Variety has hired Guy Lodge as its new chief film critic. Lodge, who has contributed criticism to Variety since 2011, will partner with the magazine’s other chief film critic, Owen Gleiberman, to review major studio releases and arthouse films, as well as cover film festivals around the world.
Lodge will be based in London.
He replaces Peter Debruge, who ended his 20-year tenure at Variety in February and was recently tapped to serve as director of the SXSW Film & TV Festival.
In addition to his work for Variety, Lodge has been a weekly film columnist for The Observer newspaper in the U.K. since 2013. His work has also appeared in The Guardian, Sight & Sound, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and Attitude magazine in the U.K.
“In the last 15 years, Guy has elevated Variety‘s film criticism with some of the best written reviews in the business,” said Ramin Setoodeh, Variety‘s co-president and co-editor in chief. “With Guy’s new role, based out of London, Variety solidifies its commitment to continuing to invest in criticism at film festivals around the world and shining a spotlight on essential voices in global cinema. We are thrilled to welcome Guy to the Variety team.”
“Reviewing for Variety has been the honor of my critical career since I began here as a freelancer in 2011, and over the last 15 years, my bond with the publication has become a defining one,” Lodge said. “So it feels like absolutely the right moment to join the Variety family full-time as a film critic, across the pond from my colleague Owen Gleiberman. I couldn’t be more excited to succeed my friend Peter Debruge in the role, and to continue and build upon his dedicated work in leading our formidable global team of reviewers — whether covering the blockbusters you can’t wait to see, or discovering the independent and international gems that aren’t yet on your radar. The great joy of writing about film is that, in a sense, you get to write about everything: In this new role, I plan to continue doing just that.”
Born in Johannesburg, Lodge grew up in South Africa, the UK and the US. He studied French and film studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) then moved to London to complete an MA in screenwriting at the London Film School. Lodge’s film journalism career started as a critic and reporter for the website In Contention.
Lodge currently serves as the vice chair of the London Film Critics’ Circle, nomination committee chair for the British Independent Film Awards, and is a voting member of BAFTA.
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