Sundance is known for delivering high-profile documentary Oscar winners like “American Dream,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” “The Times Of Harvey Milk,” “The Cove,” “Man on Wire,” and “20 Feet From Stardom.” This year’s Documentary Feature Oscar nominees included three Sundance 2020 non-fiction world premieres: Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht’s “Crip Camp,” Garrett Bradley’s “Time,” and Maite Alberdi’s “The Mole Agent.” A fourth, Alexander Nanau’s “Collective,” which debuted at the fall 2019 festivals, screened in the Sundance 2021 Spotlight selection....

Perhaps you’re thinking to yourself, “Gee, how can it be winter awards season already? It seems like just yesterday we were hanging up our ‘Emily in Paris’ ornaments, lighting our promotional ‘Flight Attendant’ candles, and donning our ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ cosplay in anticipation for the Primetime Emmy Awards.” If so, you’re not wrong. A mere seven weeks ago the Television Academy presented its prizes for the finest programs the TV industry had to offer during the 2020-2021 season....

One way to watch the season premiere is through Hulu + Live TV, which offers a free seven-day trial. But if waiting until Sunday isn’t a problem, you can stream “Saturday Night Live” with a regular subscription that morning, usually around 9 a.m. ET. And since this is an NBC show, you can also watch “Saturday Night Live” via a Peacock Premium subscription, which allows you to stream the show live on Saturday night....

Academy Award winner Anna Paquin (now back on TV with the second season of “Flack” as a self-destructive public relations manager) recently came onto SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show” to talk about her career, and of course the question of “X-Men” came up. The New Zealand-born actress played Rogue in the original live-action “X-Men” franchise. And Paquin said she became fast friends with Jackman on the set of the 2000 movie....

“Dying isn’t simple, is it?” Those words repeat through Christopher Makoto Yogi’s lush and spellbinding “I Was a Simple Man,” calling frequent attention to the film’s title, and to its curious use of the past tense. It frames the cancer-stricken final days of Masao Matsuoshi (Steve Iwamoto) in the context of someone who’s only thinking about the mess of people caught in his web now that his body has run out of filament and they’re all forever enmeshed....

Noah Hawley, the showrunner, writer, director, and creator of FX’s scripted adaptation, often cites this edict. After all, it’s an important clarification. Each episode of his award-winning anthology starts with the title card, “This is a true story” — even though what follows is not. Just like the film it’s based on, each season of “Fargo” is a work of fiction, but it’s grounded in a distinctly American reality, from the snowy Midwestern plains to the passive-aggressive politeness....

IndieWire and Adobe are teaming up to share stories from emerging and experienced filmmakers in the festival on the importance of diversity in filmmaking, staying creative and innovative through adversity, and advice for the next generation. The IndieWire Studio at Sundance, presented by Adobe, will feature interviews with Tessa Thompson, Rebecca Hall, and Ruth Negga (“Passing”), Questlove (“Summer of Soul”), Robin Wright and Demian Bichir (“Land”), Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterson (“The World to Come”), Sian Heder and Marlee Maitlin (“Coda”), Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein (“How It Ends”), Ben Wheatley (“In the Earth”), Nanfu Wang (“In the Same Breath”), Michael C....

The “Harry Potter” author was tricked into believing she was on a Zoom call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in a Zoom interview shared by The Rowling Library. Vovan and Lexus are famous for prank-calling celebrities like Elton John, Prince Harry, Billie Eilish, and Kamala Harris. “J.K. Rowling was approached to talk about her extensive charitable work in Ukraine, supporting children and families who have been affected by the current conflict in the region,” a representative for the author told THR, before calling the hoax “distasteful,” adding, “The video, which has been edited, is a distorted representation of the conversation....

“You know, they talked about having Gandolfini at one point replace him,” Gandolfini told Gervais (via Insider). “Did you know that?” Schirripa added, “I think before James Spader and after [Steve] Carell, they offered [Gandolfini], I want to say, $4 million to play him for the season — and HBO paid him $3 million not to do it. That’s a fact.” When Carell decided to leave “The Office” at the end of season seven, high profile guest stars such as James Spader joined the series playing characters that served as the replacement for Carell’s Michael Scott....

The cast features Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Frances Conroy, and Keith Carradine. Here’s the synopsis shared by the festival: “Public screenings we long took for granted feel exceptional now, so it is going to be a very emotional and joyous experience for me and my team to be there and present the film to such a film-celebrating audience,” Jane Campion said in a statement....

The film stars Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius, a scientist who attempts to cure himself of a rare blood disease, only to accidentally afflict himself with a set of vampire-like traits. The film also stars Matt Smith and Michael Keaton, who is reprising his role from “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Jared Leto’s Marvel debut has been a long time coming, but the actor is already thinking ahead to future “Morbius” movies....

A source close to the project tells IndieWire that Goldblum is still in early talks. If confirmed, Goldblum will play the Wizard, depicted in the original Stephen Schwartz stage musical as the beloved but mysterious ruler of the Land of Oz, capable of incredible feats of magic and power. Joel Grey originated the part in the Broadway production based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West....

Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster has joined the cast of the popular crime anthology series and will play Detective Liz Danvers in Season 4. This marks the first major casting news to emerge from the new season, which is set in a town of Alaska where it can be dark for 24 hours a day at certain times of year. HBO’s official synopsis for “True Detective: Night Country” reads: “when the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace....

The attraction regularly closes to create a new Presidential figure although this is a rather speedy turnaround for the Hall of Presidents. The Biden figure will recite the Presidential Oath of Office, which the President personally recorded at the White House for the attraction. The table next to the Animatronic will also include items significant to President Biden, from peach blossoms to represent his home state of Delaware to a pair of Biden’s favorite shades (aviators)....

Julia Roberts told the New York Times Magazine that the grass always seems to be greener when balancing dramatic and comedic roles as an actress, but that the rom-coms on offer for her until this year’s “Ticket to Paradise” were lacking the spark of her best ones, like “Notting Hill” or “Pretty Woman.” “What I’ve learned is that you always want to do what you’re not doing,” Roberts said. “Whenever I’m in a comedy, I think I just want to be at a table with a cup of tea sobbing over something....

Nevertheless, it’s still impossible to watch Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) and Captain Frank “Skipper” Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) navigate the jungle waters on the latter’s rickety steamboat without thinking of “The African Queen,” even if these characters subvert the archetypes that John Huston’s movie left behind in its wake: She’s a fearless adventurer instead of a nervous missionary, and he’s a ridiculously swole punster who wouldn’t hurt a fly (but still dresses the part of a rough-and-ready loner)....

Oscar favorite and “Mare of Easttown” Emmy winner Winslet will star in “The Palace,” telling the story of one year within the walls of the palace of an authoritarian regime as it begins to unravel. Winslet executive produces the series, created and also executive produced by “Succession” producer and scribe Will Tracy. Two-time Academy Award nominee Stephen Frears (“The Queen,” “The Grifters”) is slated to direct and executive produce, with Frank Rich also executive producing....

“I remember Keanu and his first line,” the actor told THR. “I looked up, and there was Keanu, and I said, ‘Oh shit, I’m really in “The Matrix,”‘ It was just Keanu in that voice. And the technology that Lana incorporated and the filmmaking, camera rigs that I’ve never seen before. It’s so ambitious. It was really interesting to be making ‘The Matrix 4’ at a time when the world was so warped and when reality was so distorted....

The religious satire starring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Rock, and Alan Rickman is currently being “held hostage” by producer Harvey Weinstein, according to the filmmaker. The film is not available to stream online or purchase digitally, while rare Blu-rays sell for roughly $100. “In order to tell the story, unfortunately, I’m gonna have to say the name that nobody wants to hear anymore. But of course, Harvey Weinstein figures into the story,” Smith told The Wrap when asked about the fate of box office and critical success “Dogma....

During Smith’s FatMan Beyond podcast, the “Clerks” creator gave “Spider-Man: No Way Home” a special shoutout following the Oscar nominations announcement. “I would just like to congratulate the good folks who made ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ for the very deserved Best Picture nomination that I’m sure it got, I didn’t read the nods,” Smith said, as reported by Comic Book Resources. Upon learning the record-breaking blockbuster was iced out of the Best Picture race, Smith said, “What the fuck?...