family. Former tennis coaches Joy (Bening) and Stan are parents to four adult children. After decades of marriage, they have finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. But after Joy disappears, her children are forced to re-examine their parents’ marriage and their family history with fresh eyes.”

The role will mark one of the few episodic TV roles Bening has had. Aside from some guest appearances early in her storied career, her biggest...

Exclusive: Sheila McCarthy, who can currently be seen in Sarah Polley’s Oscar-nominated film Women Talking, has signed with Atlas Artists for management.

McCarthy appears opposite Frances McDormand, Claire Foy, Judith Ivey, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, and Ben Whishaw in Women Talking, nominated for two Oscar nominations including Best Picture. For her role as Greta, McCarthy was awarded the Career Achievement Award at the 2022 Denver Film Festival and shares in the Film Independent Spirit Awards’ Robert Altman Award, given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.

Over a four-decade career, the Toronto-born McCarthy is a two-time Canadian Screen Award winner for I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing and Lotus Eaters. She also received two Canadian Television Awards for Sesame Street and Emily Of New Moon, among other honors.

McCarthy recently wrapped her first short film in the director’s chair, Russet Season, and starred in Little Black Dress,...

After years of development, “The Sandman” has arrived. Neil Gaiman’s beloved graphic novel series now exists as a Netflix series, with Gaiman serving as co-creator and executive producer on the show. Many fans weren’t sure if this day would ever come given how difficult Gaiman’s books are to adapt, with “The Sandman” at one point planned as a movie to be directed by and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Tom Sturridge fills the titular role in this iteration of the story, which finds Dream imprisoned for a century and busting out to find his kingdom in ruins. He then sets out on a journey that puts him in contact with friends and foes alike, learning to better understand humanity in the process.

With a stacked ensemble cast, here’s your complete “The Sandman” cast and character guide. The series is now streaming on Netflix.

Tom Sturridge as Dream

Tom...

In 2001, Will Smith headlined “Ali,” which brought him his first Oscar nomination. He lost the Best Actor prize to Denzel Washington for “Training Day,” but now, 20 years later, Smith can avenge that loss with “King Richard” against Washington’s turn in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” And if he doesn’t, he would be the latest performer who has lost to the same person twice.

There have been four people with an 0-2 record agains the same actor. They are:

1. Irene Dunne lost Best Actress for “Theodora Goes Wild” (1936) and “The Awful Truth” (1937) to Luise Rainer for “The Great Ziegfeld” (1936) and “The Good Earth” (1937)

2. Charles Boyer lost Best Actor for “Conquest” (1937) and “Algiers” (1938) to Spencer Tracy for “Captains Courageous” (1937) and “Boys Town” (1938) over

3. Basil Rathbone lost Best Supporting Actor for “Romeo and Juliet” (1936) and “If I Were King” (1938) to Walter Brennan for “Come and Get It” (1936) and “Kentucky” (1938)

4. Annette Bening lost...

Robert Lantos’ Serendipity Point Films (“Crimes Of The Future”) and Beta Film are joining forces on “Rise of the Raven” (working title), a big-budget epic drama series about Janos Hunyadi, a fearless warrior who defeated the vast Ottoman army and defended Europe in 1456 at the Battle of Belgrade.

Based on Bán Mór’s bestselling novels, the 10-hour series will be showrun by award-winning director George Mihalka who will also direct the final three episodes. Mihalka’s drama credits include NBC’s “The Firm,” TNT’s “Transporter: The Series” and Showtime’s “Bullet to Beijing.” He’s also the recipient of the Directors’ Guild of Canada’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Robert Dornhelm, whose most recent TV series include “Vienna Blood” with Matthew Beard and “Maria Theresa,” will direct the first two episodes of “Rise of the Raven.” Dornhelm previously directed Emmy and Oscar-nominated productions such as “Anne Frank: The Whole Story” with Sir Ben Kingsley,...

Annette Bening is set to star in a biopic based on the life of famed long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad that will be directed by the Oscar-winning duo behind “Free Solo.”

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin will make their narrative feature debut on the biopic “Nyad,” which will star Bening and tell the story of how Nyad at age 64 became the first person to swim the length of Cuba to Florida without the aid of a cage through waters infested by sharks and poisonous jellyfish.

The film is based on Diana Nyad’s autobiography “Find a Way” and has a screenplay by Emmy-winner Ann Biderman (“Ray Donovan”) with revisions by Black List writer Julia Cox (the upcoming “Do No Harm”).

Black Bear Pictures and Mad Chance developed the film and will produce, and production is expected to begin this summer. CAA Media Finance is presenting the film to domestic buyers at the virtual EFM,...

What a difference two days makes. Before last Wednesday’s Golden Globe nominations, “Hillbilly Elegy’s” Glenn Close was in sixth place in Gold Derby’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar odds, but after she accrued a bid there and at the Screen Actors Guild Awards the next day, she has rocketed to fourth place. Another post-Globe and -SAG change is Olivia Colman (“The Father”) usurping the SAG-snubbed Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”) for the top spot. You know what that means: if both Close and Colman make the final five, Colman could beat Close again, which would make her the the fifth performer to defeat the same person twice.

The first four were:

1. Luise Rainer won Best Actress for “The Great Ziegfeld” (1936) and “The Good Earth” (1937) over Irene Dunne for “Theodora Goes Wild” (1936) and “The Awful Truth” (1937)

2. Spencer Tracy won Best Actor for “Captains Courageous” (1937) and “Boys Town” (1938) over Charles Boyer...

“It’s an honor just to be nominated” is the overused line that many Oscar nominees have said over the years, particularly after a loss. Though that’s true, winning a coveted statuette is the real prize.

The highest-profile overdue veteran actor competing for an Oscar this season is Glenn Close, the wisecracking Mamaw in Ron Howard’s “Hillbilly Elegy.” With seven previous nominations (the most of any living actor without a win), Close, who has delivered win-worthy turns in “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Fatal Attraction” looks to finally have her moment. Her most recent loss, for 2018’s “The Wife” to Olivia Colman in “The Favourite,” was felt in awards enthusiast circles. With what seems a thin roster of supporting actress contenders this year, Close is in the running once again, looking to go against Colman’s work in “The Father.”

Close’s co-star Amy Adams is playing the same card this year in “Hillbilly Elegy.

Ronald Harwood's Adaptations Oscar-winning screenwriter and playwright Sir Ronald Harwood has died, of natural causes, at the age of 85.

Tributes were paid last night to Harwood, who won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for Roman Polanski's The Pianist in 2003. He had previously received two other Oscar nominations in the same category - for The Dresser in 1983 and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly in 2007, for which he won a BAFTA. His filmography also included screenplays for Being Julia, Cry, The Beloved Country and Love In The Time Of Cholera . In addition to his screenplays and stage work, including Taking Tea With Stalin, he also wrote the book Adaptations, about the art of writing for cinema.

Among those paying tribute on Twitter was documentarian David Nicholas Wilkinson, who distributed Harwood's film adaptation of his play Taking Sides.

He wrote on Twitter: "When Ronald Harwood won the Oscar for The.

Sir Ronald Harwood, an Oscar-winning screenwriter and playwright, died on Tuesday of natural causes, his agent told BBC on Wednesday. He was 85.

The British writer won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist” in 2003. Harwood was nominated in the same category for Peter Yates’ “The Dresser” in 1983 and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” in 2007.

Harwood was highly regarded as one of Britain’s most successful post-war dramatic scribes. Two of his plays, “The Dresser” and “Quartet,” were adapted from stage plays to the big screen. His other screenwriting credits include Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, Polanski’s 2005 adaptation of “Oliver Twist,” “Being Julia” starring Annette Bening, “Love in the Time of Cholera” and more.

Some of this written stage plays include “Taking Tea With Stalin,” “Taking Sides,” “Ivanov,” “The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold” and many others.

The writer...

Hulu is out with its list of everything new coming to the streaming service in the month of September — and everything that’s leaving.

Highlights in the new category include Season 2 of “Pen15,” which stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle as their middle school selves, out Sept. 18. Another highlight is the series premiere of “Woke,” inspired by the life and work of American cartoonist Keith Knight. That’s out Sept. 9.

Leaving at the end of the month are movies like “50 First Dates,” “A Mighty Wind,” and “Best in Show.”

See the full list below.

Sept. 1

Mike Tyson Mysteries: Complete Season 4 (Adult Swim)

Jeopardy!: Episode Refresh (ABC)

50 First Dates (2004)

Absolute Power (1997)

Aeon Flux (2005)

American Dragons (1998)

An American Haunting (2006)

Any Given Sunday (1999)

Anywhere but Here (1999)

Back to School (1986)

Bad Girls from Mars (1991)

The Bank Job (2008)

Because I Said So (2007)

The Birdcage (1997)

Broken Lizard’s Club Dread (2004)

Call Me (1988)

Carrington (1995)

The Cold Light Of Day...

The Beatles dropped their final studio album Let It Be 50 years ago, on May 8, 1970. It came out a month after Paul McCartney announced the group’s breakup in a press release (At least it was better than doing it with a Post-it Note like on Sex and the City). The original plan for the album, which had been recorded over a year earlier, before the sessions and release of Abbey Road, was a return to basics. There would be no underlying “concept” and there would be no overdubs, just four guys (and occasionally Billy Preston on keyboards) playing live. The world would have to wait for 2003 for the remixed album Let It Be Naked to hear this vision for the album, though. Let it Be was the first album George Martin didn’t produce for the band. The album, initially slated to be called Get Back, which was to be the Beatles’ antidote to overproduction,...

May isn’t quite summer yet but it is usually time that the networks start wrapping up their newest shows and preparing for a relatively fallow summer period. Since HBO isn’t a network, it has no such business model. But May sees the winding down of some HBO blockbusters all the same.

While there are some notable new releases for HBO in May 2020, the bigger story might be the things that are ending. Westworld concludes its third season on May 3 while new series Run wraps up on May 24. Thankfully the film losses in May aren’t too bad for HBO, unless the Agent Cody Banks saga drives a lot of traffic.

The most notable TV premiere in May is I Know This Much is True, a book adaptation starring Mark Ruffalo. This is a very bleak story coming along at a bleak time in history but perhaps those two things will cancel out.

“The Irishman” co-stars Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are up for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, but this is not the first time the duo has gone head to head. They last clashed 29 years ago in the same category, and one came out on top.

Pesci prevailed for his iconic role as Tommy DeVito in “Goodfellas” (1990), defeating Pacino (“Dick Tracy”), Bruce Davison (“Longtime Companion”), Andy Garcia (“The Godfather Part III”) and Graham Greene (“Dances with Wolves”). And who can forget his equally iconic speech (watch above): “It was my privilege. Thank you.” Brevity is the soul of wit and acceptance speeches (see also: Merritt Wever‘s 2013 Emmy speech).

This was Pesci’s second and most recent nomination until now. Pacino was on his sixth bid and seeking his first win, which would come two years later in the lead category for 1922’s “Scent of a Woman” (he was...

The last time the Oscar winner for Best Actress hailed from the year’s Best Picture champion was 2004, when Hilary Swank prevailed for “Million Dollar Baby” in Clint Eastwood‘s tragic boxing drama. It’s now been 15 years since Best Actress and Best Picture synced up, compared to eight years for Best Actor (Jean Dujardin and “The Artist” in 2011), six years for Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong’o and “12 Years a Slave” in 2013) and one year for Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali and “Green Book” in 2018). Is there — gasp! — an Oscar curse in the making? If so, only Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story”) and Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”) can break it.

See Scarlett Johansson is the 12th performer to nab double acting Oscar nominations

When the 2020 Oscar nominations were announced Monday morning, ScarJo and Saoirse were the only two Best Actress nominees whose films were also up for Best Picture. Their...

Believe it or not, it’s been 15 years since the Oscar winner for Best Actress hailed from the year’s Best Picture champ. The last time it happened was 2004, when Hilary Swank prevailed for “Million Dollar Baby” as boxer Maggie Fitzgerald in Clint Eastwood‘s tragic sports drama. None of Swank’s co-nominees that year starred in Best Picture nominees: Annette Bening (“Being Julia”), Catalina Sandino Moreno (“Maria Full of Grace”), Imelda Staunton (“Vera Drake”) and Kate Winslet (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”). Could there be — gasp! — a Best Actress Oscar curse in the making?

SEEPredictions for Best Actress at 2020 Oscars

We know what you’re thinking: with so many great performances out there is 15 years really that long to expect Best Actress to sync up with Best Picture? When compared to the other three acting categories, the answer is yes. Best Actor most recently matched up for Jean Dujardin...

Frontrunners are already forming in the Oscar race for Best Supporting Actress race, according to early predictions at Gold Derby. While many films in contention have not yet been released, some were seen recently at the Toronto, Venice and/or Telluride Film Festivals. We’ve confirmed most category placements with studios or campaigners, but some decisions are still outstanding.For example, Gold Derby lists Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”) in both lead and supporting races in our prediction center and the placement fates of all three “Bombshell” actresses — Margot Robbie, Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman — have yet to be determined.

Here are the current top 10 supporting actress picks according to racetrack odds based upon our users’ predictions as of Sept. 17:

1. Laura Dern: No one does fierce, feisty and whip-smart better than Dern (witness her work on the second season of HBO’s “Big Little Lies”). She plays the crackerjack lawyer...

Frontrunners are already forming for the Oscar Best Actor race, according to early predictions at Gold Derby. While most films in contention have not yet been released, enough teaser trailers are out there, ranging from “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and “The Irishman” to “Little Women” and “Ford v Ferrari” to provide some sense of what at least feels like a worthy contender. We’ve confirmed category placements with studios or campaigners, but — as awards season veterans know — such labels can change later. And once the fall film fests commence, the standings will likely rapidly shift.

Here are the current top 10 supporting actress picks on the Gold Derby site, in order, as of Aug. 16:

1. Laura Dern: No one does fierce, feisty and whip-smart better than Dern (witness her work on the second season of HBO’s “Big Little Lies”). She plays the crackerjack lawyer who represents Scarlett Johansson...