“Of all the people in the movie, he was the one I was most excited to show to everyone because I knew there was this cinematic side to Ashton Kutcher as well as this intellectual side that had never quite been seen before,” Novak explained. “He’s an icon, he’s an international icon. But in a friendly, approachable way.” Novak, whose personal experiences with fellow “Vengeance” actors like Issa Rae and John Mayer led in part to their respective castings, added, “Anyone who knows Ashton in real life has seen him be this hypnotically charismatic intellectual when he’s talking about investments or theories of the world or television producing....

All three programs — “Oscars: Into the Spotlight,” “The Oscars,” and “Oscars: After Dark” — will be available to watch live via ABC.COM and the ABC app, although you will have to provide a cable subscriber log-in in order to access the live stream. Viewers without cable can tune-in by subscribing to a variety of platforms that carry ABC, including Hulu + Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV, and FuboTV....

“The White Tiger” actor and producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas will be joined by singer, songwriter, and actor Nick Jonas (also her husband, and most recently a host on “Saturday Night Live”) to reveal the nominees this year, beginning at 5:19 a.m. PT. A second presentation of nominees will follow at 5:31 a.m. PT. Together, they will announce all 23 Academy Award categories in a two-part live presentation on Monday, March 15, via global live stream online at Oscar....

For Kaminski, it was important to pay tribute not only to the filmed musicals of the Hollywood studio era but to the original, 1957 Broadway stage production of “West Side Story.” “I came here from another country and I always associated Broadway with glamor and beauty,” Kaminski recalled in a recent interview with IndieWire. “Steven and I both had the same interest in preserving the concept of glossy romanticism that you associate with the ’50s and ’60s....

It’s too early to tell if the Lego Star Wars AT-AT set will become one of the hottest “Star Wars” gifts this holiday season, but it’s certainly impressive. Announced in early November, the colossal LEGO set is an ultimate gift for die-hard fans that don’t mind spending big bucks on gear inspired by “Star Wars.” The humungous structure comes with more than 6,000 pieces — which is probably why it’s designed for ages 18 and older, plus it retails for a whopping $800 (a small price to pay for some collectors)....

A person close to production confirmed the lunch meeting, that Noah gave no indication of his impending exit, and virtually everyone on and around the show was “blindsided.” Comedy Central is currently building out a timeline for his departure, with Noah and his team aiding in the transition. Despite speculation that the new “Daily Show” would go to streaming, the source close to production told IndieWire that the new program will remain on Comedy Central....

While promoting new film “Dual,” MCU actress Gillan told The Hollywood Reporter that the ensemble cast, including Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, and Vin Diesel, were “so excited to be back together.” “The feeling was giddy excitement,” Gillan said. “The whole family was back together and we truly do feel like a family. And just wouldn’t have felt right without James back with us. It just wouldn’t have been the same movie....

Unlike stop-motion, though, CG has been a tough sell to the VFX branch, which in the past has nominated “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Kubo and the Two Strings.” That’s because stop-motion falls in line with the criteria of integrating effects into live action (in this case, physical sets and puppets), whereas CG animation is an outlier with its all-digital workflow. However, the Visual Effects Society has no such problem honoring animation alongside live action at the VES Awards as a result of its shared tech prowess and artistic accomplishment....

Written by Steven Davis, Season 11’s sixth entry tries to solve a simple mystery: Who burned down the restaurant? OK, “burned down” might be a little much, but the kitchen has been rendered inoperable on the eve of Ocean Fest, and Bob (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) is understandably livid. As Linda (John Roberts) plays peacekeeper, Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Louise (Kristen Schaal) each try to explain their side of the story, and the half-hour builds to a fitting and fun closing lesson....

However, Branson and Bezos’ recent media stunts amount to little more than 50-mile elevator rides, at least compared to the potential for private space endeavors in the very near future, and that includes the entertainment industry. While Elon Musk sets his sights on colonizing Mars, the low-Earth orbit economy is ready to welcome storytellers to microgravity. Last year, news broke that Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman were cooking up a $200 million project with Universal that would find them flying to the International Space Station with the help of Elon Musk’s SpaceX....

The January 5, 2020 (so, pre-pandemic here in the U.S.) Golden Globes hosted by Ricky Gervais earned 18.4 million live viewers, according to Nielsen, down just a hair from 2019’s 18.6 million total viewers. In 2019, the last full year without the Covid pandemic upending production, the Globes were NBC’s number-one non-sports telecast of the entire year. By comparison, just 11 of the 18 “Sunday Night Football” games — the most-watched regular primetime-TV series each season — scored larger audiences than the Andy Samberg- and Sandra Oh-hosted year....

That’s exactly what Hulu’s “Pam & Tommy” had to deal with when it told the story of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee having to watch their illegally distributed sex tape become a cultural phenomenon. The show was represented at IndieWire’s Consider This FYC Brunch, with executive producer, writer, and co-showrunner D.V. DeVincentis and costumer designer Kameron Lennox joining IndieWire’s Awards Editor Marcus Jones for a wide-ranging discussion about the hit show....

It comes from Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” which confirms the filmmaker’s ability to generate suspense and awe from some seriously unpredictable places — but this Western sci-fi showdown also doubles as a meditation on the way film history marginalizes key figures and more crucially, assesses how the industry continues to alienate key voices. And, intentional or not, it’s also a window into the need to diversify arthouse audiences. I won’t get into “Nope” spoilers, but it’s a brilliant conceit for Peele to envision the Hollywood horse-wranglers who are at the center of the movie as grandchildren of the Black jockey who sat astride the horse in one of the very first moving images ever captured on film....

Will Smith is hitting the road to promote his self-titled memoir, “Will,” released November 9. The book tour, “Will Smith: An Evening of Stories with Friends,” kicked off in Smith’s hometown of Philadelphia and will make stops in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. During Monday’s event, hosted by Queen Latifah and held at the Met Philly, Smith opened up about his journey from a West Philadelphia kid to a Grammy-winning rapper and Oscar-nominated actor....

Both the trailer and Abdul-Mateen II’s Morpheus confirmation stirred up “The Matrix” fandom, with many asking why Fishburne is absent from “Resurrections.” The new film brings Reeves and original co-star Carrie-Anne Moss back to their iconic roles of Neo and Trinity, so why not Fishburne? In a new interview with British GQ, Abdul-Mateen II hinted there’s a difference between playing a character called Morpheus and playing a character who actually is Fishburne’s iteration of Morpheus....

The “Guardians of the Galaxy” star told Entertainment Weekly’s Bold School that early in her career, she was told to change her name. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. A former ballerina, Saldaña made her film debut with “Center Stage,” also starring Amanda Schull, Peter Gallagher, Donna Murphy, Eion Bailey, and Susan May Pratt. Saldaña later went on to appear in “Crossroads,” “Drumline,” and “The Terminal,” before breaking out in “Star Trek,” “Avatar,” and “Guardians of the Galaxy....

Though filmmaker Quinn Shephard starred in her 2017 feature directorial debut “Blame,” Shephard opted to stay behind the camera for her sophomore outing, the internet satire “Not Okay.” And she couldn’t have asked for a better proxy than star Zoey Deutch, a fearless performer with a bubbly presence that belies the complexity of the characters she often plays. The “Set It Up” star was immediately impressed with Shephard’s script, which offered her a new twist on the kind of “fascinating character” she loves to play....

Nadav Lapid’s 2021 Cannes Jury Prize–winning film “Ahed’s Knee” oscillates to a different rhythm in a heart-pounding trailer, as IndieWire can exclusively premiere. “Ahed’s Knee” centers on Y. (Avshalom Pollak), an Israeli filmmaker who travels to a remote village to present one of his films. He soon meets Ministry of Culture officer, Yahalom (Nur Fibak), who calls into question his life’s purpose. Per a synopsis, Y. finds himself “fighting two losing battles: one against the death of freedom in his country, the other against the death of his mother,” with whom he co-wrote his films....

“It’s definitely a combination,” she said, singling out the second episode of the current season, titled “Keep Ya Head Up,” in which Judge Carmichael reflects on the angry Black woman trope with a powerful monologue. “That script was written by Kimberly Harrison, a Black woman, and directed by a Black woman, Erica Watson, and they most certainly provided a lot of what I think a lot of Black women go through....

It all starts for real with previews that begin today at 2pm CT in the U.S./Canada. In 14 countries, they’re already on day two; by the weekend, most other countries — including the critical China — will be screening “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Disney). It’s the most-anticipated film of 2022 (and, at one time or another, most recent years); more importantly, it’s poised to make everyone forget the theatrical doldrums or die trying....