Riggs hit back with a fiery New York Times op-ed titled “Meet the New Willie Horton,” and didn’t mince words. “Because my film, ‘Tongues Untied,’ affirms the lives and dignity of [Black] gay men, conservatives have found it a convenient target,” he wrote, “despite the awards and popular and critical acclaim it received after its broadcast last summer on public television.” Riggs was 35 years old. Three years later, he would die of complications from AIDS....

All of the major news networks, including ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC, are expected to broadcast the vice presidential debate. Though information on where to stream the vice presidential debate has not been announced, it is likely that the event will be streamed on YouTube for free. The vice presidential debate, which will begin at 9 p.m. ET and be held at the University of Utah, will be moderated by Susan Page, USA Today’s Washington bureau chief....

“SNL” airs on Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET/10:30 p.m. central time on NBC. The weekly episodes, as usual, are available to stream on Hulu the next day — typically by 12 p.m. eastern time — and will also be made available on NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, Peacock, on Sunday as well. If you’re on the West Coast, you can catch “Saturday Night Live” on NBC beginning at 8:30 p.m. PT....

Second: Do they have the right role in the right year? Without that quality and timing, justice can’t be served. (See: Renee Zellweger winning on her fourth go-round in “Judy” or Paul Newman winning for “The Color of Money” after seven nods.) Finally: Short of an Oscar itself, the best thing that can happen for a long-overdue actor is a SAG nomination. (The SAG nomination committee is voting now, with nominations announced January 11, 2023....

“When I was getting into this business, the playbook for being a movie star was being mysterious,” the 53-year-old actor said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “Don’t let anybody in. Leave them wanting more. Don’t reveal things. Project a certain image.” Recent shifts to the culture landscape have led him to reverse course. “Now I think there’s a responsibility for someone like me to discuss the fear of talking about vulnerability,” he said....

Allison and her twin sister Lennon (both played by Madison Iseman) couldn’t be more different. Allison is quiet (defined here as weird) and grieving her mother’s suicide. Lennon, on the other hand, is sexually provocative and unfeeling. On the night of graduation, an accident happens that leaves Lennon and her friends to take the secret to their graves. But, of course, someone doesn’t want them to forget and vengeance starts being served....

Now, Pérez finds himself at the center of another union story — but this time, he’s on management’s side. After losing almost all of his senior staff in protest of “workplace conduct” and the IDA’s “betrayal of public commitments,” the 11 remaining full-time staffers formed a union, Documentary Workers United, under Communications Workers of America, with the express mission to have a say in how the IDA rebuilds. “It is critical we establish a union because it will help guarantee a safe workplace with transparency, equity, and fairness while providing the staff with opportunities to participate and have a voice in IDA’s management and vision,” the DWU wrote in its mission statement....

The fellowship and funding program is a partnership between IF/Then, Points North Institute, LEF Foundation, and ScreeningRoom. Many of IF/Then’s programs are open to filmmakers residing in or making films about particular regions. The North Shorts program is aiding storytellers from the Northeast and Puerto Rico to explore a range of socially, politically, or culturally relevant topics rooted in those areas. An external jury selected six filmmaking teams to receive a $5,000 post-production grant and invitation to participate in a monthlong online editing lab....

Less than four months later, the selection committee has chosen their inaugural winner: Keisha Rae Witherspoon, a Caribbean-American filmmaker based in Miami. Per the official announcement, “Witherspoon’s work is driven by interests in science, speculative fiction, and fantasy, as well as documenting the unseen and unheralded nuances of diasporic peoples.” Her dazzling short film “T” world-premiered at the BlackStar Film Festival 2019, where it won the audience award for best short film....

Jason Gonzalez has been promoted to VP, Special Projects & Partnerships to oversee the sales and marketing of Special Projects. Chris O’Falt has been promoted to Executive Editor, Crafts & Special Projects, to oversee editorial execution of Special Projects content. He also retains his responsibility for overseeing day-to-day Craft editorial coverage. “IndieWire had its most successful sales year ever in 2021. A huge part of this was Jason’s excellent work in building these editorial franchise opportunities for our entertainment partners,” says IndieWire Publisher James Israel....

“Elevating artisans and craftspeople is, if you don’t mind me saying so, one of the things that IndieWire does best,” IndieWire editor-in-chief Dana Harris-Brisdon said in her opening remarks. Throughout the day, these artists opened up about the labor intensive process of making great cinema. In their quest to achieve that special creative edge that separates them from the competition, every detail counts. Panelists from all six films emphasized that the real work began with meticulous research....

But the facts may not bear that out. Two years on, the Rowling business remains great for her publisher Scholastic, Universal’s Harry Potter theme parks, and Warner Bros., which is releasing the latest Potter-adjacent movie, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” on Friday. Data shows that U.S. sales of Rowling’s books increased over the last few years, and the two previous “Fantastic Beasts” movies have over-performed on streaming. Rowling’s Twitter feed remains an endlessly scrolling anti-gender theory compendium....

“The Festival de Cannes strongly condemns these arrests as well as the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists. The Festival calls for the immediate release of Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad, and Jafar Panahi. “The Festival de Cannes also wishes to reassert its support to all those who, throughout the world, are subjected to violence and repression. The Festival remains and will always remain a haven for artists from all over the world and it will relentlessly be at their service in order to convey their voices loud and clear, in the defense of freedom of creation and freedom of speech....

“I go back so often to that scene in ‘Prisoners’ where my character walks into the room and the girl has been drugged and Melissa Leo is there,” Gyllenhaal said. “The way it was written was impossible for me to act. It made it almost impossible for me to pull off. I would have had too much egg on my face as a performer to try and pull that off....

“Over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students, and that was wrong. But like I said, it’s not why I started the school and I wasn’t the person that selected the people to be in the class. So it wasn’t a ‘master plan’ on my part. But yes, there were certain instances where, you know what, I was in a consensual thing with a student and I shouldn’t have been,” he said....

This year, SCAD will honor Jonathan Majors with the Spotlight Award for “Devotion,” Janelle Monáe with the Spotlight Award for “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” Kerry Condon with the Distinguished Performance Award for “The Banshees of Inisherin,” JD Dillard with the Rising Star Director Award for “Devotion,” Nicholas Hoult with the Vanguard Award for “The Menu,” Jeremy Pope with the Distinguished Performance Award for “The Inspection,” Sandy Powell with the Variety Creative Impact Award in Costume Design for “Living,” Eddie Redmayne with the Virtuoso Award for “The Good Nurse,” Henry Selick with the Outstanding Achievement in Animation Award for “Wendell and Wild,” and Sadie Sink with the Rising Star Award for “The Whale....

Deadline reported that Bateman is in early negotiations to direct “Here Comes the Flood,” which Netflix won in a competitive option in the spring. Though negotiations are still ongoing and Bateman may only direct the film, it’s possible that he could also have an acting role in the project. Simon Kinberg wrote the speculative script, which Deadline described as an “elevated, character-driven love-story heist movie, with the heist playing out in increments....

That article prompted plenty of discourse about Strong and the merits of what has come to be colloquially known as method acting (though Strong’s approach differs significantly from the original definition of the term). Many celebrities have come to Strong’s defense, while others have opened up about their lack of respect for method acting. Strong isn’t particularly happy about any of it. Speaking to Vanity Fair from the Telluride Film Festival, where he is on hand to promote James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” Strong expressed some regret about the infamous profile....

Cumberbatch has attracted particular attention for the preparation that went into his portrayal of brutal ranch owner Phil Burbank. He remained in character for the entire three-month shoot in New Zealand, smoking so many cigarettes that he gave himself nicotine poisoning. He learned to play the banjo, spent time castrating bulls, and underwent dream analysis to deepen his understanding of his character’s “complex psyche.” In a new interview, Jesse Plemons said that he was caught off guard by his co-star’s intensity on set, notably during an incident when Cumberbatch made a comment about his weight, which he said “pissed me off....

While promoting “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” Carrey revealed to Access Hollywood that he is looking for a break. “Well, I’m retiring,” Carrey said. “Yeah, probably. I’m being fairly serious.” The “Ace Ventura” star added that there are certain stipulations: “It depends, if the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road,” Carrey said, “but I’m taking a break....