Entertainment

Original title: Warwick Davis to Return as Professor Filius Flitwick for HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ TV Series HBO‘s upcoming Harry Potter TV series has cast a familiar face to play Hogwarts Professor Filius Flitwick. Warwick Davis, who played Flitwick in the original Harry Potter film series, will reprise the role for the TV series, which will debut on HBO and HBO Max in 2027. Davis is the only actor (so far) to play the same role on the TV reboot as in the original films. His return to the franchise was announced as part of the annual Back to Hogwarts event, which is held each Sept. 1 and celebrates the franchise. In addition to Davis, HBO also announced castings for seven other roles in the upcoming series: Hogwarts students: Elijah Oshin as Dean Thomas, Finn Stephens as Vincent Crabbe and William Nash as Gregory Goyle Elijah Oshin as Dean Thomas, Finn Stephens as Vincent Crabbe and William Nash as Gregory Goyle Hogwarts staff: Sirine Saba as Professor Pomona Sprout, Richard Durden as Professor Cuthbert Binns, and Bríd Brennan as Madam Poppy Pomfrey Sirine Saba as Professor Pomona Sprout, Ri ...

Original title: ‘Waking Hours’ Takes Us on a Nocturnal Journey With Afghan People Smugglers (Exclusive Venice Teaser) Waking Hours is the debut feature documentary by Federico Cammarata and Filippo Foscarini, which will celebrate its world premiere on Thursday, Sept. 4, in the competition section of the Venice Critics’ Week (Settimana Internazionale della Critica), an independent event taking place during the Venice Film Festival. The movie from Rome-based production company Volos Films Italia, in co-production with Roberto Minervini’s Cosma Film and in collaboration with RAI Cinema, takes us on a nocturnal journey with a clan of Afghan people smugglers at the edge of the European Union, enabling illegal border crossings between Serbia and EU member Hungary. They are “awaiting those to be carried across the border, wandering through the labyrinth of a sleepless, perpetual night,” notes a synopsis. “At the edge of the forest, shadowy human figures gather around the fire, while the distant echo of gunshots reverberates through the night. Not far away, a wall of sharp metal marks the beginning of Europe. ...

Original title: Mayra Hermosillo’s ‘Vanilla’ Explores Family and Identity in an All-Female Household (Exclusive Venice Trailer) Mexico in the late 1980s. The eight-year-old Roberta watches her family of seven women fight to save their home from mounting debt. It is a struggle that will reshape how she sees herself and those around her. This is the premise of Vanilla (Vainilla), the feature directorial debut by writer-director Mayra Hermosillo, an actress you may know from Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico or Amat Escalante’s Lost in the Night. World premiering on Wednesday, Sept. 3, in the Giornate degli Autori, or Venice Days, lineup, a sidebar of the Venice International Film Festival, the ensemble cast includes Aurora Dávila, María Castellá, Natalia Plascencia, Paloma Petra, Rosy Rojas, Fernanda Baca, and Lola Ochoa. The cinematography is courtesy of Jessica Villamil, with Sonia Sánchez Carrasco handling editing. The producers are Stacy Perskie (Bardo, Spectre), Karla Luna Cantú, Andrea Porras Madero, and Paloma Petra. Bendita Film Sales is handling world sales. Based on personal experiences and set in a non-traditio ...

Original title: Snoop Dogg’s Rep Says Comments Addressing Backlash Over His Criticism of LGBTQ Representation Are “Fake” A rep for Snoop Dogg is saying that comments posted on Instagram responding to the backlash he’s received after he criticized the LGBTQ representation in Disney‘s 2022 animated movie Lightyear are “fake.” Someone claiming to be the rapper and hip-hop icon recently wrote in the comments of a Hollywood Unlocked Instagram post, which featured Ts Madison calling him out, “I was just caught off guard and had no answer for my grandsons.” “All my gay friends [know] what’s up, they been calling me with love. My bad for not knowing the answers for a 6-yr-old. Teach me how to learn. I’m not perfect,” the person claiming to be Snoop added. However, now his rep is saying those comments were not written by the rapper. It’s unclear who is behind them. Last week, the “Gin and Juice” rapper shared on the It’s Giving Podcast that he was taken by surprise when he took his grandchildren to see Pixar’s Toy Story spinoff, as it featured a montage of two women sharing a kiss and raising a child together. He ...

Original title: ‘This Is Not a Drill’ Review: Climate Activism Doc Feels Stuck in a More Hopeful Past Had This Is Not a Drill, the new documentary from Oren Jacoby (Sister Rose’s Passion), premiered at the Telluride Film Festival last fall, it would have played as an inspiring story of three grassroots environmentalists taking on Big Oil, offering optimistic examples of individual courage and collective determination in the face of endlessly funded and institutionally supported adversaries. Alas, This Is Not a Drill did not premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last fall. And whether or not you recognize the specific campaigns and causes advocated for by these grassroots environmentalists, you probably have access to newspapers. Therefore, you know that a well-funded right-wing political movement and an unscrupulous and single-minded leader can, in mere months, wipe out decades of incremental regulatory improvements. This Is Not a Drill The Bottom Line Inspiring characters, but rushed and poorly formed. Venue: Telluride Film Festival Director: Oren Jacoby 1 hour 20 minutes Jacoby’s f ...

Original title: Chris Columbus Says ‘Harry Potter’ Reunion Is “Never Going to Happen” Due to J.K. Rowling’s Transphobia Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Harry Potter movies, said a reunion with the original cast is “never going to happen” due to author J.K. Rowling‘s anti-trans stances. The filmmaker has previously expressed interest in a film adaptation of the Broadway play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with the cast of the beloved franchise, but has since scrapped his plans because it’s gotten too “complicated.” “It’s never going to happen,” Columbus recently told The Times U.K. “It’s gotten so complicated with all the political stuff. Everyone in the cast has their own opinion, which is different from her opinion, which makes it impossible.” The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Rowling’s reps for comment. Rowling has been criticized in recent years for her transphobia, as she’s been outspoken on social media against the trans rights movement. Earlier this year, she also celebrated the U.K. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that trans women should not be recognized as women and that “sex” ...

Original title: Randy Boone, Actor on ‘The Virginian,’ Dies at 83 Randy Boone, who rode his own horse and portrayed the singing and guitar-playing ranch hand Randy Benton on the long-running NBC series The Virginian, has died. He was 83. Boone died Thursday, his wife, Lana, told The Hollywood Reporter. She did not want to divulge any other details. The North Carolina native also was a regular on two other 1960s series, but each of those lasted just one season: the 1962-63 NBC comedy-drama It’s a Man’s World and the 1967-68 CBS Western Cimarron Strip, starring Stuart Whitman. And in the 1963 Twilight Zone episode “The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms,” Boone starred as one of the National Guardsmen (Warren Oates and Ron Foster are the others) who somehow are sent back in time to take part in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. A contract player at Universal, Boone joined The Virginian, which starred James Drury and Doug McClure, midway through its second season in February 1964. He stuck around for 46 episodes through the end of the fourth season in April 196 ...

Original title: Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ Gets Warm Embrace During Venice Film Festival Debut The Venice Film Festival set the table for Jim Jarmusch‘s Father Mother Sister Brother by delivering the Mubi title’s world premiere on the Lido Sunday night. The filmmaker joined his stars Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Vicky Krieps, Mayim Bialik, Luka Sabbat and Indya Moore for the red carpet festivities at Sala Grande with only Adam Driver and Tom Waits missing in action. (During the film’s press conference earlier in the afternoon, Bialik confirmed they couldn’t make this year’s festival.) And the capacity crowd responded with a warm standing ovation that lasted for five minutes, and would’ve continued had the cast and auteur not exited early amid the applause. Early in the applause, Krieps hugged Jarmusch and could be heard saying, “It’s so good, it’s so good.” Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother receives a warm 5-minute standing ovation after its Venice Film Festival world premiere. Here the cast including Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Mayim Bialik, Vicky Kriep ...

Original title: ‘Walter Boys’ Star Ashby Gentry on Why Alex Needs “Serious Soul Searching” After Cliffhanger Season 2 Finale [This story contains spoilers from season two of Netflix’s My Life with the Walter Boys.] Team Alex isn’t ready to give up in season two of Netflix’s My Life with the Walter Boys. In the 10-episode season that premiered on Aug. 28, Ashby Gentry returns as Alex Walter, who fell in love with Jackie Howard in season one, only to be left heartbroken after she leaves and returns to New York after kissing his brother Cole. The last time Alex interacted with Jackie, he was drunkenly telling her he loved her, so having to reel from that absence impacts Alex both mentally and seemingly physically. The once bookish nerd is now seemingly confident and has caught the attention of ladies at his school. “When I was 16 and my first relationship ended, there’s almost an over compensation with regards to the freedom that one has,” Gentry tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I think Alex is a suppressor. You see that with the heartbreak with Jackie. ‘I’m fine. It’s fine. We’re good. Let’s just move on. It’s o ...