Movies

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares119 Views

      in Movies

      Jennifer Coolidge Wins First Golden Globe for ‘The White Lotus’

      by

      Jennifer Coolidge, who returned to her role as a needy heiress in the second season of “The White Lotus,” won her first Golden Globe, thanking the people who hired her for years of smaller acting roles that led up to this moment in the spotlight. Directing her attention toward one of those people — the show’s creator, Mike White — Coolidge gave an alternately goofy and heartfelt speech that reduced White to tears, turning it into one of the most memorable moments of the night.“I had such big dreams and expectations as a younger person but what happened was they get sort of fizzled by life,” Coolidge said, having placed her trophy on the ground for safekeeping. “Mike White, you have given me hope for — just, you’ve given me a new beginning.”The award, for best supporting actress in a limited series, comes after Coolidge won her first Emmy last year for her performance in the HBO dramedy’s debut season, which was set at a five-star hotel in Hawaii.Since then, Coolidge’s character, Tanya, a fan favorite for her comic cluelessness and overwrought energy, appeared in Season 2, this time vacationing at a sister property in Sicily with her new husband, Greg. (They were the only returning characters from the first season.)In Season 2, Coolidge was given more space to flex her dramatic acting muscles when, in the finale, she ends up on a yacht full of “high-end gays” whose intentions she begins to question. As one of those companions puts it, Tanya — and by extension, Coolidge — has become the heroine in her own Italian opera.After nearly three decades in film and television (highlights include “American Pie,” “Best in Show” and “Legally Blonde”), Coolidge has received the most critical praise of her career for “The White Lotus,” which also won best limited series on Tuesday.In the speech, Coolidge said White had changed her life in a “million different ways,” noting in an aside that her neighbors actually spoke to her now. (“I was never invited to one party on my hill and now everyone’s inviting me!”)“He’s worried about the world, he’s worried about people, he’s worried about friends of his that aren’t doing well,” Coolidge said of White, adding, “You make people want to live longer — and I didn’t.” More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      Eddie Murphy Gets Cecil B. DeMille Award at Golden Globes

      by

      Eddie Murphy, the actor and comedian, accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”“I’ve been in show business for 46 years, and I’ve been in the movie business for 41 years so this has been a long time in the making,” Murphy said while accepting the award.He didn’t waste the opportunity for a joke, telling all the young artists in the room that he had a blueprint for succeeding: “Pay your taxes, mind your business and keep Will Smith’s wife’s name out your mouth,” he said, adding the expletive that Smith used after slapping Chris Rock onstage at the Academy Awards last year.Murphy, 61, rose to fame in the 1980s as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live,” becoming a dynamic presence on the show. His stand-up specials from that decade, in which he famously performed in leather suits, cemented him as a singular comic talent. After appearing in a string of blockbuster comedies (“48 Hrs.,” “Trading Places,” “Beverly Hills Cop”), Murphy became one of the biggest movie stars in the world.His star kept rising with the 1996 comedy “​​The Nutty Professor,” after which he played a veterinarian who can converse with his patients in “Doctor Dolittle,” voiced Donkey in “Shrek” and appeared as part of the ensemble cast in the Oscar-winning adaptation “Dreamgirls,” which earned him a Golden Globe in 2007. In 2021, he reprised his role as Prince Akeem in the sequel to “Coming to America,” one of Murphy’s biggest hits.Chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s board of directors, the honor has been given to Jane Fonda, Oprah Winfrey, Audrey Hepburn, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington and Robin Williams. More

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in Movies

      Michelle Yeoh Wins Best Actress Golden Globe for ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’

      by

      Michelle Yeoh’s star turn as a multiverse-cruising immigrant mother in the sci-fi comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once” was a hit with both critics and audiences, propelling her to her first Golden Globe. The martial arts star, who has performed in dozens of action films, took on a part that the writer-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert originally wrote for the actor Jackie Chan.Here is her full acceptance speech:Wooo, OK, I’m just going to stand here and take this all in. Forty years, not letting go of this. So just quickly, thank you Hollywood Foreign Press for giving me this honor. It’s been an amazing journey, an incredible fight to be here today. But I think it’s been worth it.I remember when I first came to Hollywood, it was a dream come true until I got here because — look at this face. I came here and was told, “You’re a minority” and I’m, like, “No, that’s not possible.” And then someone said to me [speaking slowly], “You speak English.” I mean, forget about them not knowing Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Asia, India. And then I said, “Yeah, the flight here was about 13 hours long, so I learned.”As time went by — I turned 60 last year. And I think all of you women understand this as the days, the years, and the numbers get bigger, it seems like opportunities start to get smaller as well. And it probably was at a time where I thought, “Hey, come on girl, you had a really, really good run, you worked with some of the best people, Steven Spielberg, Jim Cameron and Dan Boyle.” And so it’s good, it’s all good. Then along came the best gift, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”[music starts]Shut up, please. [Laughter] I can beat you up. And that’s serious. I thank you A24 for believing in these two goofy, insanely smart, wonderful geniuses, the Daniels, who had the courage to write about a very ordinary immigrant, aging woman, mother, daughter, who was trying to do her audit; she was being audited by the I.R.S., played by the most amazing Jamie Lee Curtis. I love you.I was given this gift of playing this woman who resonated so deeply with me and with so many people because at the end of the day, in whatever universe she was at, she was just fighting, fighting for love for her family.And Evelyn Wang was no one without Ke Huy Quan — Raymond Wong — and there was no joy in her life without Stephanie Hsu. The most amazing Stephanie Hsu and my hot dog lover, Jamie Lee Curtis, to Jonathan Wong, my producer, thank you for being there with us every step of the way. My manager, David Unger, and Kit Wong, who believed in me. And this is also for all the shoulders that I stand on, all who came before me who looks like me, and all who are going on this journey with me forward. So thank you for believing in us. Thank you. Thank you so much. More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Movies

      Ke Huy Quan’s Emotional Journey Leads to Golden Globes Win

      by

      All awards season long, Ke Huy Quan, who plays the sweet but ignored husband of a laundromat owner in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” has been winning fans with his heartfelt story: He found early success as a child star in the 1980s. You may remember him as Short Round in Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”; he was also in “The Goonies.” But after a long dry spell when he couldn’t even land a three-line role, he turned to stunt choreography instead. When he saw the success of “Crazy Rich Asians,” he decided to give acting another try, and the first audition he went on led to “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” directed by the team of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.Now 51, he thanked the directors who helped him along the way in his emotional acceptance speech for the Golden Globe for best supporting actor:Wow. Thank you, thank you so much. I was raised to never forget where I came from, and to always remember who gave me my first opportunity. I am so happy to see Steven Spielberg here tonight. Steven, thank you!When I started my career as a child actor in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” I felt so very lucky to have been chosen. As I grew older, I started to wonder if that was it, if that was just luck. For so many years, I was afraid I had nothing more to offer. No matter what I did, I would never surpass what I achieved as a kid.Thankfully more than 30 years later, two guys thought of me. They remembered that kid, and they gave me an opportunity to try again. Everything that has happened since has been unbelievable. Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, thank you so, so much. You have given me more than I could have ever hoped.Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for this incredible honor. Thank you to A24, thank you to our incredible producer, Jonathan Wong, thank you to Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu and our entire family. And last but not least, I want to thank the most important person in my life, the one person that has never stopped believing in me. My wife, I love you with all my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you! More

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      Kevin Costner Couldn’t Get His Golden Globe Due to California Storms

      by

      When the Golden Globes returned to NBC on Tuesday night after last year’s telecast was canceled amid concerns about the organization that gives out the awards, it was an open question whether Hollywood’s biggest stars would come back. Plenty did, making the evening feel in many respects like a return to shows of the past.But a handful of winning actors and actresses were not there to collect their awards.Cate Blanchett, who won for her portrayal of a virtuosic conductor in “Tár,” was not on hand to accept her Globe for best actress in a motion picture drama; she was said to be filming in Britain. And Amanda Seyfried, who won for her portrayal of the failed biotech founder Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout,” was unable to accept her award; she was said to be working on a new musical.Kevin Costner could not pick up his statuette for best actor in a TV drama series for “Yellowstone” for another reason: he was prevented from driving to Beverly Hills from his home in Santa Barbara by the severe rainstorms and flooding that have hit California. Nearly 50,000 residents across California have received evacuation orders, and at least 17 people have died since December.“This is a sad story right now,” said Regina Hall, who accepted his award, as audience members laughed. “He’s stuck in Santa Barbara. Let’s pray, everyone.”Zendaya, who plays the troubled teen in “Euphoria,” won best actress in a TV drama series and was also absent from the award show. The actress apologized on Instagram for not being able to attend, thanked the Golden Globes and shared her admiration for her fellow nominees. More

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in Movies

      Tarnished Golden Globes Return to TV, and Hollywood Plays Along

      by

      The companies behind the tarnished Golden Globe Awards pushed forward with a rehabilitation effort on Tuesday, with Hollywood luminaries making their way through a waterlogged Los Angeles to accept trophies for film and television achievements.The stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael hosted the 80th Globes ceremony, foregoing the typical monologue (zingers about high-wattage attendees) for a subdued opening directly addressing the lack of diversity that kept the show off the air last year. In several moments, a quiet awkwardness fell over the room, as when he noted that the group that awards the Globes didn’t “have a single Black member until George Floyd died.”“One minute, you’re making mint tea at home, the next you’re invited to be the Black face of an embattled white organization,” he continued, explaining how he came to take the gig. “Life really comes at you fast, you know?” He cracked that a friend, upon learning that he would get paid $500,000, told him to “put on a good suit and take them white people’s money.”“The Fabelmans,” a semi-autobiographical family drama from Steven Spielberg, won the Globe for best film, drama, and the award for best director.“I’m really, really happy about this,” Spielberg said while accepting the directing prize. “I’ve been hiding from this story since I was 17 years old.” He joked that his mother, Leah Adler, was in heaven “kvelling about this.”“The Banshees of Inisherin,” a windswept tragicomedy about a moldered friendship, was named best film, musical or comedy, also picking up Globes for Martin McDonagh’s screenwriting and Colin Farrell’s acting.But behind the sharp jokes, fervent acceptance speeches, Champagne and couture lurked another sad truth: After two years of upheaval caused by an ethics, finance and diversity scandal — culminating with NBC’s refusal to broadcast the 2022 ceremony — Hollywood has dropped any pretense that the Globes are meaningful as markers of artistic excellence.The Globes are about business, plain and simple.Most movie studios view the Globes telecast and accompanying red carpet spectacle as crucial marketing opportunities for winter films, especially dramas, which have been struggling at the box office. In a study released in 2021, economists at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania found that, on average, films that win Globes earn an additional $16.5 million in ticket sales.“I’m really, really happy about this,” Steven Spielberg said while accepting the award for best director.Rich Polk/NBC, via Getty Images“The Fabelmans,” which cost $40 million to make, not including marketing, was one of the films with the most to gain. It has collected $13.4 million at the domestic box office since its release in November.James Cameron, a best director nominee for “Avatar: The Way of Water,” had received the memo. He turned a red carpet moment into a sales pitch. “We’re back to theaters — as a society we really need this,” he said. “Enough with the streaming already!”The lead acting Globes for dramas went to Austin Butler (“Elvis”) and Cate Blanchett (“Tár”). Ke Huy Quan was honored for his supporting performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” while Angela Bassett won the Globe for best supporting actress for her regal role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”In a surprise, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon” won the Globe for best television drama. (Awards prognosticators had predicted that “Severance” on Apple TV+ would get the prize.) “Abbott Elementary,” the ABC comedy set in a Philadelphia school, was named best comedy.“Thank you for believing in this show,” Quinta Brunson, the “Abbott Elementary” star and producer, said earlier as she collected the trophy for best actress in a comedy. “It has resonated with the world in a way that I couldn’t even imagine it would have.”“The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Abbott Elementary” had the most nominations going into the night among movies and TV shows. “Banshees” was up for eight film prizes, while “Abbott Elementary” figured into five TV categories.Martin McDonagh, holding the trophy, and Graham Broadbent, a producer, are among the group accepting best film, musical or comedy, for “The Banshees of Inisherin.”Rich Polk/NBC, via Getty ImagesFarrell won the Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical for his baffled “Banshees” performance, taking time to thank studio executives, his co-stars, his family and the donkey that appeared in the film. Michelle Yeoh won best actress in a comedy or musical for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a zany twist on superhero movies.“I think all of you women understand this — as the days, the years and the numbers get bigger, it seems like opportunities start to get smaller,” Yeoh said, noting that she turned 60 last year and referencing the discrimination she has faced in Hollywood. She then started to say how grateful she was for the role when show producers started playing music to nudge her offstage. “Shut up, please,” she said, to cheers, before continuing.Michelle Yeoh won best actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy, for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”Rich Polk/NBC, via Getty ImagesPeople who assist stars behind the scenes (agents, publicists, stylists) will tell you that very few were eager to attend the ceremony, either as nominees or presenters. At least 20 nominees did not attend, including Julia Roberts, Blanchett and Zendaya, who was named best actress in a television drama for “Euphoria.” Some of the no-shows cited work conflicts, but the weather didn’t help, with the event coming on the heels of what meteorologists said was the worst rainstorm to sweep through Los Angeles since 2005.Still, most nominees went through the motions — smiles! smiles! smiles! — because they care greatly about Oscar nominations, and voting by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences begins on Thursday.The Golden Globe Awards broadcast also generates tens of millions of dollars for various Hollywood businesses. Catering companies, party planners, chauffeurs, banquet workers, florists and spray tanners count on the show to generate a significant part of their winter income. “This is so exciting,” Marc Malkin, a senior Variety editor, said at the start of Variety’s red carpet preshow, sounding like he was still trying to convince himself. (Globes producers actually put down a gray carpet for stars to walk, explaining that it was part of a “new palette.” Some of the biggest stars walked the carpet but did not give interviews, perhaps to avoid awkward questions about why they decided to come.)Advertisers bought roughly $50.3 million worth of airtime during NBC’s most recent Globes telecast, according to Kantar, a media research firm. NBC paid about $40 million for rights to this year’s show, money that went to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the unorthodox nonprofit organization that bestows the Globes, and Dick Clark Productions, which mounted the telecast.As host, Carmichael veered from serious to lighthearted to boorish (vulgar language, a Whitney Houston joke) during a ceremony that was notable for the diversity of winners and those in contention. The show even made time for a taped message about freedom by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.Eddie Murphy and the television producer Ryan Murphy (“Pose,” “Glee,” “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) received lifetime achievement awards. Growing up gay in Indiana, Ryan Murphy said, “I never saw a person like me getting an award or even being a character on a TV show.”Eddie Murphy received a lifetime achievement award.Rich Polk/NBC, via Getty ImagesNBC canceled the 2022 telecast amid an ethics, finance and diversity scandal involving the foreign press association. Citing extensive reforms by the group, NBC in September agreed to return the ceremony to its air — under a one-year trial. The press association has overhauled membership eligibility, recruited new members with an emphasis on diversity, enacted a stricter code of conduct and has moved to end its tax-exempt status and transform into a for-profit company with a philanthropic arm. The 96-member organization now has six Black members — up from zero — and has added 103 nonmember voters, a dozen or so of whom are Black.NBC billed the 2023 Globes as “the party of the year” in advertisements. In truth, however, Hollywood tried to pare back the glamour and excess, in part to send a signal — the Globes are still on probation — and in part because studios have been cutting costs and laying off staff to cope with setbacks at their streaming businesses. In the past, the Beverly Hilton has hosted as many as six separate after parties; this time around, there was one scheduled.Even so, the movie capital does not do austerity terribly well. Moët & Chandon was expected to supply more than 100 cases of Champagne, including its Rosé Impérial. Globes attendees were served Icelandic salmon with “citrus-scented celery purée, Maya Pura honey brulée, roasted watermelon radish” and “herb dust.” More

    • 113 Shares199 Views

      in Movies

      Jerrod Carmichael Addresses Scandals That Engulfed the Golden Globes

      by

      He didn’t wait long to get to the point.“I am your host, Jerrod Carmichael,” the comedian began, “and I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’m here ’cause I’m Black.”The Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s history of lacking Black members was an expected comedic target in the first Golden Globes telecast since 2021, when a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed that the association had zero Black members, and scrutinized its financial and ethical practices.“I won’t say they were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died, so do with that information what you will,” Carmichael said.In an opening monologue that was striking for its candor and its window into the inner workings of the organization that puts on the show, Carmichael recounted what went through his head when the producer of the Golden Globes invited him to host.“I’m only being asked to host this, I know, because I’m Black,” he said, calling it a “moral, racial” dilemma. (He said a friend suggested that the $500,000 payment would make it worthwhile.)Carmichael, whose stand-up special “Rothaniel” won an Emmy last year, explained that despite taking the job, he had refused to meet with the association’s president, Helen Hoehne, who — he said he was told — wanted to “educate” him on the changes the organization had made. Carmichael said he wasn’t interested, saying, “I know a trap when I hear a trap.”“I heard they got six new Black members — congrats to them,” Carmichael said facetiously.(The 96-member group now has six Black members — up from zero in 2021 — and has added 103 nonmember voters, a dozen or so of whom are Black.)Carmichael said he still said yes to the job because he wanted to recognize the talent and artistry in the room.“I’m here, truly, because of all of you,” he said. “Regardless of whatever the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s past may be, this is an evening where we get to celebrate.”Here is the full monologue:Welcome to the 80th annual Golden Globe Awards. I am your host, Jerrod Carmichael, and I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’m here because I’m Black.I’ll catch everyone in the room up. If you settle down a little bit, I’ll tell you what’s been going on. This show, the Golden Globe Awards, did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which I won’t say they were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died. So do with what information what you will.I’ll tell you how I got here, why am I here on the stage with you guys tonight. Well, I was at home just drinking tea. And I got a phone call from my man Stephen Hill. Stephen Hill is a great producer and he said, “Jerrod, really I’m honored to be making this phone call.” He said, “I’m producing the 80th Golden Globes, and it would be an honor if you would agree to join as the host.” I was like, “Whoa. Like, one minute you’re making tea at home, the next you’re invited to be the Black face of an embattled white organization.” Life really comes at you fast, you know.So I said, “Stephen, I’m torn, I’ll be honest with you, I’m a little torn because, you know, one, it’s a great opportunity, thank you for the call, but I’m only being asked to host this, I know, because I’m Black.” And Stephen said, “Let me stop you right there, Jerrod.” He said, “You are being asked to host this show because you are talented. You’re being asked to host this show because you are charming.” He said, “You’re being asked to host this show because you are one of the greatest comedians of our generation.”But Stephen’s Black, so what does he know? Like, he’s only producing this show because — they’re not going to tell him why he’s here, either — so I said, “Stephen, this is a lot for me, let me call you back.”So I did what I do when I have a moral, racial dilemma. I call the home girl Avery who, for the sake of this monologue, represents every Black person in America. And I said to Avery, I said, “Avery, they asked me to host, and I said, you know, what should I do?” And she said, “Oh, bookie, I’m so proud of you, now remind me, which awards show is that again?” And I told her what the show was, and I told her about how last year didn’t air because of the no-Black-people thing. And she was like, “Well, how much are they paying you?” And I said, “Well, Avery, it’s not about the money honestly, it’s about the moral question of —” And she said, “Jerrod, enough of all that, how much are they paying you?” And I said, “$500,000.” And she said, “Boy, if you don’t put on a good suit and take some white people money —”And I kind of forget that, like, where I’m from, like, we all live by a strict take-the-money mentality. I bet Black informants for the F.B.I. in the ’60s, their families were still proud of them like they were — like, “Did you hear about Clarence’s new job? They’re paying him $8 an hour just to snitch on Dr. King. It’s a good government job.”And I called Stephen back, and I said, “I’m happy to do this.” And I was really proud of that decision until I got an email from my publicist saying that Helen, the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, wanted to have a one-on-one sit-down with me and I said, no thanks. I know a trap when I hear a trap, and I thought it went away, then it came back.I was like, “Well, they’re not really asking, Jerrod, they’re insisting that you take the meeting.” And I’m like, “Or what? They’re going to fire me? “They haven’t had a Black host in 79 years, they’re going to fire the first — I’m unfireable.”And it came back again a third time, they were, like, “You know, Jerrod, Helen really just wants to educate you on the changes that the organization has made in regards to diversity.” And I’ll be totally honest with everyone here tonight. I don’t really need to hear that. I took this job assuming they hadn’t changed at all. I heard they got six new Black members, whatever, congrats to them, but not why I’m here.I’m here truly because of all of you. I look out into this room and I see a lot of talented people — like, people that I admire, people that I would like to be like, and people that I’m jealous of and people that are really incredible artists. And regardless of whatever the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s past may be, this is an evening where we get to celebrate. And I think this industry deserves evenings like these. I’m happy you all are here. And we’ll have some fun tonight. More

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      Vatican Pledges to Look Into Emanuela Orlandi Disappearance

      by

      Vatican officials said they would reopen a cold case that has gripped Italians, spawned countless theories and been the subject of a Netflix documentary series.ROME — Four decades after the daughter of a Vatican employee vanished from a street in Rome while walking home from a music lesson, a case that has spawned endless theories by a transfixed Italian public is getting a fresh look, a prosecutor said Tuesday.The Vatican’s top prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi, said his office would try to “give answers” to the family of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, who was last seen on June 22, 1983.Although Emanuela’s survivors have pressed the Vatican for years for information, the prosecutor’s sudden decision to look into one of Italy’s most famous cold cases took them by surprise.“You have to explain why the case was reopened now,” a lawyer for the family, Laura Sgro, said Tuesday. “We hope that the prosecutor’s will is effectively real and will come to something soon.”Her last filing on the case, Ms. Sgro noted, was 2019. Then in late 2021, she followed up with a letter written to Pope Francis telling the pontiff that new information had emerged that the family hoped to share with the Vatican.Francis urged her to contact the Vatican prosecutor “in the spirit of full cooperation,” but when she reached out to Mr. Diddi a year ago, she got no response, Ms. Sgro said.Over the decades, the family’s quest to discover what happened to the teenager has taken many tortuous twists. Reports have variously linked her fate to the Sicilian Mafia, Bulgarian agents, a notorious Roman crime gang and the assassination attempt on John Paul II, by way of an American archbishop involved in a major Italian banking scandal.Previous investigations led nowhere. One involved the exhumation of bones from a crypt in a church in Rome, and another a search for evidence in a Vatican cemetery, which the Vatican allowed.A photograph released by Vatican Media showing the opening of the ossuary at the Teutonic Cemetery in the Vatican as part of an inquiry into the case of Emanuela Orlandi in 2019.Vatican Media, via Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesUntil this week, the Vatican has never formally investigated the case itself, saying that the disappearance took place on Italian soil. Mr. Diddi said that after becoming chief Vatican prosecutor three months ago, he began reviewing the requests made to it over the years by the Orlandi family. “We are putting in order all the things that have been presented to us,” he said.Though dozens of books and documentaries have focused on the case in Italy, it received greater exposure after the release on Netflix last October of a four-part series titled “Vatican Girl,” which explores the various theories that have emerged about her disappearance. The series also took the Vatican to task for not carrying out its own investigation and not doing more to help Italian authorities over the decades.“It was the first time the story was told internationally,” said Chiara Messineo, the producer of the series, and it engaged audiences with “the story of a family that lost a daughter and a sister, that is very much also the story of a small pawn caught up” in a global chessboard.Ms. Messineo, speaking from her home in London, said she believed the popularity of the series had increased the pressure on the Vatican “so that they had to do something.”An undated picture of Emanuela Orlandi.via Associated PressMs. Sgro, the lawyer, said a request made by lawmakers last month to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the girl’s disappearance, along with two other cold cases, may have also prompted the Vatican to finally act.“There is evidence that the Vatican knows much more than it has let on,” Senator Carlo Calenda told reporters at a news conference at which the proposal was presented in December.The proposal for a parliamentary commission must be approved by both chambers of Parliament to get off the ground.“We are a great secular nation that treats the Vatican with respect,” Mr. Calenda said, “but certainly cannot consider this case closed in the way it’s been closed.”The Vatican, too, has an interest in solving the mystery of Emanuela’s fate, he said, because the truth “always comes out in the end.” More