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Artificial, the upcoming movie from director Luca Guadagnino, has just added a Bridesmaids (2011) alum to its stacked cast. After Challengers (2024) and Queer (2024), Guadagnino's sights are now set on a comedy-drama about OpenAI, the tech company behind ChatGPT.

The Amazon MGM film features an impressive lineup of actors, with Andrew Garfield now confirmed to be playing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Artificial is also set to feature performances by Monica Barbaro, Jason Schwartzman, Ike Barinholtz, Cooper Hoffman, and Yura Borisov.

THR now reports that actor Chris O'Dowd has joined the cast of Artificial. No details about O'Dowd's character have been released just yet, but the film will mark the actor's first movie role since 2022's Slumberland. O'Dowd will be best known to many for playing Rhodes in Bridesmaids.

The report also notes that Artificial is currently in production and that it will focus on a particularly eventful time in OpenAI's history, chronicling...

Best known for playing Leatherface in the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Andrew Bryniarski has a screen acting career that stretches back more than thirty years, and his forty-plus non-Chainsaw credits include playing Butterfinger in Hudson Hawk, Wyatt Beaudry in Necessary Roughness, Chip in Batman Returns, Steve Lattimer in The Program, Zangief in Street Fighter, Knocko in Higher Learning, Patrick ‘Madman’ Kelly in Any Given Sunday, Joe the Boxer in Pearl Harbor, Halloran in Rollerball, and Count Dracula in Dracula’s Guest. Unfortunately, it’s been a few years since Bryniarski has had a prominent acting role and he has fallen on some hard times – so he’s seeking help from his fans through a GoFundMe campaign.

Bryniarski explains the situation he’s currently in: “Recently, wildfires forced me to evacuate my home in California, leaving me displaced and uncertain about the future.

Forget murders, Netflix‘s latest hot doc is about schools. Only they’re not really schools, they are prisons, they make millions of dollars and destroy thousands of lives, and the bigwigs at the top of these horrific establishments keep getting away with it…

This is The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping which focuses on troubled teen programs set up at facilities claiming to offer help to young people through therapy and activities. In reality teens were often forcibly removed from their homes, not allowed to speak, look out of the window, smile at their classmates, and in fact had to get permission to even fart. They were ill fed, tortured, brainwashed and kept away from their families, often for years. And the families paid thousands of dollars for the service.

The Program is a wonderful documentary, in no small part because the filmmaker Katherine Kubler was a victim...

Country icon Naomi Judd, who died suddenly at age 76, and her daughter Wynonna are the subjects of the first installment of Icon, an anthology series in the works at Fox that sets out to profile some of the world’s biggest music legends.

The project, from producer Gail Berman and top country music manager Jason Owen, was announced in August 2020, with Naomi and Wynonna Judd as executive producers on the first season which tells their story.

Icon was put through Fox’s script-to-series model, with The Morning Show exec producer Adam Milch as writer, executive producer and showrunner. I hear Naomi Judd was very involved in the process, sharing her experience and providing input in a series of conversations with Milch.

Multiple scripts have been written. While I hear Fox brass have been high on the project from the start and like what they have seen, a pickup decision was...

NBCUniversal Television and Streaming has promoted Erica Forstadt to Senior Vice President, Entertainment Unscripted Current Production, from her current VP role.

Forstadt is charged with creative production oversight on select documentary and lifestyle unscripted programming across the NBCU Television and Streaming entertainment portfolio, which includes NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Syfy, Universal Kids, USA Network and Peacock. Reporting to Shari Levine, EVP, Entertainment Unscripted Current Production, she will oversee an upcoming slate of premiere docuseries and limited-run unscripted series.

“Erica is a master storyteller and has played an integral role in creating some of our most successful hit series” Levine said. “Her passion for producing high-quality television is unmatched, and we’re excited for her to lead the charge in this new capacity for our upcoming and existing unscripted programming.”

Forstadt joined NBCUniversal in 2017 as Vice President, Entertainment Unscripted Current Production. Since then, she has served as the executive in charge...

Icon star Allu Arjun, who is gearing up to kickstart shooting for ‘Pushpa: The Rule’, celebrated his son Allu Ayan’s birthday on Sunday. On the occasion of Allu Ayan’s eighth birthday, Allu Arjun took to his social media profiles to wish his beloved son. As the ‘Pushpa’ star shared an adorable picture with his son […]...

Ben Affleck was feelin' so good while watching Jennifer Lopez accept the Icon honor at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards. As the actress and singer graced the stage at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium on March 22, the Oscar winner couldn't help but beam with pride. Affleck was joined in the audience by J.Lo's 14-year-old daughter Emme Muñiz, and the two proved they're the superstar's biggest fans, applauding and smiling as she gave her speech.  Walking out in a green Stéphane Rolland couture gown, Lopez thanked her fans for all their support over the past few decades. "I wish I could tell you that awards were the most important thing to me, but...

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Fans of Billie Eilish can now stream the singer’s set from the 2021 Governors Ball festival in VR. It’s part of a new Women’s History Month hub from MetaQuest, makers of the popular Oculus Quest 2 VR headset.

MetaQuest’s Women’s History Month offerings (accessible via the Oculus blog here) include a series of talks, interviews, concerts and special virtual events that promote “strong women leaders,...

Sandbox Entertainment president-ceo Jason Owen, one of Nashville’s top management figures, has signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment’s Premium Content Division to produce long-form film, television and digital projects, with the “definitive” June Carter Cash documentary among the first of their collaborations to be announced.

The companies say that over a period of years they plan to develop “a library of projects that tell the stories of music, history, and culture set in the South” — very familiar stomping ground for Owen, a leading figure in Nashville’s music industry who currently helps guide the careers of Kacey Musgraves, Dan + Shay, Little Big Town, Faith Hill and Kelsea Ballerini.

The June Carter Cash doc will combine interviews with family members with archival footage culled from “unprecedented access to the Cash estate,” much of it, of course, related to her husband Johnny Cash or her lineage before that...

The titles are female-driven survival thriller The One; Second World War drama Icon; and animated comedy How to Save The Immortal.

Budapest-based sales outfit Luminescence is launching sales on three Russian titles at this year’s online AFM (November 1-5): female-driven survival thriller The One; Second World War drama Icon; and animated comedy How to Save The Immortal.

The One is directed by Dmitry Suvorov and produced by Andrey Lyakhov and Anton Belov. Sony Pictures Russia is planning to release the film theatrically in March 2022.

It dramatises the true story of Larisa Savitskaya, a young woman, who, in the 1980s,...

A new version of the Emmy-winning space opera television series Babylon 5 is in the works. The CW has put in development Babylon 5, described as a “from-the-ground-up reboot” of the critically acclaimed 1990s series, from original series creator J. Michael Straczynski and Warner Bros. Television.

Written by Straczynski, the reboot revolves around John Sheridan (played by Bruce Boxleitner in the original series), an Earthforce officer with a mysterious background, who is assigned to Babylon 5, a five-mile-long space station in neutral space, a port of call for travelers, smugglers, corporate explorers and alien diplomats at a time of uneasy peace and the constant threat of war. His arrival triggers a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined, as an exploratory Earth company accidentally triggers a conflict with a civilization a million years ahead of us, putting Sheridan and the rest of the B5 crew in the line of fire as the last,...

Our Kind of People, Monarch and The Big Leap – three of Fox’s new originals for the 2021-22 broadcast season – all took different routes to screen.

The network has been shaking up its development process for the past couple of years, using a mixture of traditional pilot orders, straight-to-series orders, script-to-series greenlights and low-cost summer commissions.

It’s a good thing too, given that Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn revealed that this year the network received fewer traditional development pitches than ever before.

“Every year, the traditional cycle of development changes. This year has the fewest amount of pitches I’ve ever seen. Shallow pools of talent is challenging for every platform. That said, [with] our strategy, being year-round and looking at all different types of programming, we’re really well suited and in a position to handle. We’re not reliant on two months of a pitching window. I’d...

The Hollywood Critics Assn. has scrapped its in-person Hca TV Awards, and will instead move the first-ever ceremony to a virtual event a week later.

Hca chairman Scott Menzel said the decision was made due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Los Angeles County and the US. Instead, the show will stream on the Hca’s official YouTube channel at 5 p.m. on Aug. 29.

“We spent the last two weeks going back and forth, seeing if the cases went down, and it’s just not going,” Menzel said. “Everything just seems to be on an upward tick. The most important thing for any event like this is that we have to look at the people in attendance and we decided this morning. I know that this seems like a last minute decision but given the numbers and how badly it’s been impacting the industry, this just seemed...

Appropriately, considering one of the key attractions of the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures are Dorothy’s infamous ruby-red shoes, the museum’s official opening screening September 30 will be The Wizard of Oz accompanied by the American Youth Symphony conducted by David Newman.

But there is much more both before and after the museum’s public unveiling at the end of September. The Academy has unveiled a slew of discussions, programs and 115 screenings over the course of the first three months after the doors open on the Los Angeles venue. Other movie-oriented events will include Oscar Sundays featuring Oscar-honored films, and “Oscar Frights” with movies like Get Out and Psycho. Spike Lee and Denzel Washington will be on hand for a 70Mm screening of Malcolm X. A program of movies featuring women composers is also on tap, and are retrospectives of filmmakers Jane Campion and Satyajit Ray among many others.

The subject of “The Program: Prison Detox,” a docuseries premiering next month on Discovery Plus, is a thoughtful, effective drug rehabilitation program in Sevier County, Arkansas that’s been created by law enforcement officials in response to the methamphetamine and opioid epidemic that has destroyed so many lives in their community. The first three episodes in the seven-episode series will debut on Aug. 25, and will then roll out weekly.

“The Program: Prison Detox,” which was shot during the Covid-19 pandemic, follows the 14th class of the inventive program designed to help drug felons — some of whom are habitual, and have been in jail multiple times — turn their lives around. Many of the 16 participants featured in the series are facing steep prison sentences if they don’t make it into in the program, which was created by Sevier County’s sheriff, Robert Gentry, and Chris Wolcott, the jail administrator. But if...

PBS upcoming docuseries, Icon: Music Through the Lens, explores the history and importance of music and concert photography. The six-part series will premiere on July 16th and air on Fridays through August 13th.

A new trailer for the series teases the various facets of music photography that the series will explore, starting with the premiere, “On Camera,” which will delve into what makes an image iconic. “Music photography is like the music itself,” historian Ashley Kahn says in the clip. “It’s part of our cultural heritage; it’s part...

PBS has acquired the domestic distribution rights to “Icon: Music Through the Lens,” a docuseries about the history of photography for rock stars and musicians through the years.

Dick Carruthers, a legendary music director who has worked with artists like The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Beyonce, White Stripes, Oasis, Paul McCartney and Black Sabbath, directed and produced “Icon,” and music photographer Gered Mankowitz curated the series’ many iconic photos.

PBS plans to air the series this summer, which is in six, one-hour parts, as part of the network’s primetime lineup.

“Icon” charts the fascinating lives and often crazy experiences of music photogs, from the earliest darkrooms to the digital landscapes of the present day. The series examines famous studio portraits, record sleeves, music magazine shoots, live shows, exhibitions, social media, coffee table books and fine art to ask what makes an image iconic and discover what the future holds for music photography.

Pink is set to receive the Icon Award at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards.

The award recognizes artists who have achieved success on the Billboard charts and made an indelible impact on music.

The pop superstar, who will perform during the Nick Jonas-hosted ceremony, joins previous honorees Garth Brooks, Cher, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey.

“As a little girl, I always dreamed about being a singer and sharing my love of music with the world,” Pink said in a statement. “Years later, to receive the Billboard Music Awards Icon ...

Pink is set to receive the Icon Award at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards.

The award recognizes artists who have achieved success on the Billboard charts and made an indelible impact on music.

The pop superstar, who will perform during the Nick Jonas-hosted ceremony, joins previous honorees Garth Brooks, Cher, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey.

“As a little girl, I always dreamed about being a singer and sharing my love of music with the world,” Pink said in a statement. “Years later, to receive the Billboard Music Awards Icon ...

SandalwoodA Padma Bhushan awardee, Dr Rajkumar acted as the leading man in over 100 films.Tnm StaffScreengrabOn late Sandalwood icon Dr Rajkumar’s birth anniversary, many of his fans and celebrities from the film fraternity have posted heartfelt wishes and posts about the actor. Sharing a throwback photo, Tollywood star Chiranjeevi mentioned that he has learnt an important lesson from him. Recounting the invaluable influence Dr Rajkumar has had on the actor’s life, Chiranjeevi wrote “Greatness lies in Simplicity! Greatest lesson #Annavaru ever taught me through his words and deeds. Invaluable influence he has been in my life. Fondly remembering Dr.Rajkumar on his birth anniversary! A True #BangaradaManushya.” (sic) Greatness lies in Simplicity! Greatest lesson #Annavaru ever taught me through his words and deeds. Invaluable influence he has been in my life.Fondly remembering Dr.Rajkumar on his birth anniversary! A True #BangaradaManushya https://t.co/vVrFgYUpaB pic.twitter.

Egyptian heart surgeon-turned-satirist Bassem Youssef left Egypt in 2014 and relocated to the U.S. after his megahit show “El Bernameg” (“The Program”), on which he snarked at top pols of all stripes, became too dangerous to produce under the country’s current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Youssef has since kept busy stateside. But he recently returned to Arab TV with “Ask Bassem,” a non-political, yet revolutionary, show in which viewers meet with guests who learned how to use a plant-based diet to treat their illnesses. At the end of its 20-episode run, Youssef spoke to Variety about being back in front of Arab audiences and what he’s got in the pipeline in the U.S. Edited excerpts.

What have you been up to in the U.S. since leaving Egypt?

Well, since I left Egypt, I’ve done a couple of short-term fellowships at Harvard and Stanford. When I first came,...

Japan’s highest grossing feature film of all time, Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train, is also proving a hit with Australian audiences.

Released via Madman Entertainment, the anime topped the box office with a $1.9 million opening from 201 screens over the weekend; a whopping average of $9,270.

A follow-up to the 2019 TV series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, based on Koyoharu Gotoge’s comic, the story follows Tanjiro Kamado’s journey as a demon slayer after his family is brutally murdered and his sister is turned into a demon.

Released in Japan in October last year, the film grossed more than ¥37.8 billion, or $USD362 million.

The Australian release includes screenings in IMAX and 4Dx formats. In Japan, the film smashed IMAX records, and its international success has helped boost numbers locally.

“The movie’s many fight sequences look fantastic on the giant screen and we’re very pleased with numbers we’re seeing.

The iHeart Radio Podcast Awards 2021 has named Office Ladies as its “Podcast of the Year” winner.

A wooly Will Ferrell, who has The Ron Burgundy Podcast on the iHeart network, opened the show with a series of badly informed statistics. The awards were simulcast tonight on iHeart radio, YouTube and Facebook.

The Office costars and best friends Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey are the hosts of Office Ladies, billed as the ultimate re-watch podcast for the classic comedy. It won the fan vote, continuing the string of triumphs for the show, which returned on Netflix and is coming back via NBC’s Peacock streaming service.

The Office Ladies podcast, produced by Earwolf also won the award for best ad-read podcast.

Conan O’Brien won the award for best overall host – male, telling viewers that what separates his podcast from others is his “lack of professionalism.

With her Hulu historical comedy TV series "The Great", renewed for a new 10-episode Season Two, take a look at actress Elle Fanning, wearing Fendi, posing for "Icon" magazine, photographed by Andreas Ortner:

"...in 'The Great', Russian monarch 'Catherine the Great' (Fanning), originally an outsider becomes the longest reigning female ruler in Russia's history. 

"The idealistic, romantic young Catherine, arrives in Russia for an arranged marriage to the mercurial 'Emperor Peter'.

"Hoping for love and sunshine, she finds instead a dangerous, depraved, backward world that she resolves to change.

"All she has to do is kill her husband, beat the church, baffle the military and get the court onside..."

Cast also includes Nicholas Hoult ("Mad Max: Fury Road"), Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Gwilym Lee, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge, Sacha Dhawan, Sebastian de Souza, Bayo Gbadamosi and Belinda Bromilow.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Great"...

London, Jan 12 (Ians) Spanish streamer Grefg has broken the Twitch record for most concurrent viewers for any individual streamer while debuting his new skin in the 'Fortnite' game.

Grefg shattered the live streaming concurrent viewer record, peaking at an absurd 2.5 million viewers, reports news portal ShackNews.

Grefg, whose real name is David Canovas Martinez, debuted his ‘Icon' series skin in the wildly popular game Fortnite by Epic.

The Fortnite streamer blazed past previous milestones, surpassing Tyler "Ninja" Blevins' record by about 1.3 million.

In comparison, he had 1.6 million more viewers than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had, when she ran a voting awareness stream for 'Among Us' game.

The new skin is part of the "Icon Series" of "Fortnite" skins and Martinez is the eighth creator to receive a skin in the game.

It adds his name among the other legendary streamers that have had skins added, including Kathleen "Loserfruit" Belsten and Tyler "Ninja" Blevins.

Tollywood ‘Pushpa’ is director Sukumar’s next project after ‘Rangasthalam’.Digital NativeMonths after it was officially announced, the shoot of Allu Arjun’s upcoming Telugu film Pushpa will finally start rolling from November 5 in Visakhapatnam, reliable sources have confirmed. The film, which marks the third time collaboration of Allu Arjun and Sukumar, is tipped to be an action thriller set in a forest, and will be centred on the issue of sandalwood smuggling. Allu Arjun is likely to join the unit from the first day of shoot. Recently, the makers revealed that they’re going to spend a whopping Rs 6 crore for a chase sequence in the film. Several international stuntmen are being roped in to oversee this big action episode which will be one of the highlights of the film. The film’s first look poster was unveiled on the occasion of Allu Arjun’s birthday in May. The...

Mary McCormack is joining the fray inside the ring: The Kids Are Alright and In Plain Sight actress has boarded Starz’s wrestling drama Heels.

McCormack will play Willie, the business partner of wrestler Jack Spade (Arrow’s Stephen Amell) and the brains behind the local wrestling organization. The cast also includes Alexander Ludwig (Vikings), Chris Bauer (The Deuce), Allen Maldonado (black-ish), Kelli Berglund (Now Apocalypse) and NFL vet James Harrison.

More from TVLineEmmys 2020 Poll: Who Should Win for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series?10 Nixed Spinoffs We Wish We'd Seen: Buffy, Gossip Girl, The Office and MoreTVLine Items: American Dad!

Fox is developing a one-hour music anthology series, Variety has confirmed.

The series is currently titled “Icon.” Each season would focus on the true stories of the music legends we think we know. These icons are the voices who have made a significant mark in music’s history and created a sound and response that people around the world have come to love and identify with.

The potential first season is set to focus on country music’s only mother-daughter duo, Naomi and Wynonna Judd. The iconic pair dominated country music in the ’80s and ’90s, winning countless awards, selling more than 20 million albums and creating a string of hits.

No writer is currently attached to the project. The Judds will executive produce along with Gail Berman and Hend Baghdady of The Jackal Group and Jason Owen of Sandbox Entertainment. Les Borsai, Greg Hill, Cactus Moser, and Larry Strickland will produce.

Exclusive: Fox has put in development Icon, an anthology drama series profiling some of the world’s biggest music legends, from producer Gail Berman and leading country music manager Jason Owen. The first installment will focus on Grammy-winning mother-daughter country music duo Naomi and Wynonna Judd, who will executive produce. A search is underway for a writer to pen their story.

Icon is inspired by the thrilling true stories of the music legends we think we know. Season 1 celebrates the Judds, country music’s only hitmaking mother-daughter duo. The trailblazing duo dominated country music in the 1980s and ’90s, winning countless awards, selling more than 20 million albums and creating a string of hits. The Judds stopped performing as a duo in 1991 after Naomi was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Wynonna then began a successful solo career. The two occasionally have reunited for special tours, the most recent in 2010.

The series will...

The 11th anniversary of the UK and Europe’s largest South Asian film festival, London Indian Film Festival supported by the Bagri Foundation and the British Film Institute (BFI) opened online, during the global pandemic, full of an array of free amazing films and special In Conversations. It all began with Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana in conversation on 25th June, and closed with Hollywood star Freida Pinto on 5th July, The in conversation talks also included acclaimed Indian cinema actor, multiple Indian National Award, Filmfare winner, Padma Bhushan Shabana Azmi in conversation with British director Pratibha Parmar. Oscar nominee Deepa Mehta, BAFTA, Oscar, Golden Globe nominee Mira Nair, Indian National Award winning actor Adil Hussain with BAFTA, Academy nominated director Peter Webber.

The festival included several LGBTQ+ films, women helmed films, films from Sri Lanka and Pakistan, as well as the buzzing Satyajit Ray Short Film competition, with a jury of high profile film pundits,...

Alice in Chains’ guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell reflects on his early life in a teaser for an upcoming, long-form interview about his career via Gibson’s Icon series.

“Music was something that was always in our house from a very early age,” he says in the clip. “By that time, I was heavily into rock, like AC/DC and Kiss and all the English metal. And I grew up on bands that wrote good riffs. I just wanted to play guitar, write songs, and I’m proud to have...

Who do you become when no one can see you? Would you rob a bank, sneak into your buddy’s beach house, torment your research team, gaslight an ex-partner who thinks you’re dead? Hopefully none of the more vile options from that list, but today’s Be Reel category doesn’t take a rosy view of how already powerful men would use a new superpower, especially one that traps you alone with yourself.

Read More: With ‘Invisible Man’ & ‘The Lodge,’ Hollywood Fully Embraces The Terror Of Gaslighting Horror

We begin today’s show discussing the latest installment of this underlying thought exercise: Blumhouse’s new “The Invisible Man” and its full-on Pov reversal of the classic H.G.

Continue reading ‘The Invisible Man’: The Icon Has Survived A Long History In Film [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

“Outlander” actress Laura Donnelly has been cast as the lead on Joss Whedon’s upcoming HBO sci-fi series “The Nevers.”

Described as “an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world,” the series will be written, directed, executive produced and showrun by the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator himself.

Donnelly will play Amalia True, “the most reckless, impulsive, emotionally damaged hero of her time. A menace to stuffy Victorian society, she would die for the cause and kill for a drink.”

“Laura Donnelly has charisma, wisdom and an anarchic precision that not only captures Amalia but defines her,” Whedon said in a statement. “She’s fierce and she’s funny — and I need both for the journey ahead.”

Also Read: Jordan Peele's 'Lovecraft Country,' Joss Whedon's 'The Nevers...

7 Days In Entebbe producer links up with former Studiocanal UK head.

Elysian Film Group, the new London-based company set up by former Studiocanal UK head Danny Perkins, has added 7 Days In Entebbe producer Kate Solomon to its ranks.

Perkins revealed the news at the Intv conference, which is being held in Jerusalem this week.

Information on the company has been kept to a minimum since Perkins left Studiocanal in June last year.

Speaking on stage, he said the plan is to “focus on a lot of different things [and] to concentrate on a small number of projects which we think will...

7 Days In Entebbe producer links up with former Studiocanal UK head.

Elysian Film Group, the new London-based company set up by former Studiocanal UK head Danny Perkins, has added 7 Days In Entebbe producer Kate Solomon to its ranks.

Perkins revealed the news at the Intv conference, which is being held in Jerusalem this week.

Information on the company has been kept to a minimum since Perkins left Studiocanal in June last year.

Speaking on stage, he said the plan is to “focus on a lot of different things [and] to concentrate on a small number of projects which we think will...

In today’s film news roundup, Ben Foster is playing a boxer, Corbin Bernsen will portray a real estate developer and vampire fantasy “Empire V” is selling at Afm.

Castings

Ben Foster has signed on to star in boxing drama “Harry Haft” with Barry Levinson directing. Bron Studios and New Mandate Films are producing in association with Creative Wealth Media, which is financing the film.

Levinson is directing and producing from a screenplay by Justine Juel Gillmer, based on the novel “Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano” by Alan Scott Haft. The film is set post-World War II and will star Foster as Harry Haft, a boxer who fought fellow prisoners in the concentration camps to survive. Haunted by the memories and his guilt, he attempts to use high-profile fights against boxing legends like Rocky Marciano as a way to find his first love again.

Besides Levinson,...

Exclusive: Bron Studios and New Mandate Films have set a February production start on Harry Haft, a fact-based historical drama that Barry Levinson will direct, with Ben Foster set to star as the title character. Justine Juel Gillmer wrote a Black List script based on the Alan Scott Haft novel ‘Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano.‘ the film tells the story of a boxer who survived Auschwitz by being forced to fight fellow prisoners in the concentration camps in ghoulish gladiatorial battles. If he won, he got fed and allowed to live long enough for the next bout, while the 76 opponents he beat were led to their deaths in the camps. Haunted by the memories and guilt over the price of survival, Haft attempts to use high-profile fights against boxing legends like Rocky Marciano as a way to rediscover a reason to live and to again find...

J.B.J Film and Elevated Films announced today that acclaimed actor Ben Foster has been cast as the lead in director Petr Jákl’s historical action drama Medieval. Jákl wrote the screenplay and will produce alongside Cassian Elwes. The film will be produced with the support of private investors and many Czech state institutions and regions, including the Czech Film Fund, the Prague Film Fund, Creative Europe – Media and others. Principal photography is scheduled to begin this fall in Prague and the surrounding Czech countryside.

The film is inspired by the origin story of the legendary 14th century warlord Jan Zizka of Trocnov (Foster), who along with his band of mercenaries became entangled with an heiress and battled a rival King in a struggle for equality for the Czech people.

Foster is best known for his roles in Hell Or High Water, 3:10 To Yuma, The Messenger and Alpha Dog.

Exclusive: Amy York Rubin will direct Paramount Pictures’ Gay Kid and Fat Chick, a title that would raise eyebrows if it weren’t about two outsider teenagers who create costumed alter egos to get revenge on the students who have bullied them in school. The film was written and is being produced by Bo Burnham (The Big Sick) for Paramount Players, the division started up last summer inside Paramount Pictures that is devoted entirely to producing films derived from the Viacom flagship brands, including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Bet.

Over the past year or so, Rubin has been steadily working as a director, helming many episodes for various TV shows, including episodes of Casual(Hulu), Smilf (Showtime), The Mick (Fox), Fresh Off The Boat (ABC), Grown-ish and Alone Together (both Freeform titles), I’m Sorry (TruTV) and upcoming episodes of Dietlan (AMC), Tribeca and Wrecked (both for TBS).

Burnham is multi-talented.

We’re bringing back the Spotlight on the Stars series of articles folks! Today, the subject is rising star Ben Foster, a gifted actor who is finally starting to really make his mark in the industry. Still relatively young, age wise, though already a veteran actor, Foster is going from being “that guy” to the sort of intense thespian who makes anything they’re involved with significantly better. Whether it’s his breakthrough role last year in the Hell or High Water or something quieter like The Messenger, he’s just aces, plain and simple. He’ll be an A-lister before long. As such, it’s a real pleasure to fete him with this featured piece. Foster got his start on television, but made his feature debut in the teen movie Get Over It. There was also small parts in a mixed bag of studio fare too. He made his...

Author: Zehra Phelan

This morning, at BAFTA headquarters, Edith Bowman and 2013 Ee Rising Star Award winner Juno Temple revealed this year’s coveted list of nominees for the 2018 Ee Rising Star award.

Let’s face it, competition has been pretty tough from the numerous outstanding performances delivered in 2017. The judges – which included jury chair Marc Samuelson, actress Georgina Campbell, broadcaster Edith Bowman, BAFTA award-winning director, Philippa Lowthorpe, casting director Lucy Bevan and other leading industry specialists and entertainment journalists. – had an unenviable job whittling down the list of five actors and actresses who have shown exceptional talent on the big screen over the past 12 months and have captured the attention of the public and film industry alike.

The nominations for the 2018 Ee Rising Star Award is as follow’s;

TIMOTHÉE Chalamet

Chalamet wowed critics last year in his standout performance in the rustic and beautiful gay love story Call Me By Your Name,...

MaryAnn’s quick take… Charming based-on-fact British costume dramedy gently snarks about power and propriety but cuts a lot deeper when it comes to bigotry and bootlicking. I’m “biast” (pro): love Judi Dench, mostly love Stephen Frears’s films

I’m “biast” (con): we’re still telling stories about this dead queen?

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

The ribbing writes itself: Hey, they finally made the sequel to 1997’s Mrs. Brown! You know, the movie in which Judi Dench as Queen Victoria develops a close platonic friendship — or maybe even a romance — with royal groundskeeper John Brown in the early years of her widowhood, in the 1860s. It was a scandal! And now here’s Victoria & Abdul, which opens 20 years later and stars Judi Dench (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel...

“Dunkirk” aside, deep summer looks like a fallow season for major films — but appearances are deceiving. This is perhaps their most-essential moment on the movie calendar, as it’s when distributors huddle, haggle, and negotiate to determine which movies will head for the almighty awards-season launch festivals of Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York.

From the festivals’ perspectives, they’re vying for the starriest red-carpet gala world premieres. (The exception is Telluride, which doesn’t have to vie; it gets to cherry pick its impeccably curated four-day Labor Day Weekend selection in secret.) Ahead of next week’s rollout of announcements, we called around for intel on what we can expect to see.

Read MoreRichard Linklater’s ‘The Last Detail’ Sequel ‘Last Flag Flying’ to Open New York Film Festival

Of course, some films either won’t be ready to screen until year’s end, or will skip festivals and go straight to audiences.

“Dunkirk” aside, deep summer looks like a fallow season for major films — but appearances are deceiving. This is perhaps their most-essential moment on the movie calendar, as it’s when distributors huddle, haggle, and negotiate to determine which movies will head for the almighty awards-season launch festivals of Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York.

From the festivals’ perspectives, they’re vying for the starriest red-carpet gala world premieres. (The exception is Telluride, which doesn’t have to vie; it gets to cherry pick its impeccably curated four-day Labor Day Weekend selection in secret.) Ahead of next week’s rollout of announcements, we called around for intel on what we can expect to see.

Read MoreRichard Linklater’s ‘The Last Detail’ Sequel ‘Last Flag Flying’ to Open New York Film Festival

Of course, some films either won’t be ready to screen until year’s end, or will skip festivals and go straight to audiences.

Welcome to Career Watch, a vocational checkup of top actors and directors, and those who hope to get there. In this edition we take on Working Title producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, whose latest hit is Edgar Wright’s wheel-and-disc-spinning breakout “Baby Driver” (June 28, Sony), which has tracked $64 million worldwide to date.

Bottom Line: This brainy duo with plummy British accents have been turning out a consistent slate of smart global hits since the ’80s. The London-based co-chairmen of Working Title boast the best taste in the business. They chase mainstream quality fare. That’s their gig. But even so over the years, partnering with Universal Pictures, with freedom to greenlight movies up to $35 million, their films have grossed an impressive almost $7 billion dollars worldwide.

Career Peaks: From the start, Working Title founder Tim Bevan gravitated to local stories with global potential like “My Beautiful Laundrette,” Stephen Frears’ searing...

Welcome to Career Watch, a vocational checkup of top actors and directors, and those who hope to get there. In this edition we take on Working Title producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, whose latest hit is Edgar Wright’s wheel-and-disc-spinning breakout “Baby Driver” (June 28, Sony), which has tracked $64 million worldwide to date.

Bottom Line: This brainy duo with plummy British accents have been turning out a consistent slate of smart global hits since the ’80s. The London-based co-chairmen of Working Title boast the best taste in the business. They chase mainstream quality fare. That’s their gig. But even so over the years, partnering with Universal Pictures, with freedom to greenlight movies up to $35 million, their films have grossed an impressive almost $7 billion dollars worldwide.

Career Peaks: From the start, Working Title founder Tim Bevan gravitated to local stories with global potential like “My Beautiful Laundrette,” Stephen Frears’ searing...

Exclusive: UK debut backed by BFI and Creative England stars rising actor Josh O’Connor, Ian Hart and Gemma Jones.

Protagonist Pictures has boarded world sales on UK writer-director Francis Lee’s debut feature God’s Own Country, which was recently selected for the Sundance 2017 World Dramatic Competition.

Screen Star Of Tomorrow Josh O’Connor, known for roles in ITV series The Durrells and supporting berths in Golden Globe nominee Florence Foster Jenkins and Stephen Frears’ The Program, features alongside upcoming Romanian actor Alec Secareanu.

The supporting cast includes Ian Hart (Boardwalk Empire) and Gemma Jones (Sense and Sensibility).

God’s Own Country follows Johnny Saxby, a solitary young sheep farmer who numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex. The arrival of a Romanian migrant worker (Alec Secareanu) ignites an intense relationship that sets the former on a new path.

The film is produced by Manon Ardisson and Jack Tarling for Magic Bear Productions...

Hugh Grant is back with Florence Foster Jenkins, coming out of semi-retirement to act opposite Meryl Streep in another surprising true tale from director Stephen Frears (Philomena, The Program). In the case of Florence, the facts are particularly startling and difficult to believe—starring Streep as the title character, the film tells the true story of a New York heiress who follows her musical dreams with a flourish, in spite of the fact that she cannot, and perhaps…...

MaryAnn’s quick take…

Alongside plenty of heist-movie humor and suspense is a bleak fatalism grounded in depressing reality and resignation to the miserable necessity it demands. I’m “biast” (pro): love the cast, love the filmmakers

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

The phrase “come hell or high water” is almost always used in the hypothetical. As an exaggeration of the obstacles to be faced. “I will meet you for a drink after work come hell or high water,” and a printer jam or a late deadline is the level of catastrophe to be overcome.

But in Hell or High Water, the catastrophe has already happened. Hell and (metaphorical) high water have come and gone, and there’s still life to be gotten on with. It has happened in slow motion, but it’s been deliberate: a way of life,...

British director’s latest film, Florence Foster Jenkins, to screen at the festival’s open air theatre.

Stephen Frears, the British director of The Queen and Philomena, is to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 22nd Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 12-20).

Frears, who was previously the subject of the festival’s tribute programme in 2002, will have his latest film - Florence Foster Jenkins starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant - screened as part of Sarajevo’s Open Air programme.

Previous recipients of the honorary award have included Angelina Jolie, Gael Garcia Bernal, Mike Leigh and last year Benicio del Toro.

Frears breakthrough as a feature film director came with the low budget hit My Beautiful Laundrette in 1985 and made his Hollywood debut with Dangerous Liaisons in 1989, which received six Oscar nominations.

His first Oscar nomination as best director can in 1991 for The Grifters, produced by Martin Scorsese, while his 1998 western...