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Exclusive: Jeff Daniels, Timothy Busfield and Melissa Gilbert have teamed to launch Grand River Productions, with their first project, Guest Artist, set to have its world premiere Saturday at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. The creative partnership joins the fellow Michiganders who will look to mount modest-budget films.

That plan starts with Guest Artist, which Daniels adapted from his stage play and stars in. Busfield directed, and the trio are producing along with Tony-winning Broadway producer Michael A. Alden and executive producer Donald Clark.

“Our shared love of the American theatre is evident in every frame of our modern little throwback,” Daniels said. “Together, we felt that there was a film in Guest Artist that spoke to the precarious role of the American artist and that made it the perfect project for Grand River Productions’ feature film debut.”

Daniels, who just won an Emmy Award, his second, for Netflix’s Godless,...

In Netflix's latest hit comedy Dumplin', one of the most significant characters barely even appears onscreen and doesn't appear at all in the story's present day. We're talking, of course, about Aunt Lucy, mentor and beloved aunt to the heroine Willowdean. Lucy is the one who takes care of Willowdean as a child and who inspires her to enter a beauty pageant in the first place. But, in the present day of the movie, Aunt Lucy has been dead for six months. It's a role with little screentime, but a big impact on the plot. If you don't recognize the actress playing Lucy, there's a good reason for that.

Dumplin' is the screen debut of actress Hilliary Begley - no relation to Ed Begley Jr., beloved American actor. She previously had a comedy career, but is now moving into acting. She recently wrapped her second film as well: When We Last Spoke,...