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This is our final round-up before the end of 2024, and it’s a good one. There are plenty of gift ideas lurking here––some choices to enjoy during time off, too. Note also that The Film Stage Holiday Gift Guide includes a list of my favorite cinema books from the last 12 months. One of those picks kicks off this column, and it is written by none other than the great Al Pacino.

Sonny Boy by Al Pacino (Penguin Press)

Al Pacino’s memoir, Sonny Boy, is easily one of the most eagerly awaited books of 2024. And for me, this look at the actor’s life and career more than lives up to the hype. Many highlights have already earned some social-media chatter––most notably young Al’s penis trauma (!), a near-death experience after a recent bout with Covid, and the reasons behind his decision to do Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill.

As Ilana Kaplan put the finishing touches on her debut book “Nora Ephron at the Movies,” she was planning a celebration that many of the acclaimed and beloved filmmaker’s own characters pine for. “I had just finished the book right before the wedding,” Kaplan told Indiewire over the phone.

Unsurprisingly, simultaneously organizing her wedding while perfecting her visual celebration of the journalist, director, and writer behind “When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless In Seattle,” and “You’ve Got Mail” ascended Kaplan to a “new level of anxiety” and left her “brain a little broken.” Looking back, Kaplan calls it a “beautiful experience,” as she was able to live “in this rom-com world and plan a wedding at the same time.” Kaplan found it particularly hysterical because, growing up, she admits to being “delusional” and thinking her life would unfold like a romcom. “I would make up scenarios in my head about...

After Barbie‘s awards season promo run, we’re kinda Barbie‘d out, but an exception will be made for Miss Kelly Clarkson!

On Thursday, the singer and talk show host performed the Oscar-winning song “What Was I Made For?” and gave the Billie Eilish track her own twist by adding some Clarkson-esque high notes with sweet moments from My Band Y’all’s pianist and guitarist.

“Think I forgot how to be happy/Something I’m not, but something I can be,” Clarkson sang. “Something I wait for/Something I’m made for.

A nanny who worked with the actors Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis to take care of their two children before their break-up has disputed the timeline provided by them of their split and also accused Sudeikis of several outbursts directed towards her and Wilde when he learned about Wilde’s relationship with Harry Styles.

The nanny spoke with the Daily Mail who kept her identity anonymous, and Wilde and Sudeikis have denied her claims calling them “false and scurrilous.”

She claimed that Wilde’s assertion that she met Styles months after her split with Sudeikis in early-2020 was untrue.

The nanny alleged that Wilde began her relationship with the pop singer weeks after she started filming Don’t Worry Darling in the fall of 2020 and dumped Sudeikis suddenly in November.

Wilde may have started spending more time away from their home because of a Covid-19 outbreak on the film set, but...

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Jennifer Coolidge won her first Emmy for her scene-stealing performance in HBO’s The White Lotus, and delighted audiences yet again with her reaction to getting played off stage at the Microsoft Theater.

Coolidge bested four also-nominated White Lotus co-stars (Connie Britton, Alexandra Daddario, Natasha Rothwell and Sydney Sweeney) to take home the award for outstanding supporting actress in a limited series at the 2022 Emmys for her role as tortured socialite Tanya McQuoid.

“I just want to say I took a lavender bath tonight right before the show and it made me swell up inside my dress and I’m having a hard time speaking,” Coolidge said. “This is so thrilling because … I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

Coolidge began fumbling out a written acceptance speech while declaring, “Hold on, wait, wait, I love you,” and thanking various producers and executives and agents.

Ascap usually maintains a packed schedule in Los Angeles in June with separate gala pop and screen music ceremonies as well as its open-to-the-public “Experience” (formerly Expo) conference. All those events are being taken online in this quarantine year, and the performing rights organization revealed a slew of activity on Monday that is set to virtually go down in the coming two weeks.

The Ascap Pop Awards will take place online over two days, this Wednesday and Thursday. The awards themselves will be unveiled on Wednesday. The second day of the pop awards celebration will overlap with a single-day component of what’s being called the Ascap Experience Home Edition, a virtual version of the conference, to be capped by a conversation between Finneas, Billie Eilish’s Grammy-winning collaborator, and Glen Hansard, of “Once” and Swell Season fame.

The following week, the Ascap Screen Awards will unfold on social media...

Halsey‘s third album “Manic” was released on January 17, and it’s a creative leap for the 25-year-old singer-songwriter. At least, that’s according to critics.

Music journos have been weighing in since the collection was released, and it has a MetaCritic score of 85 based on eight reviews as of this writing: all of them positive, none of them negative. That’s a huge improvement from her previous LP, “Hopeless Fountain Kingdom” (2017), which scored 66 based on 10 reviews, half of which were mixed.

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“Manic” is being described as a “raw autobiographical portrait,” a “chaotic amalgamation of self-analysis, rage, depression, ecstasy and growth.” Her singing has a “pleading tone” and “raspy edges,” and it’s “growing more expressive” over time. She demonstrates “lyricacl confidence,” resulting in “a major label pop album with real drama and humanity.”

Will it be a Grammy breakthrough...

The talents on Variety’s annual Young Hollywood Impact Report have all made an impact on showbiz in the past year. They may be singers, actors or YouTube stars, but they share one thing in common: show-stopping creativity. This year’s list includes several actors nominated for Emmys, like Jharrel Jerome for Netflix’s “When They See Us;” Joey King for “The Act” on Hulu; and Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams for the final season of “Game of Thrones” on HBO. YouTubers like David Dobrik, Makenna Kelly and JoJo Siwa, each boasting millions of loyal subscribers, have made their way onto the list. Music acts like the all-female K-Pop group Blackpink, rapper Juice Wrld and singer Billie Eilish also made the list this year.

Variety also honors the adults that help them shine, be they agents or content execs. Finally, our Up Next section puts the spotlight on talent poised for a breakthrough.