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After playing the original masked avenger in the Cesar-winning, smash hit “The Count of Monte Cristo,” Pierre Niney is starring as a charismatic, yet toxic superstar coach in “Guru,” Yann Gozlan’s gripping psychological thriller which Studiocanal will introduce to buyers at the Cannes market this week.

Gozlan, who is presenting his latest film “Dalloway” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is reteaming with Niney for the third time, following “An Ideal Man” and “Black Box,” two of Gozlan’s most successful films.

Niney stars in “Guru” opposite Marion Barbeau, Anthony Bajon and Holt McCallany. Along with headlining “Guru,” Niney is also co-producing the movie with Marc-Henri De Busschere via his banner Ninety Films, with Wassim Beji at Wy Productions producing. Studiocanal will release the film in France on Jan. 28 on top of handling international sales on it.

Ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, Niney spoke to Variety about...

European sales banner Newen Connect has boarded “Haunted Minds,” a psychological thriller directed by Belgian filmmaker Lucas Belvaux (“This Is Our Land”) on the eve of the European Film Market in Berlin.

“‘Haunted Minds” is led by a sexy cast, including Niels Schneider and Ramzy Bedia, who both starred in Xavier Giannoli’s acclaimed limited series “Of Money and Blood.” Deborah François (“Savage State”) and Linh-dan Pham (“Mr. Nobody”) complete the cast.

The movie, which is based on a Belgian novel penned by Belvaux, revolves around a skilled army veteran Skender suffering from Ptsd who’s been estranged from his children and their mother, and is now homeless. “Out of the blue, Max, his former sergeant, approaches him with a life-changing offer, to be the pray of a man. If Skender agrees to the offer, his family will receive a large sum of money upon his death. However, if he survives for one month,...

Rai Adapting Mario Tobino’s Tuscan World War Two Novel

Italy’s Rai is adapting Mario Tobino’s influential novel Le Libere Donne di Magliano- Mondadori Libri. Endemol Shine Italy and Rai Fiction are producing the adaptation, which is set in Tuscany during the Second World War and follows a psychiatrist challenging the repressive confines of a women’s psychiatric hospital. Within this microcosm of society, some women find solace and an unexpected sense of freedom within a restrictive society, while others are unjustly confined for defying societal norms. The series stars Lino Guanciale, Grace Kicaj, Gaia Messerklinger and Fabrizio Biggio. Endemol Italy boss Leonardo Pasquinelli said: “This co-production illustrates our strong partnership with Rai and our combined commitment to deliver high-quality, culturally significant stories. Le Libere Donne is a powerful narrative of resilience, freedom and self-worth, bridging period drama with contemporary relevance, showcasing the impactful work of Mario Tobino.

Unifrance on Tuesday unveiled the nine nominees for its TV export awards, which honor the French television shows that have sold the most worldwide.

This year’s fiction contenders include Marie Antoinette, a historical epic on the iconic French queen, produced by Canal+ and the BBC and sold internationally by Banijay Rights; the art heist drama Cat’s Eyes, from TF1, Amazon Prime, Germany’s Zdf and Rai in Italy, which was a strong seller for Newen Connect at Mipcom in October; and Of Money and Blood, a crime thriller from Canal+ based on a real-life carbon tax swindle, which StudioCanal launched at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year.

In non-fiction, the France TV documentary Eiffel Tower: Building the Impossible, on the Eiffel Tower’s untold origin story, goes up against Newen Connect’s Russia: Indoctrination of a Nation, about Russians living under the Putin regime; and D-Day: 100 Days for Freedom,...

French pandemic drama “The Plague,” based on Albert Camus’ novel “La Peste,” has sold to multiple European territories, Variety has learned.

The show has sold to AMC Networks International Southern Europe where it will launch on SundanceTV in Spain and AMC in Portugal while Proximus has acquired the show for Belgium. It premiered in France on France 2 in March, immediately toping the ratings. It has also been selected at the French Drama Festival in Korea, where it will premiere on Sept. 9.

Helmed by “Call My Agent” director Antoine Garceau, the four-part series stars Frédéric Pierrot (“In Treatment”), Hugo Becker (“Gossip Girl”), Sofia Essaïdi (“Women at War”), Judith Chemla (“Of Money and Blood”) and Johan Heldenbergh (“Alabama Monroe”).

It follows a disparate group of people who find themselves grappling personally and professionally with a new virus threatening the planet. Among them is Dr Rieux (Pierrot), a rebel hero who risks his...

European TV distributors are weighing up the impact of the global streaming reset — and a key challenge is explaining the value of content to producers and global streamers.

In an opening Meet the Distributors session featuring French firms Newen Studios, Studiocanal, Mediawan Rights and Oble, Austria’s Orf Enterprises and Germany’s Bavaria Media here at Seriencamp in Cologne, the topic of how content is priced internationally a key theme.

Charles Toubout, Head of Content at Mediawan Rights, said he had been approached about a European project whose first season was financed through an all-rights deal with a global streamer. Newen’s investment was sought to fill gaps in the budget and get a second season into production, with the streamer keen to keep the show in some territories, but also unwilling to fully finance it. “It is more an adjustment of value,” he said.

The streamer had contacted Mediawan...

French director Yann Gozlan is set to reunite with Pierre Niney, the French star of his two most successful movies “Un homme idéal” and “Black Box,” for his next film, “Gourou.”

“Gourou” is being co-produced by Wassim Beji at Wy Productions, the Paris-based company behind “Black Box and “Un Homme Ideal,” and Niney’s banner Ninety Films.

While the plot is currently under wraps, the project is being teased as a deep dive into the world of coaching and follows the rise of a personal development guru who turns out to be toxic. The script is by Jean-Baptiste Delafon, whose credits include “Of Money and Blood” which played at Venice, and Gozlan.

One of France’s most bankable and busiest French actors, Niney won a Cesar Award for his performance as French fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent in Jalil Lespert’s biopic in 2015, and went on to work with Anne Fontaine...

Michael Douglas, Kyle MacLachlan, Ella Purnell and Daniel Brühl are among the high-caliber stars who will take part in the seventh edition of Canneseries. The robust lineup, unveiled today by Canneseries’ artistic director Albin Lewi at a press conference in Paris, boasts the world premiere of Apple TV+’s “Franklin,” starring Michael Douglas as one of the Founding Fathers, and Disney+’s “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld” with Daniel Brühl as the acid-tongued designer.

“Franklin,” which will also close the event, is directed by industry veteran Tim Van Patten, behind “Boardwalk Empire” and “Games of Thrones.” Douglas won an Emmy for playing Liberace in “Behind the Candelabra.”

MacLachlan and Purnell will be on the ground to present the international premiere of “Fallout,” the much-anticipated Prime Video show that’s based on a massively popular video game. Both will be feted during the 7th edition of the event, picking up the Canal+ Icon...

European powerhouse Studiocanal, part of Vivendi’s Canal+ Group, has rolled out robust sales on Xavier Dolan’s Sundance-selected psychological thriller “The Night Logan Woke Up,” Spanish period drama “The Vow” and a bevy of first documentaries.

The deals underscore the continuing upside for Studiocanal of illustrious cinema talent exploring premium TV direction, as well as the company’s beneficial diversification into documentary sales and daily series.

A Sundance world premiere and Canal+ original based on Michel Marc Bouchard’s play “La Nuit où Laurier Gaudreault s’est réveille,” “The Night Logan Woke Up” has sold to Netflix for the U.S., Star Channel Japan, Sbs Australia, Filmin for Spain and Portugal and Wdr Germany, among major territories.

Among a slew of deals, “Logan,” which marks the first TV series from Cannes Jury Prize-winning Quebecois actor-director Dolan, has also been licensed by Studiocanal to BeTV Belgium, Lumiere Benelux, Ltv Latvia,...

As earning significant profile for shows in a packed marketplace has become one of Europe’s most pressing industry concerns, a new and ambitious TV series festival is launching in Cadiz, southern Spain, as an initiative of Mediaset España and backed by shows from other key players on the Spanish TV scene, such as The Mediapro Studio and Movistar Plus+.

Speakers from the Spanish-speaking world take in writer-director-producer Armando Bo (“El Presidente”), an Oscar winning scribe for “Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance,” and Daniel Écija, an executive producer on key hits in the last decade in Spain such as the multi-genre free-to-air series “Estoy Vivo,” and “Locked Up” “(Vis a vis,” a key into its lift-off into premium drama selling worldwide.

Some titles screening at Cadiz are already celebrated, such as Russell T. Davies’ “Nolly,” starring Helena Bonham-Carter.

Also in the Coming Next section is Norwegian political satire “Power Play,...

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

This week we head to the Venice Film Festival to check out French director Xavier Giannoli’s international crime thriller Of Money and Blood, which world premiered in its official selection on August 31 to a buzzy reception.

Name: Of Money and Blood

Country: France

Network: Canal+

Distributor: Studiocanal

Where can I watch: Canal+ in France from October

For fans of: Michael Mann’s The Insider, Martin Scorsese’s Wall Street, Oliver Stone’s JFK, Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic

French writer-director Xavier...

The 2023 Venice Film Festival is underway, and while the Hollywood strikes have kept the bulk of the stars from attending the lauded fest, the red carpet isn’t entirely devoid of actors and has been host to a number of filmmakers from Wes Anderson to Michael Mann (directors are not on strike). Actors like “Ferrari” star Adam Driver were able to attend after receiving an Interim Agreement from SAG-AFTRA that allows for independent productions that adhere to SAG-AFTRA’s terms to move forward during the strike.

This gallery will be updated as the festival continues, but right now peruse red carpet photos featuring Driver, Mann, Anderson, Patrick Dempsey, Caleb Landry Jones, Jane Campion, Mads Mikkelsen, Anna Diop, David Fincher, Sofia Coppola and more.

Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Leonie Hanne arrives on the red carpet ahead of the “Finalmente L’Alba” screening during the 80th Venice International Film Festival...

Xavier Giannoli is one of those rare French directors who has a stronger relationship with the Venice Film Festival than Cannes back home.

He has competed for Venice’s Golden Lion three times in the last decade with Superstar (2012), Marguerite (2015) and the sumptuous Honoré de Balzac adaptation Lost Illusions (2021).

The filmmaker is back for a fourth time this year playing Out of Competition with his first-ever drama series, the international thriller Of Money And Blood. All 12 episodes will world premiere in a marathon screening on Thursday, with further seances at the back end of the festival.

Liberally adapted from the eponymous book by investigative journalist Fabrice Arfi, the series delves into a real-life, carbon credit tax scam, which swindled the French state of at least $1.7 billion, in an operation that came to be known as the “fraud of the century” when it came to trial in 2018.

Related: Venice Film Festival...

After “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen will return to the French capital for his 50th movie which he’s described as a “poisonous romantic thriller” with a pair of French stars, Valerie Lemercier (“Aline”) and Niels Schneider (“Love Affair(s))”.

The untitled film, the plot of which is being kept under wraps, will start filming next month and will be entirely in French with a budget in the 10-million range. Allen has described the film to be similar to “Match Point,” in that it would be “exciting, dramatic and also very sinister.”

Allen sparked headlines earlier this week after Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia ran a story reporting that the New York-based filmmaker had told them he was planning on retiring. Allen’s representative then issued a statement saying that the director had “no intention of retiring.”

Lemercier is a popular French actor-director whose latest film “Aline,” a movie about Celine Dion,...