News

A column chronicling events and conversations on the awards circuit.

As the town starts to shut down for Christmas break next week, fear not: The Oscar season remains in full force as campaigners know the next two weeks leading up to the start of nomination voting is crunch time, the key period when voters will have more time to watch those screeners on the Academy’s digital screening room site.

Despite months of print ads, billboard, TV ads, email blasts, Q&As, receptions, precursor awards from critics groups, Golden Globes and Critics Choice nominations, film festival tributes announced, and whatever else you can think of, the only thing that matters, the only thing is getting those voters to actually see these movies they keep hearing are “contenders” (and that includes Deadline’s own in-person Contenders events in London and Los Angeles as well as virtually for international and documentary films...

Chicago – Another side of actor Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”) emerges this weekend in a Chicago premiere of his latest film, “The Performance,” at the AMC River East theaters on Saturday, December 14th at 5pm. Piven and his sister Shira – the director and co-writer – will appear for a Q&a moderated by Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com.

Jeremy Piven portrays Harold May, a gifted but underemployed tap dancer in 1930s New York City whose early success is getting swallowed by The Depression. Along with members of his troupe – cynical ladies’ man Benny Worth (Adam Garcia), closeted young hoofer Paul Garner (Isaac Gryn), svelte singer Sira (Lara Wolf), and Carol Conway (Maimie McCoy) – he hopes to find steady employment through a European tour, which leads to a tempting offer to do the act in 1936 Berlin, Germany. Now especially, Harold May again will closet his Jewish roots.

‘The Performance’ at AMC River East

Photo credit: Gvn Releasing

Jeremy Piven,...

Jeremy Piven is willing to wait. Just look at his new film “The Performance”: The 59-year-old, three-time Emmy winner (for “Entourage”) has spent the last 15 years shepherding the project from short story acquisition to script to screen – and he’s got lots to say about it now.

In “Performance,” Piven who stars as a rising star tap dancer in the 1930s who’s hired to bring his troupe to perform in Nazified Germany. He first attached himself to the Arthur Miller short story over a decade ago by picking up the film option from Miller’s daughter Rebecca. But for all of Piven’s enthusiasm, the topic was just not landing for potential producers.

“If I pitched you as I did for the past over a decade what this film is, you would most likely laugh in my face,” he tells Gold Derby. “I’m a Jewish tap dancer in 1937 that dances for Hitler.

Are Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”), Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”), and Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) locked in for the 2025 Oscars Best Actor race?

That seems to be the consensus according to five top Oscar experts from major media outlets: Gold Derby’s Debra Birnbaum, Deadline’s Pete Hammond, Variety’s Clayton Davis, The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg, and Indiewire’s Anne Thompson. Watch their 2025 Oscars slugfest video above.

But who will take that fifth slot when nominations are announced on Jan. 17?

“There’s some really dark horses here,” declares Hammond. “There’s a movie called ‘The Performance’ that Jeremy Piven is in. When you see this movie, you go, ‘Woah!’ This guy tap dances like you’ve never seen and it’s a story about the Holocaust and World War II, in a very different way. Boy he’s out there doing this!”

Birnbaum brings up “The Apprentice,...

The films of the Kurdish Panorama and World Vision sections were introduced at the 11th edition of the Duhok International Film Festival in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

According to the report of Mansour Jahani, an independent and international cinema journalist, Duhok International Film Festival in memoriam of Yılmaz Güney, the 1982 Palme d’Or winner in Cannes, Presided by Amir Ali Mohammed Tahir and artistic management by the Kurdish director, Shawkat Amin Korki, the 11th edition of Duhok International Film Festival is set to be held on 9-16 December, 2024, at Duhok University’s congregation hall and the Duhok Mall Cineplex in Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Heralding the motto of Sports, this edition of Duhok will showcase 107 films by directors of different geographical backgrounds, in a variety of formats such as feature films, shorts, and documentaries in the two categories of competition and out-of-competition.

Feature Films in World Vision

Bangin Ali,...

The premise of The Performance, which is based on a 2002 Arthur Miller short story, is intriguing and more than a little pertinent for these times even though it is set in 1937.

Harold May (who changed his last name from Markovitz) is a struggling entertainer who is tap-dancing his way through life as leader of an American dance troupe. He gets an opportunity that on the surface of things seems irresistible when he is offered more money than he could imagine to perform just one night in Berlin. There is danger there, however, as Harold is a Jewish American and Germany is seeing the rise of Nazism and antisemitism. Nevertheless, he is somewhat in denial thinking he will be immune to all of this, the money is too tempting, and the chance to take this job with his troupe cannot be passed up.

What he doesn’t realize is just exactly...

For actor Jeremy Piven and his sister, filmmaker Shira Piven, their film The Performance wasn’t only a long-fought labor of love 15 years in the making, it was the fulfillment of a family legacy.

Appearing together on a panel for The Performance at Deadline’s Contenders Los Angeles event on Saturday, the siblings revealed that the project originated as a notion of their mother, Joyce Hiller Piven, after she read legendary playwright Arthur Miller’s short story about a Jewish American tap dancer tapped to perform in Germany on the eve of World War II.

“My mother is a theater artist, director, actress, and loves reading, and she has stacks of The New Yorker in her apartment,” Shira explained. “She read this story in The New Yorker years ago … and she sent it to Jeremy first, and she said, ‘This is a role for you.’”

Related: 2024-25 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Oscars,...

Contenders Film: Los Angeles, Deadline’s signature and original Contenders event, kicks off its latest edition this morning at 8:30 a.m. Pt at the DGA Theater in Hollywood, giving awards voters the opportunity to experience up close and personal the story of 21 of the awards season’s most acclaimed movies, and to hear directly from the talent responsible.

If you’re not attending in person, click here to launch the livestream.

The year 2024 has been a challenging one for the film community as the actors and writers strikes of last year threw the industry off balance and delayed many films, stopping some right in the middle of production and making it especially hard to stick to planned release dates. What is remarkable is the number of films that did manage to meet release dates and maintain the highest quality that has brought them to our event today.

What a lineup we have,...

Exclusive: Jeremy Piven drama The Performance, which played the Rome and Palm Springs Film Festival, is heading to the AFM after Alliance Media Partners (Amp) boarded international sales rights.

Gvn Releasing is launching the film domestically in December and January.

The well-reviewed period drama, directed by Shira Piven and inspired by Arthur Miller’s short story, tells the story of Harold May, an American Jewish tap dancer in 1937 Berlin. May and the rest of his troupe are scouted by a German attaché who leads them to an exclusive performance for Hitler, putting May at a complex personal and professional cross-roads.

Entourage actor Piven plays May. The film also features Robert Carlyle, Adam Garcia, Steven Berkoff, and the late Suzanne Shepherd.

As we previously reported, the project reps a long-held passion for the Piven family, whose matriarch and director-teacher-actress Joyce Hiller Piven first read the story in the New Yorker and told her children about it.

Campton Manor is Directed by Cat Hostick (Murdock Mysteries) and Written by Stephen Wallis (The Performance), and stars Shawn Roberts, Jason London (The Rage: Carrie 2), Kenneth Welsh.

Campton Manor is a terrifying psychological thriller about Teddy, an author/spiritualist who specializes in the horror genre. The film weaves a chilling tale of a writer trapped within his own ghost story. Directed by Cat Hostick, known for ‘Murdock Mysteries’, and penned by Stephen Wallis of ‘The Performance’ fame, this psychological thriller invites viewers into a maze of mystery and suspense. The film stars Shawn Roberts, Jason London, and Kenneth Welsh, who bring to life a story about Teddy, an author and spiritualist with a penchant for the paranormal. Teddy’s exploration into the enigmatic and deadly ‘Campton Ball’ incident, which claimed lives under mysterious circumstances decades ago, drives the narrative into dark, uncharted territories. On the anniversary of this tragedy,...

Project Angel Food's annual Angel Awards returned on Saturday, Sept. 28, to honor six-time Emmy Award winner, five-time NAACP Image Award winner, Golden Globe winner, Debbie Allen Dance Academy and Debbie Allen Middle School founder and philanthropist Debbie Allen with the Humanitarian Angel Award, while Emmy-nominated actor Matt Bomer received the 2024 Angel Award.

Additionally, L.A. Care Health Plan and its CEO, John Baackes, was awarded the Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award. The event, held at Milk Studios in Hollywood while construction is underway on Project Angel Food’s Chuck Lorre Family Foundation Campus, featured a performance by multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated singer Deborah Cox. Funds raised from the Angel Awards will support the organization’s operating costs, as Project Angel Food prepares and delivers more than 1.5 million medically tailored meals each year to people living with life-threatening illnesses at zero cost.

Actress and comedian Loni Love kicked off the event and...

Project Angel Food is holding a spot for Jesse Williams, Fellow Travelers creator Ron Nyswaner, Sandra Lee, chef Stuart O’Keeffe and Jeremy Piven at its upcoming Angel Awards gala.

Taking place at Milk Studios in Hollywood on Saturday, Sept. 28, the event will mark the organization’s 35th anniversary while shining a light on Debbie Allen (Humanitarian Award), Matt Bomer (Angel Award) and L.A. Care Health Plan and its CEO John Baackes (Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award).

Williams will be on hand to present to onetime Grey’s Anatomy colleague Allen, while Nyswaner will offer up a tribute to his Emmy-nominated star and executive producer from the critically acclaimed Showtime series. Lee and chef Stuart O’Keeffe will present the Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award to L.A. Care Health Plan and Baackes.

Matt Bomer and Ron Nyswaner during the Peabody Awards on June 9, 2024.

Jeremy Piven, who recently starred in and produced The Performance,...

Fox Entertainment Studios is developing the first scripted series representation of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, sharing the real-life accounts that emerged from the dark day in the country’s history.

Premiering this October, the four-part anthology series, “One Day in October,” centers on four gritty and unflinching narratives of love, courage, survival and loss. From parental sacrifice and joyful moments turning to torment, to beacons of hope in the heart of chaos, each story reveals profound truths about the senseless carnage of Hamas’ assault, the visceral emotions it released and, as each victim’s world unraveled around them, the perseverance and sheer heroism required to survive.

“’One Day in October’ is among the most powerful projects I’ve seen, let alone been involved with,” head of Fox Entertainment Studios Fernando Szew said in a Monday statement. “Beautifully filmed, yet gut-wrenching, these are stories of people at their best in the midst of unimaginable,...

Variety will honor Molly Ringwald with the Variety Creative Vanguard Award at the Miami Film Festival on Saturday, April 6. The award will be for her outstanding career achievements, earning acclaim from critics and audiences alike.

Ringwald will participate in a Q&a about her extensive work in film and TV with Variety Senior Awards Editor Clayton Davis.

“It’s important to remember that before Molly Ringwald was the iconic young star of John Hughes’ teen angst-driven comedies such as ‘Sixteen Candles,’ ‘Pretty in Pink’ and ‘The Breakfast Club,’ she first starred in Paul Mazursky’s contemporary update of Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest,’” said Steve Gaydos, Variety EVP of Global Content and Executive Editor. “This is important because the secret of Ringwald’s early success and career longevity is the simple fact she has always been one of American film and television’s most gifted and versatile actresses. Her dazzling work this...

The Miami Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 41st edition, including “Thelma,” starring June Squibb, opening the event and Tony Goldwyn’s “Ezra” as closing night selection.

Goldwyn will be honored at the festival with the Art of Light award along with Alison Brie, while Greg Kwedar, director of “Sing Sing,” will receive the Impact Award.

The festival runs April 5-14, with Goldwyn in attendance for the April 13 closing screening of “Ezra,” which stars Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, Robert De Niro, Vera Farmiga, Whoopi Goldberg, and Rainn Wilson.

“This year’s lineup spotlights exciting narrative programming, essential documentaries, and groundbreaking shorts, bringing an unbelievable host of films to our local community,” said James Woolley, Executive Director. “The Miami Film Festival is delighted to welcome our audiences back for another year of incredible screenings and inspiring conversations.”

“We are thrilled to be bringing this incredible slate of diverse and exciting films to Miami,...

How far will you go to deny your identity in order to be a somebody? What happens when you make a deal with a devil whom you might normally despise, but has transfixed much of an entire nation’s population? And how long can you will yourself to ignore evidence of the intolerable? These are just a few of the questions raised — sometimes with allusive finesse, sometimes with blunt-force impact — during “The Performance,” an enthralling period drama with often disquieting contemporary relevance.

If you have roamed through this cinematic territory before, you may discern in Shira Piven’s exceptional film traces of “Cabaret,” “Mephisto” and other tales of ambitious entertainers striving for the spotlight as Adolf Hitler’s shadow spreads over 1930s Germany. But this largely faithful adaptation and intelligent expansion of a 2002 short story by Arthur Miller ultimately stands on its own merits as both vivid historical recreation and riveting cautionary fable,...

Suzanne Shepherd, an actress known for playing mothers to key characters in Goodfellas and The Sopranos, has died. She was 89.

Shepherd died peacefully in her home in New York City early Friday morning, her agent told The Hollywood Reporter.

Shepherd appeared in 20 episodes of The Sopranos as Mary DeAngelis, the mother of Edie Falco’s Carmela Soprano, and played the mother of Lorraine Bracco’s Karen Hill in Goodfellas.

Sopranos actor Ray Abruzzo remembered Shepherd on Instagram, calling her “a force of nature.”

Her other credits include roles in movies like Mystic Pizza, Uncle Buck, Lolita, Requiem for a Dream, Living Out Loud and Working Girl and guest appearances in TV shows like Ed, Blue Bloods, Law & Order and Third Watch.

Shepherd’s last onscreen role was in 2023’s The Performance as Tess.

Born Oct. 31, 1934, Shepherd graduated from Bennington College and studied with Larry Arrick, Herbert Berghoff and Sanford Meisner...

Suzanne Shepherd, best known for her roles in The Sopranos and Goodfellas, has died. She was 89.

The actress passed away Friday morning in her New York City home, her agent confirmed to our sister site Variety.

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Shepherd played Mary DeAngelis, the mother of Edie Falco’s Carmela Soprano, on the HBO crime drama The Sopranos between 2000 and 2007. Ray Abruzzo,...

Suzanne Shepherd, an actor known for her roles in “The Sopranos” and “Goodfellas,” died Friday morning in her home in New York City, her agent confirmed to Variety. She was 89.

Shepherd portrayed Mary DeAngelis, the mother of Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco), in HBO’s crime drama series “The Sopranos,” as well as the mother of Lorraine Bracco’s character Karen Hill in 1990’s “Goodfellas.” She also had roles in “Jacob’s Ladder” (1990), “Trees Lounge” (1996), “Lolita” (1997), “American Cuisine” (1998), “Living Out Loud” (1998), “Requiem for a Dream” (2000), “A Dirty Shame” (2004), “Harold” (2008), “The Week Of” (2018) and “The Performance” (2023), among other films.

Shepherd was born on Oct. 31, 1934. She made her acting debut in the 1988 romcom “Mystic Pizza,” starring Julia Roberts, and appeared in such films as “Working Girl,” “Uncle Buck” and “Second Sight” before working on Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”

On the television side, she guest-starred in “Law & Order,” “Third Watch,” “Ed,” “Blue Bloods,” “Deadline,...

Goodfellas actress Suzanne Shepherd has died aged 89, her family has confirmed.

The veteran actress was best known for her roles in Martin Scorsese’s big screen hit about the mob, as well as The Sopranos on TV.

Fans were quick to pay tribute on social media, with one calling her “the go-to mother actress.” Sopranos star Ray Abruzzo also posted a tribute on Instagram, saying:

“Sad to hear of the passing of Suzanne Shepherd.

“A force of nature. Actress, teacher.”

Shepherd portrayed the mother of the character Karen Hill (played by Lorraine Bracco) in Goodfellas.

In The Sopranos, she played Mary DeAngelis, the mother of Carmela Soprano (played by actress Edie Falco).

Shepherd’s enjoyed a career of more than three decades, after her first role as Aunt Tweedy in 1988’s Mystic Pizza. She also featured in Requiem for a Dream, Uncle Buck and Lolita.

On TV, she appeared in...

Actress Suzanne Shepherd, who is known for ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Goodfellas’ has died at the age of 89, after decades-long career in the acting industry. The death of the late actress is said to have been confirmed by a relative recently, reports Mirror.co.uk. A cause of death however hasn’t been reported.

Over the course of her career, Suzanne – who’s also credited as a theatre director and acting teacher – starred in numerous films and appeared in some TV shows. Her most recent credit is said to have been ‘The Performance’.

The Sun US reported earlier that Suzanne has died, with the news said to have been shared by her granddaughter Isabelle. The outlet stated that a cause of death was not provided and that the family didn’t detail a further statement.

As per Mirror.co.uk, Suzanne played the mother of Karen Hill (played by Lorraine Bracco...

Actress Suzanne Shepherd, who is known for ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Goodfellas’ has died at the age of 89, after decades-long career in the acting industry. The death of the late actress is said to have been confirmed by a relative recently, reports Mirror.co.uk. A cause of death however hasn’t been reported.

Over the course of her career, Suzanne – who’s also credited as a theatre director and acting teacher – starred in numerous films and appeared in some TV shows. Her most recent credit is said to have been ‘The Performance’.

The Sun US reported earlier that Suzanne has died, with the news said to have been shared by her granddaughter Isabelle. The outlet stated that a cause of death was not provided and that the family didn’t detail a further statement.

As per Mirror.co.uk, Suzanne played the mother of Karen Hill (played by Lorraine Bracco...

Actor Vansh Luthra, who is known for his work in Czech film ‘Destination Paradise’, will soon be seen in the Hollywood film ‘The Performance’ in which he will share the screen with Primetime Emmy winning actor Jeremy Piven.

The story of the film revolves around a second-generation Jewish American dancer whose troupe is on tour in Europe and is scouted for a special performance for Adolf Hitler. The film also stars Robert Carlyle, Maimie McCoy and Lara wolf, and is directed by Shira Piven.

Describing his experience working with award-winning actor Jeremy Piven, he told: “It was really nice working with Jeremy, I also had an opportunity to talk to him and understand his process. He was very kind and willing to tell me some tricks and his style of approaching the work. Looking at him preparing for the scene was quite interesting, how he used his props and other...