Rami Malek and Tom Sturridge's Steamy '80s NYC Drama Is About to Dominate Cannes

Rami Malek's Cannes Competition Drama Locks In French Distribution Before Its World Premiere

Ira Sachs' The Man I Love has secured French distribution ahead of its world premiere in competition at Cannes. Alexandre Mallet-Guy's Memento will release the film in France. The deal was brokered through MK2 Films, which represents the film internationally — the same partnership that previously handled Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident and Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value, winners of the Palme d'Or and Grand Prize, respectively, at last year's Cannes.

Set in late-'80s New York, the film follows Jimmy George — played by Oscar winner Rami Malek — described as an iconic figure in the theater world living with a devoted lover. "Faced with the death that awaits him, his thirst to live and create, to desire and to love one last time, is stronger than anything else," reads the official synopsis. The film paints a picture of artists and friends for whom creativity has become a form of survival. Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach round out the cast. Sachs co-wrote the script with longtime collaborator Mauricio Zacharias.

Mallet-Guy called the film a "universal work that speaks above all of unwavering love and resilience." This marks Sachs' return to Cannes competition — the most prestigious slot in world cinema.

Gobble's Take: A Malek-led Cannes competition drama about art, mortality, and love already has awards-season oxygen before a single frame has screened publicly.

Source: Variety

Duran Duran and Nile Rodgers Are Back — and the Mirrorball Is Spinning Again

Dark days are in the rearview. Duran Duran have dropped "Free to Love" (via Tape Modern), a collaboration with Nile Rodgers that pays homage to the late-'70s era when tight rhythm sections collided with funk and glitter on the dancefloor. If it evokes Chic's "Good Times," that's no accident — Rodgers is the architect of that sound, and his fingerprints are all over this one. Frontman Simon Le Bon sings: "Be free to win or lose / do what you want to do / be free to see it through / out there I'm free to love."

The Rodgers connection runs deep. Their working relationship stretches back to 1984's "The Reflex" — the first of Duran Duran's two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits, followed by "A View to a Kill" in 1985. The new track arrives with a Jonas Åkerlund-directed video shot like a throwback episode of Top of the Pops, the seminal British chart show where Duran Duran were regulars in the '80s. Founding bassist John Taylor showing up with blonde spiky hair is a detail that will mean something to any Duranie.

The release marks a shift from the band's Halloween-leaning Danse Macabre era (2023, peaked at No. 4 on the U.K. chart). Duran Duran have a packed 2026 schedule ahead, including a Las Vegas residency at Bleaulive at the Fontainebleau and a headline date July 5 at BST Hyde Park.

Gobble's Take: A band that helped invent the '80s doesn't need to chase nostalgia — they just need to show up, and they did.

Source: Billboard

Netflix's Stranger Things Animated Spinoff Is Already Getting Torched by Critics — But One Voice Is Saving It

Odessa A'zion — the sharp breakout from Hellraiser (2022) — steps into the Upside Down as a quick-witted new teen, and her voice performance is the one thing reviewers can't stop pulling out of an otherwise brutal pile-on. Stranger Things: Tales From '85 is Netflix's animated spinoff set between seasons 2 and 3, following Mike, Dustin, and the rest of the Hawkins crew against a fresh wave of monster threats in a style aimed younger and friendlier than the live-action series. Janeane Garofalo voices a snarky adult ally. Critics, however, are calling the show "dull and unambitious" — a cash-grab filler drop that recycles plots and flattens the atmosphere fans actually love.

The gap feels enormous when you stack it against what Netflix animation can do — Arcane won nine Emmys in a single night. This lands right as fans are already counting down, desperately, to Season 5. A'zion's clips are reportedly already circulating on TikTok, her character's delivery giving the internet the meme-ready moments the actual show fails to earn. It won't hurt her career — it might accidentally launch it.

The show may be forgettable, but she is not.

Gobble's Take: Skip the show, hunt down A'zion's clips — your next binge crush is hiding inside this flop.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Elsa Pataky Stars In and Executive Produces New SkyShowtime Thriller The Tribute

Elsa Pataky is expanding her role behind the camera. The Spanish actress — known for her work in the Fast & Furious franchise and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga — stars in and executive produces The Tribute (El Homenaje), a new Spanish original series for SkyShowtime available in more than 20 markets across Europe. The series was directed by Sergio Cánovas, who also serves as executive producer alongside Pataky. It premieres with four episodes, followed by the remaining four on April 30.

The Tribute centers on the powerful Novak family gathering to celebrate patriarch Adolfo Novak's 80th birthday — an occasion that unravels into secrets, betrayals, and revenge. The ensemble cast includes Eusebio Poncela, in his final fiction role before his death, alongside Luis Tosar, Juana Acosta, Enrique Arce, Manu Ríos, Álvaro Rico, and Ángela Molina, among others. The series was produced by Secuoya Studios and Stellarmedia in association with SkyShowtime and in collaboration with Prime Video, which holds second-window rights. Pataky also revealed that a surprising cameo from her real-life family made it into the show, though she didn't elaborate on specifics in the source interview.

Pataky described the producer role as "very natural," crediting director Cánovas — a close friend — with encouraging her to step into it after the two previously collaborated on Shades.

Gobble's Take: Pataky is building creative leverage fast, and The Tribute's multi-platform deal suggests SkyShowtime is betting real money on it.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• Sydney Sweeney Got Cut From Devil Wears Prada 2 — And "Creative Decision" Is Doing a Lot of Heavy Lifting
• Hilarie Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan Have Been Married for Years — And You've Heard Almost Nothing About It
• RAYE Performed Twice on Colbert and Neither Song Needed a Feature to Demolish the Room
• Olivia Dean's "Man I Need" Hit One Billion Streams — With Zero Hype Machine Behind It