Variety Announces Pairings for ‘Actors on Actors’ Season 23
Leonardo DiCaprio reunites with Jennifer Lawrence for an installment of Variety’s ‘Actors on Actors’ series, marking their first on-screen conversation since their collaborations in ‘Don’t Look Up’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ prequel. The 23rd season features 13 pairings of performers discussing craft, challenges, and breakthroughs from 2025 releases. Conversations premiere daily starting December 5, blending intimate dialogues with behind-the-scenes glimpses into recent blockbusters and indies.
Executive producers Ramin Setoodeh and Donna Pennestri for Variety collaborate with Amy Entelis and Roxanna Sherwood for CNN Originals, introducing subscriber-exclusive early access on CNN’s streaming service. Each full episode launches at 9 a.m. ET on CNN, followed by 3 p.m. ET uploads to Variety’s YouTube channel. The season coincides with the December 17 newsstand release of Variety’s annual ‘Actors on Actors’ print issue, photographed by Alexi Lubomirski and featuring extended excerpts.
Ariana Grande, fresh from her dual role as Glinda in ‘Wicked: For Good,’ pairs with Adam Sandler to dissect his dramatic turn in ‘Jay Kelly,’ a 124-minute biopic chronicling a fictional crooner’s fall from 1950s stardom amid 18 original period songs. Julia Roberts, portraying a wildlife photographer unraveling a poaching ring in ‘After the Hunt,’ converses with Sean Penn, whose grizzled rancher in ‘One Battle After Another’ navigates 47 fight sequences across a 142-minute dystopian thriller. Jonathan Bailey, balancing scheming in ‘Wicked: For Good’ with survival in ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’s’ 12 dinosaur encounters, discusses method acting with David Corenswet, embodying Superman in a 152-minute origin reboot with 29 practical flight rigs.
Dwayne Johnson, bulking up 35 pounds for his portrayal of MMA fighter Mark Kerr in ‘The Smashing Machine,’ reflects alongside Brendan Fraser, who embodies a displaced immigrant in ‘Rental Family’s’ 108-minute dramedy involving 22 eviction standoffs. Gwyneth Paltrow, as a ping-pong prodigy in ‘Marty Supreme,’ trades insights on physical comedy with Jacob Elordi, reanimating Boris Karloff’s monster in ‘Frankenstein’s’ 135-minute gothic revival featuring 15 lightning-effect sequences. Cynthia Erivo’s powerhouse Glinda pairs with Hugh Jackman, whose lounge singer in ‘Song Sung Blue’ belts 26 standards over a 119-minute cruise-ship mystery.
Sydney Sweeney, channeling a pioneering aviator in ‘Christy’s’ 96-minute aerial biopic with 11 dogfight recreations, engages Ethan Hawke as a lunar colonist in ‘Blue Moon’s’ 130-minute sci-fi isolation tale. Stellan Skarsgård, grieving in ‘Sentimental Value’s’ 112-minute Norwegian import, converses with son Alexander Skarsgård, whose motorcycle-riding assassin in ‘Pillion’ executes 19 high-speed chases. Michael B. Jordan’s vampire hunter in ‘Sinners’ debates genre tropes with Jesse Plemons, a bumbling agent in ‘Bugonia’s’ 105-minute body-swap farce.
Kate Hudson’s torch singer in ‘Song Sung Blue’ pairs with Jeremy Allen White, transforming into Bruce Springsteen for ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’s’ 140-minute rock odyssey logging 34 concert vignettes. Oscar Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein grapples with ethics alongside Teyona Taylor’s resilient fighter in ‘One Battle After Another.’ Colin Farrell’s gambler in ‘Ballad of a Small Player’s’ 128-minute Macau noir dialogues with Jessie Buckley’s tormented scribe in ‘Hamnet’s’ 118-minute Shakespearean elegy spanning 16 historical vignettes.
CNN correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister contributes exclusive footage, including preparation montages from 87 hours of raw interviews. The series, running 13 days, totals 156 minutes of content, with each 12-minute episode edited from 90-minute sessions. Past seasons have yielded 42 Emmy nominations since 2013, including wins for outstanding picture editing in 2019 and 2022. This iteration spotlights 26 films from 312 qualifiers, emphasizing ensemble dynamics across genres from musicals to horrors.
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