Emerging strong from Sundance 2021 was Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s innovative animated documentary “Flee,” which scored rave reviews and the Grand Jury Prize. This moving story of a refugee survivor reveals the identity-crushing dangers and humiliations of an immigrant trying to find sanctuary in a harsh world. Neon successfully mounted an Oscar campaign in three categories: Animation, Documentary, and International Feature Film, a first for any Oscar contender....

New Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer confirmed that all 23 categories will be presented live, reversing the 2022 decision to cut eight Oscar categories from the live broadcast. This year, original score, makeup and hairstyling, documentary short, film editing, production design, animated short, live-action short, and sound were axed from the main telecast, drawing backlash from guilds and industry leaders like Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro....

The British monarch and Head of State was placed under medical supervision starting September 8, Buckingham Palace confirmed. “Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended that she remain under medical supervision,” the palace said in a statement. The Queen was not hospitalized at the time and remained at her Scottish Highlands estate, Balmoral Castle. The queen reportedly looked “frail” after meeting with incoming British Prime Minister Liz Truss on September 5....

News of Cyborg being dropped from “The Flash” screenplay comes just a week after Fisher vowed never to work under DC Films president Walter Hamada. Fisher posted on Twitter: “Walter Hamada is the most dangerous kind of enabler. His lies, and WB PR’s failed Sept 4th hit-piece, sought to undermine the very real issues of the ‘Justice League’ investigation. I will not participate in any production associated with him.”...

“The Flight Attendant” star Rosie Perez revealed during “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” April 18 that she wasn’t sure about signing on to the Emmy-nominated HBO Max series. “When I first read it, I said, ‘This is a weird show,’” Perez said. “And I turned it down because I don’t like traveling. I hate flying.” But ahead of Season 2, which premieres April 21, Perez noted that she is definitely happy she is part of the cast....

“RIP Betty White, the only SNL host I ever saw get a standing ovation at the after party. A party at which she ordered a vodka and a hotdog and stayed til the bitter end,” Seth Meyers posted on Twitter. And Ryan Reynolds, with whom White had a long-standing, joking flirtation with online and in the press, wrote, “The world looks different now. She was great at defying expectation. She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough....

Based on Charles Dickens’ classic novella “A Christmas Carol,” “Spirited” focuses on the Ghost of Christmas Present, portrayed in the original story as a Father Christmas-esque figure. In the (mostly) streaming film, Ferrell plays the spirit, who spends every year selecting a new corrupted person to be visited by him and the ghosts of Christmases Past and Future. However, when he chooses Clint Briggs (Reynolds) as the ghosts’ new project, he winds up getting the script flipped on him by the savvy businessman, who forces the spirit to go through his own past, present, and future....

The eight-episode, half-hour series was written by showrunner Alexandra Rushfield (“Shrill”) and produced by Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures as part of their multi-platform partnership with Lionsgate. Rushfield, Silverman, Amy Zvi, and Rosa Tran also served as executive producers on the series. “Santa Inc.” is the latest in a string of mature animated content involving Rogen since he scored big with the financially successful “Sausage Party” in 2016. Rogen is also re-teaming with Evan Goldberg to adapt the “Bubble” podcast into an R-rated animated film....

Dallying with Charlotte Kirk cost both 25-year studio executives their jobs, after each admitted to having consensual affairs with the British actress, who was trying to leverage a Hollywood career. Like WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey before him, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell expressed regrets at behavior inconsistent with leadership expectations at their respective studios. Meyer’s corporate bio is already erased from the NBCUniversal website, and he has resigned as Academy Museum Board Chair....

Now in its 10th year, DFF awarded a total of $60,000 in grant funding to four documentary projects, in $15,000 increments each. The funding will support feature-length documentaries in post-production. Per the official SFFILM announcement, the DFF supports “non-fiction films that are distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters, and an innovative visual approach.” The 2021 winners include “Against the Tide,” “Driver,” “Hummingbirds,” and “Weed Dreams.” “In an incredibly competitive slate of submissions, we are thrilled with the winning selections,” Masashi Niwano, SFFILM Director of Artist Development, said....

“They’ve decided to release the director’s triple-X cut for the 30th anniversary,” Stone told “A Current Affair” host Tracy Grimshaw, who then asked if Stone could do anything to prevent the movie from being re-released. “There are new [Screen Actors Guild] rules about that have been made and created, but they were made after I, as a young lady, made this film, and so they don’t apply to me.”...

“That was how I saw my vagina-shot for the first time, long after I’d been told, ‘We can’t see anything — I just need you to remove your panties, as the white is reflecting the light, so we know you have panties on,’” Stone writes. “Now, here is the issue. It didn’t matter anymore. It was me and my parts up there. I had decisions to make.” Stone also recalled confronting Verhoeven about the scene afterward....

Pegg, who has starred in franchises like “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Doctor Who,” had a brief role in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” During SiriusXM’s “Jim and Sam” radio show, Pegg reflected on which franchise has the “hardest fans to please.” Turns out, “Star Wars” topped them all. “To be honest — and as someone who kind of was, you know, kicked off about the prequels when they came out, the ‘Star Wars’ fanbase really seems to be the most kind of toxic at the moment,” Pegg said (via Mediaite)....

“Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies” opens with the idea that Hollywood, way back when, was far less prude than it is now — “the Sodom of the pacific,” one critic says — dating all the way back to D.W. Griffiths’ problematic early movies. But before the Hays Code made nudity in films a moral concern through its censorship guidelines, there was also no protection for actors, which is to say nothing in the way of human resources for the performers....

When it came time to tell the story in “Sound of Metal,” in which hardcore drummer Ruben (Riz Ahmed) experiences a sudden loss of hearing, writer/director Darius Marder reached for something different to orient how the audience understands what is happening inside Ruben’s own body. “I wanted to use a language of perspective that I had never seen before,” said Marder. “When we think of point of view we think of visuals, not sound....

Production on the series had already begun and was roughly one-fifth of the way through before the events of last spring reconfigured everything. Speaking on a panel as part of the Television Critics Association’s virtual Summer Press Tour, producers and members of the cast shared their experiences from various stages of lockdown and how those, in turn, informed the show they were all working to create. “The themes of the show were becoming so resonant as we’re going forward, it really made us think so much about what’s important in life, which is really what the show’s about,” said Jeremy Podeswa, an executive producer and director on the series....

The “West Side Story” director told Deadline that the awards for documentary short, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live-action short, and sound should be aired live during the March 27 Oscars ceremony. “I disagree with the decision made by the executive committee,” Spielberg said. “I feel very strongly that this is perhaps the most collaborative medium in the world. All of us make movies together, we become a family where one craft is just as indispensable as the next....

Now, less than two weeks before it unveils its lineup, Sundance announced specifics about the form it will take and how it will reach audiences. The entire program will be available on festival.sundance.org to passholders and ticket buyers across the United States, in addition to some international territories that have yet to be finalized. The festival is also planning at least one physical screening for each film in its lineup, as well as drive-in options in Los Angeles and Park City....

It’s hard to believe that Mahershala Ali has never been the lead role in a film before, but Benjamin Cleary’s elegiac “Swan Song” is eager to make up for lost time: Not only does Ali get to play the protagonist in this somberly moving sci-fi drama about a dying man who secretly clones himself in order to spare his family the heartache of living without him, he gets to play him twice....

The “Pussy Island” writer/director co-penned two songs for Taylor Swift’s upcoming album “Midnights,” titled “Karma” and “Lavender Haze.” The 13-track album is set to be released October 21, with the full song list revealed October 18 along with the co-writers. Swift co-wrote 11 out of the 13 songs with Jack Antonoff, plus Lana Del Rey for “Snow on the Beach.” The song “Vigilante Shit” is the sole track Swift alone wrote....