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Blumhouse has delivered some of the most prominent and well-known post-2000s horror franchises, from the Paranormal Activity films to the Insidious saga & Happy Death Day twofer, to standalone riveters such as The Invisible Man, The Vigil, Sweetheart and Sick. Yet occasionally, a smaller genre flick sporting the distinguished brand darts through the cracks and escapes wider viewership - and Curve is one such film. The name Blumhouse is associated with horror in the classic sense, from revivalist slasher fare to cerebral spine-tinglers — dig deep enough and one unearths some real gems. In spite of the high-profile production company's name being attached to the 2015 potboiler, it remains relatively unknown despite its late night drive-in cinematic appeal. Its obscurity is a shame, considering its agreeably pulpy thrills and director Iain Softley's fast-paced approach to a fairly lean, uncomplicated story.

“Have you ever wondered what makes a Christmas story a Christmas story?”

This is the underlying question to the Disney+ short film An Almost Christmas Story, and producer Alfonso Cuarón heartily laughs at the notion that he and director David Lowery were trying to settle the age-old debate about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not. The 24-minute animated short — Cuarón’s third-and-final installment in his holiday collection that dates back to 2022 — is based on the true story of an owl that was rescued from the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree in 2020. Cuarón’s story, in tandem with Lowery and Jack Thorne’s script, teaches their young owl named Moon (Cary Christopher) what Christmas is as he seeks to reunite with his family.

Ultimately, the Oscar-winning Cuarón believes that the definition of a Christmas story doesn’t have to be broken down into an exact science. Die Hard may...

As I’m sure you wonderful gore-hounds know by now, we love every weird and wonderful sub genre the twisted world of horror has thrown our way over the years. Sit this particular horror fan down to watch the latest splatterfest, zombie massacre, creature feature or slasher flick, to name but a few, and I’d be happy as a pig in shit. Happier in fact. Folk horror and witchcraft is one subgenre that I’ve grown to increasingly appreciate over the years, and most recently the work of Robert Eggers, for example, has had me enthralled. It was his 2015 folk horror, The Witch, that first introduced me to his nuanced, macabre yet beautifully crafted movies, and everything he’s produced since has been a must see. The trailer for his take on Nosferatu has just dropped at the time of writing this video and it looks immense. However, with...

Gena Rowlands, the two-time Oscar-nominated star of Gloria and A Woman Under The Influence as well as The Notebook, has died. She was 94.

Rowlands earned widespread renown for her performance as a mother wrestling with mental illness in husband John Cassavetes’ 1974 drama A Woman Under The Influence, for which she won a Golden Globe.

She received her second lead actress Academy Award nomination in 1981 as a tough woman who protects her neighbour from The Mob in Cassavetes’ Gloria.

Rowlands had met Cassavetes in her early television days. They were married in 1954 and went on to make 10 films together.

In 2004 Rowlands...

Gena Rowlands, the two-time Oscar-nominated star of Gloria and A Woman Under The Influence, has died. She was 94.

Rowlands earned widespread renown for her performance as a mother wrestling with mental illness in husband John Cassavetes’ 1974 drama A Woman Under The Influence, for which she won a Golden Globe.

She received her second lead actress Academy Award nomination in 1981 as a tough woman who protects her neighbour from The Mob in Cassavetes’ Gloria.

Rowlands had met Cassavetes in her early television days. They were married in 1954 and went on to make 10 films together.

In 2004 Rowlands starred in her son Nick...

How do you capture Jenne Casarotto? She was at the intersection of theatre, film and television. It all, seemingly, swirled around her.

Not just around her.

It was the brilliant team that she assembled at Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, the agency that’s been at the epicenter of UK arts culture for over three decades. Correction: The company’s reach extended far beyond the environs of London’s Soho.

One would see her in Venice, Cannes, Toronto and Sydney. One would not be at all surprised to be at a screening at, let’s say, Sundance, and there’d be a tap on the shoulder when the lights came up. “That was great stuff, wasn’t it?” She’d say gleefully.

It was a bit of a test because she’d expect you to be honest with her. Well, it was godawful, actually, and she’d nod sagely, her eyes twinkling behind her specs.

If you told me there was a plan in place to make four Beatles biopics — one each about John, Paul, George, and Ringo — and that they were going to be directed by Richard Linklater, I’d be suffused with curiosity and excitement. If you told me that those same four movies were going to be directed by Martin Scorsese, I’d be suffused with curiosity and excitement. If you told me that a quartet of Beatles biopics were going to be directed (one apiece) by Linklater, Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, and Todd Haynes, I’d be suffused with curiosity and excitement — and, in fact, that last option would make a beautiful kind of sense. When you think about it, why would anyone — even Scorsese, the poet of rock-operatic drama — want to direct all four Beatles biopics? Talk about hogging the spoils.

But Sam Mendes does. According to a master plan handed down on stone tablets by…...

Pop music phenoms come and go, fall in and out of favor and sometimes fade into total obscurity. Very few remain relevant a decade removed from their initial success, and you can count on maybe two hands the number of artists who can knock out a new song or reissue and top the Billboard charts 50-plus years after their debut.

And then there's The Beatles.

From the moment they scored their first number one hit in the U.K. with 1963's "From Me to You," The Beatles drew on their multitude of musical influences — blues, country, rockabilly, and the sui generis soul sounds pulsating out of Motown — to create perfectly constructed, infectiously catchy singles that earwormed their way into the fabric of your being. Within three years of breaking big in the U.S., they released the pioneering folk-rock LP "Rubber Soul," flirted with psychedelia and raga on the expansive "Revolver,...

Ben Radcliffe in The Shepherd Photo: courtesy of Disney

Most short films are relatively low budget affairs and, accordingly, exercise caution about the challenges they take on, but that’s not the only way to make them. Amongst those shortlisted for this year’s Oscars is Iain Softley’s The Shepherd, which follows the journey of pilot Freddie (Ben Radcliffe), who finds himself in unexpected peril when he suffers a catastrophic instrument failure whilst flying alone in a small plane at night. All Freddie wants is to get back home to his girlfriend for Christmas, but as time passes, in a strange world defined by bright stars and an enormous moon, he is forced to reckon with his mortality.

Iain has made some highly successful features in the past, from The Wings Of The Dove to Inkheart, but here he explores the short form for the first time. It’s all the more exciting then,...

“It felt so present and current,” declares writer and director Iain Softley about the “The Shepherd,” his short film adaptation of Fredrick Forsythe‘s beloved novella. Currently streaming on Disney +, the film was recently shortlisted for Best Live Action Short at the 96th Academy Awards. In an exclusive video interview with Gold Derby (watch above), Softley discusses his process of adapting the beloved novella for the screen.

“The Shepherd” tells the story of a young Royal Air Force pilot (Ben Radcliffe) heading home for the Christmas holiday. While flying over the North Sea, the pilot’s plane experiences a total electrical failure. All seems lost until a nearby pilot (John Travolta) guides the plane to a deserted airbase. The novella that the film is based on is extremely popular around the world, so popular that Travolta himself had once purchased the rights to the novella in the hopes of making it into a film.

We all know that if there’s one thing harder than predicting the winners of the three short film categories at the Oscars, it’s predicting which films will get nominated in those categories. Well Derbyites, we’re here to help make predicting those nominees a little easier. Below we have listed all 15 shortlisted titles for Best Live Action Short along with descriptions of each one. We’ve also included information and links on where you can view the finalists.

Among the plots of this year’s crop are a rideshare driver dealing with grief, a chance meeting between a trans woman and a cis man, a woman traveling out of state to obtain an abortion, and a fighter pilot in need of a miracle to make it home for Christmas.

SEEDozens of video interviews with 2024 awards contenders

“The After” – In the midst of his grief, a rideshare driver picks...

Stars: Ben Radcliffe, John Travolta, Claire Price, Scarlet Grace, Iwan Bond, Simon Wilson, Millie Kent, Steven Mackintosh | Written and Directed by Iain Softley

I don’t usually cover shorts, I always seem to have more features to review than I do time, but I had to make an exception for The Shepherd. I remembered reading Frederick Forsyth’s novella when I was growing up, and a reading of it by the late Al Maitland has been a Christmas tradition on CBC radio since 1979. So, telling myself that since The Academy considers forty minutes to be feature length I finally used the Disney+ subscription my wife got us and checked it out.

Freddie is an Raf pilot stationed in Germany who wishes he was home for the holidays. He sees his chance when a fellow pilot is injured and can’t make his scheduled flight to England. Despite only recently qualifying...

As far as short films go, the good ones are those that have just a single plot line and do not complicate things by adding other superfluous things to embellish the narrative. The new short film The Shepherd is an example of such a film. Based on the novella of the same name by Frederick Forsyth, The Shepherd is an evocative short film that rekindles our faith in miracles. The Shepherd is a Christmas story directed by Iain Softley and stars John Travolta and Steven Mackintosh. Miracles of Christmas are well known in cinema, and the heartwarming tales serve as a great reminder of the importance of not losing hope, as help might be just around the corner. Mixing the festive spirit with an important story about the brave pilots of World War 2, The Shepherd becomes a tale about sacrifice as well. All of it is done in a seamless manner,...

The path to getting a movie from script to screen can be a long one even for short films. That was certainly the case for the latest Disney+ short “The Shepherd,” which stars Ben Radcliffe and John Travolta as two fighter pilots in the 1950s. The story, adapted from Frederick Forsyth’s novella, follows Radcliffe as a young pilot who, on Christmas Eve, flies home to England. However, mid-way through the flight, his plane malfunctions and the electrics fail, leaving Radcliffe lost and stranded. What happens next makes for a heartwarming Christmas tale akin to “A Christmas Carol” and the like. I attended a special Q&a screening in London with director Iain Softley and John Travolta with critic Mark Kermode moderating.

“I don’t have many projects I’ve ever invested my heart and soul into and this is one of the only ones,” explained Travolta. The actor seemed...

Are you ready for a spine-tingling Christmas tale that will make you question your reality? Disney Plus and Alfonso Cuarón, the mastermind behind ‘Gravity’ and ‘Roma,’ present ‘The Shepherd’, a short film that will haunt you long after the credits roll.

Written and directed by Iain Softley, and starring John Travolta as the mysterious saviour, ‘The Shepherd’ is based on the book by Frederick Forsyth and tells the story of a young Raf pilot who faces a life-or-death situation on Christmas Eve. Flying home across the North Sea, he loses his radio and electric power, and his fuel is running low. Just when he thinks he is doomed, he hears a voice on the radio, guiding him to safety. But who is this voice, and what is his connection to the pilot? Find out in ‘The Shepherd’, a ghost story that will touch your heart and challenge your mind.

On...

John Travolta has revealed it was his own near-death experience while flying a plane on Thanksgiving that first drew him to “The Shepherd,” the new Alfonso Cuarón-produced short film set to premiere on Disney+ this winter.

The film, which is based on Frederick Forsyth’s 1975 novella of the same name, tells the story of Freddie Hooke (played by Ben Radcliffe), a young Royal Air Force pilot flying home for Christmas across the North Sea. Shortly into the journey, his de Havilland Vampire jet suffers total electrical failure, leaving Freddie facing almost certain death. Suddenly a mysterious pilot (played by Travolta) appears in the sky, ready to guide the young man to safety.

Travolta eschewed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday evening in favor of attending the film’s intimate premiere in London, where he watched “The Shepherd” on a big screen for the first time before participating in a...

The new original live-action short "The Shepherd", written and directed by Iain Softley, stars Ben Radcliffe, Steven Mackintosh and John Travolta, sreaming December 1, 2023 on Disney+:

"...on Christmas Eve, a young 'Royal Air Force' pilot flying home across the North Sea finds himself in peril when his radio and electric power cut out, leaving him stranded and running on limited fuel.

" Just when it appears his luck is about to run out, a mysterious good Samaritan guides him to safety..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Inkheart has a compelling story with a unique concept that is unexplored in mainstream media, making it a relevant and in-demand franchise. A TV show adaptation of Inkheart would be better suited to fully explore the story and allow for a more cohesive and detailed timeline. A faithful reboot of Inkheart has the potential to inspire a new generation of readers and bring the magic of books to life in a new format.

Iain Softley's Inkheart, starring Brendan Fraser in the lead role, had the potential to become the next big fantasy franchise of the 2000s, but unfortunately, it got bashed by critics and overlooked by general audiences, possibly due to lackluster marketing — and it deserves a second chance in the form of a TV show. Based on Cornelia Funke's novel of the same name, Inkheart is a magical story about a young Meggie and her father Mo...

Disney+ has released the first trailer for the upcoming short film “The Shepherd,” premiering on Dec. 1.

The story follows Ben Radcliffe as Freddie Hooke, a young Royal Air Force pilot flying home across the North Sea on Christmas Eve. He finds himself in peril when his radio and electricity cut out, leaving him stranded and running on limited fuel. John Travolta, who also executive produced the short, plays a mysterious, good Samaritan rescue pilot who appears at just the right moment.

Steven Mackintosh, Millie Kent, Simon Wilson, Iwan Bond, Claire Price, Simon Lennon, Jack Donoghue, Asan N’Jie, Olatunji Ayofe and Scarlet Grace also star.

Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón serves as the film’s producer, while Iain Softley writes and directs. Cuarón said in a statement, “John, Iain and myself have been long-time admirers of the beloved short novel by Frederick Forsyth. I am thrilled that we have been able...

Some star-packed projects are heading to the 19th annual Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. The just-announced lineup includes films featuring, produced or directed by the likes of Tom Hanks, Eva Longoria, Alden Ehrenreich, Queen Latifah, Tom Holland, Keke Palmer, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, John Travolta and more.

Over 400 short films are programmed in the festival, which runs from August 10-20. It’s a hybrid event, with in-person screenings at the Tcl Chinese Theatres in Hollywood complemented by a virtual program streaming on the platform Bitpix TV. It’s an Oscar-qualifying festival in four categories: Best Documentary Short (newly added this year), Best Short Film Grand Prize, Best Short Animation and Best Short Live Action. Winners of those prizes automatically become eligible for Academy Award consideration.

Mindful of the actors and writers strikes, the festival issued a statement along with the lineup announcement. “HollyShorts supports both the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes,...

Lila Rawlings, head of creative: film and TV at “Roma” filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron’s U.K.-based outfit Esperanto Filmoj, is joining British independent production company Motive Pictures as an executive producer.

Rawlings’ remit at Motive will encompass both TV and film projects as the company scales its team in the wake of its first wave of productions, including the Ruth Wilson drama “The Woman in the Wall” for BBC and Showtime.

At Esperanto, Rawlings oversaw a slate of projects with Sarah Solemani, Jack Thorne and Charlize Theron and served as executive producer on “The Shepherd,” one in a series of films financed by Disney, directed by Iain Softley and starring John Travolta. Previously, Rawlings was executive producer at Left Bank Pictures where she was responsible for several projects, including “Sitting in Limbo,” a BAFTA- winning drama for BBC One and “Electric Dreams” for Amazon, Sony TV and Channel 4.

Sympatico, a production partnership combining the U.K.’s Argo Films and Malaysia’s Double Vision, is hatching a busy slate of film and TV productions that it says will be authentically Asian.

“Too often, Southeast Asia has been portrayed in a mix of styles on screen with, for example, iconic establishing shots of Kuala Lumpur ‘s Twin Towers soon giving way to a location that resembles Vietnam, mixed with Hong Kong by way of Vancouver,” said Min Lim, head of production at Double Vision and a partner in Sympatico.

The new venture starts life with six projects in active development, including two that it expects to put into production this year.

Double Vision is the production arm of the Vision New Media group that has over 35 years of experience in features, dramas, sitcoms, telefeatures, reality/game shows, magazine shows, documentaries, children’s programmes and variety shows. Double Vision has in-house production and post-production facilities,...

Sympatico, a production partnership combining the U.K.’s Argo Films and Malaysia’s Double Vision, is hatching a busy slate of film and TV productions that it says will be authentically Asian.

“Too often, Southeast Asia has been portrayed in a mix of styles on screen with, for example, iconic establishing shots of Kuala Lumpur ‘s Twin Towers soon giving way to a location that resembles Vietnam, mixed with Hong Kong by way of Vancouver,” said Min Lim, head of production at Double Vision and a partner in Sympatico.

The new venture starts life with six projects in active development, including two that it expects to put into production this year.

Double Vision is the production arm of the Vision New Media group that has over 35 years of experience in features, dramas, sitcoms, reality-game shows, magazine shows, documentaries, children’s programs and variety shows. Double Vision has in-house production and post-production facilities,...

Even in 1995, it was easy to snicker at Iain Softley's computer-centric cyber-thriller "Hackers." Firstly, because computer technology is so complex, and develops so quickly, any mention of modern cyber-gear would definitely be dated only a year later. Actual computer experts saw right through Softley's and screenwriter Rafael Moreu's attempts at being cutting edge. 

Additionally, Softley was presented with an interesting problem. While computer hackers occupied an exciting new technological subculture in 1995, people sitting at keyboards weren't very cinematically dynamic. Softley solved this problem by turning computer usage into something a little more abstract, using glowing animations, swirling cameras, and projecting images onto his actors' faces to make his film visually interesting. 

Softley also had to more or less create his own version of hacker culture from the ground up. He dressed his teen protagonists in complex neo-punk garb and invented their own patois. He assembled a glorious three-volume...

"The Skeleton Key" is a strange movie. For about 90 minutes, it's a routine supernatural thriller with all the usual mysteries and scares, something that seems instantly forgettable. Then it unloads a nasty little twist that suddenly throws everything that went before into a ghoulish light, making you re-evaluate all the clues threaded through the story. 

The film has its fans, but I still can't quite decide whether it is a clever ploy from screenwriter Ehren Kruger ("Scream 3," "The Ring") and Iain Softley or just bad filmmaking. After all, what is the point of constructing a puzzle box of a film if it only becomes interesting after the credits roll?

For the bulk of its running time, "The Skeleton Key" is a glossy slice of Southern Gothic that feels at once oddly timeless and deeply derivative. It got lost in the mix at the time of release among the emerging...

British producer Richard Johns has launched a new label, Argo Films.

Johns is best known for the 2000 Academy Award-nominated indie horror flick Shadow of a Vampire and several other films, is debuting with a slate of projects and The Shepherd, a completed short for Disney+.

The Shepherd, starring John Travolta and Ben Radcliffe, is based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth and followed the story of a pilot flying home solo for Christmas in 1957. Iain Softley wrote and directed, and Alfonso Cuarón and Bill Kenwright are co-producers.

Argo will also house scripted assets and development projects from Corona Pictures and Corona Television, the businesses Johns established with Rupert Jermyn in 2009 that produced teen horror Truth or Dare and Tim Roth-starrer The Liability and whose TV arm received investment from Fremantle. Johns purchased Jermyn’s share of the assets when the latter left the industry in 2019.

Projects include several unnamed international drama co-productions,...

In the 1990s, the internet was scary. A lot of new communication technology had opened up to the public, and Hollywood responded by making a slew of paranoid cyber-thrillers, each one positing a near-future world where one's personal information was no longer private, and where wealthy, corrupt international companies paid top-dollar to get said information for their own nefarious purposes. It was a future where the human consciousness had been damaged by prolonged consumption to increasingly truncated information nuggets. I know -- crazy, right? 

Movies like Brett Leonard's "The Lawnmower Man" envisioned V.R. technology as capable of forcibly evolving the human brain. Iain Softley's "Hackers" (1995) uncovered a neo-punk subculture of computer-savvy teens who would access anything and do anything their prankish minds desired. Irwin Winkler's "The Net" (1995) was the most daring of all, suggesting that future people might spend all their time in online chat rooms...

by Cláudio Alves

In 1997, Eduardo Serra became the first Portuguese person to be nominated for an Academy Award. This honor came thanks to his work in The Wings of the Dove, a Henry James adaptation directed by Iain Softley. This piece of trivia was one of the reasons I was so eager to watch the film as I first started to fall in love with movie awards. The other point of interest was Helena Bonham Carter, for whom I had a raging fandom in my early teens. After all, this was also the picture that had earned the actress her first nomination. It should have also won her the statuette. This was the first film I remember looking for with such avidness, going into international sites so I could order a DVD from abroad.

I fell in love with The Wings of the Dove when I was thirteen, and that...

Company secures first-look film and TV deal with Sony Pictures.

Former Sony Pictures International Productions executive Luke Scrase has launched Golden Gate Studios, a UK-based production company, and secured a first-look deal with Sony Pictures

Golden Gate Studios will primarily focus on developing and producing UK and European genre films as well as television series for the global market. The aim will be to produce a mix of both English and local language content.

Scrase remains attached as a producer or executive producer on various projects he initiated during his time at Sony Pictures International Productions’ UK unit.

While at Sony,...

Luke Scrase, the former Sony Pictures International Productions executive, is launching his own UK-based production outfit Golden Gate Studios. The company has secured a first-look deal for film and TV projects with Sony, effective this month.

Golden Gate will focus on developing and producing British and European genre films as well as commercially-driven television series for the global market. The aim will be to produce a mix of both English and local-language content.

Scrase remains attached to various Sony projects he initiated during his time in the studio’s UK office. His credits include Michael Winterbottom’s Greed and Michael Caton-Jones’s Our Ladies, the latter of which is coming out later this year. He also has Patrick Marber’s Curtain Call, set to star Colin Firth and Gemma Arterton, and The Dead Spit of Kelly, to be directed by Iain Softley, in the works.

“I’m thrilled to be...

Uncharted Territory and Rise Pictures have joined forces to produce “Igraine the Brave,” a 3D-animated fantasy adventure based on the novel by bestselling author Cornelia Funke.

The story follows 12-year-old Igraine, the only one in her family who is not interested in magic, but is instead pursuing a headstrong plan to become a knight. Just when her brother accidentally turns their parents into pigs, their beloved home, Pimpernel Castle, is besieged by the knight Rowan Heartless and his master, Osmond the Greedy. They plan to steal her family’s singing books of magic to become all-powerful. It’s up to Igraine to save her family — even if it means facing giants and three-headed dragons.

“Igraine the Brave” will be produced by Uncharted Territory’s Volker Engel, Gesa Engel and Lucia Scharbatke, who are partnering with Rise Pictures’ Ulrich Schwarz and Sven Pannicke executive producing, with L.A.-based Robyn Klein and Jeremy Ross co-producing.

Jason Isaacs, Colin Morgan and Jess Barden attached to star.

Sony Pictures International Productions has acquired UK and Ireland rights to Iain Softley’s dark comedy thriller The Dead Spit Of Kelly, which worldwide sales agent Myriad Pictures will continue to discuss with buyers at the virtual EFM next week.

Jason Isaacs, Colin Morgan and Jess Barden are attached to star for Grand Pictures and Forthcoming Films.

Softley will direct the UK-Ireland dark comedy from a screenplay by Johnny Ferguson set in turn-of-the-century Dublin where a diligent taxidermist Murphy (Morgan) is tormented by his boss, the vile and volatile Kelly...

In honor of the 25th anniversary of Hackers, that beloved cult classic starring Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie as, well, hackers, I had the lucky opportunity to interview its director Iain Softley over Zoom for a wonderful deep dive into the production of the film. And during our chat, I found out something quite illuminating and surprising about a certain auteur by the name of Christopher Nolan. Whether you love or hate his work, you must admit that Nolan's usage of practical visual effects in an increasingly computer generated blockbuster space is …...

Could a Hackers sequel be coming our way? Or perhaps a reboot? That certainly is in the realm of possibility, as revealed by director Iain Softley. 25 years after the original 1995 movie arrived to a tepid response, Softley has revealed that conversations have taken place about revisiting that universe.

Iain Softley recently was interviewed in honor of the Hackers 25th anniversary. During the conversation, the filmmaker was asked about revisiting that world. Softley reveals that this is something that initially came up a few years ago and might actually happen. Here's what he had to say about it.

"We are, I have to say for the first time in 25 years, and we probably started this conversation a year or two ago, in the aftermath of the 20th anniversary, I'd never even thought it was something that was interesting. Because we'd anticipate something, and then it'd happen. And then it was kind of all pervasive.

In honor of the wild cyberpunk cult classic's 25th anniversary, I got to sit down with the director of Hackers, Iain Softley, for an in-depth, 45-minute Zoom interview about every facet of the film. And when he teased a return to the world of Hackers "being actively considered", I simply had to share it with my fellow Hacker-ytes (probably just shoulda stuck with "hackers") as soon as possible (look for our full interview on Collider tomorrow!). Here's Softley on revisiting the world of Hackers: [caption id="attachment_932234" align="alignright" width="320"] Image via MGM/UA …...

A 25-year-old secret – albeit poorly kept and widely known – can finally be confirmed: Yes, that is Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour playing one of his trademark guitar solos during a pivotal scene in the 1995 film/techie time capsule Hackers.

Sometime in The Division Bell era, Gilmour visited the home of Guy Pratt, Pink Floyd’s touring bassist since Momentarily Lapse of Reason, while the bassist was working on music for the 1995 movie about teenage computer whizzes — including Angelina Jolie in her first big-screen role — “hacking the world.”

The meet-up became...

Iain Softley to direct dark comedy from screenplay by Johnny Ferguson.

Jessica Barden, star of Netflix series The End Of The F***ing World and a former Screen Star of Tomorrow, has joined Jason Isaacs on The Dead Spit Of Kelly, one of several sales titles that Myriad Pictures is bringing to the Efm in Berlin.

Iain Softley will direct the UK-Ireland dark comedy from a screenplay by Johnny Ferguson set in turn-of-the-century Dublin where a diligent taxidermist Murphy (Colin Morgan) is tormented by his boss, the vile and volatile Kelly (Isaacs).

Fast-rising Barden, a Screen Star of Tomorrow 2015 and former...

Inkheart’s Iain Softley to direct based on Flann O’Brien short story.

Jason Isaacs, Colin Morgan and Jim Broadbent will star in UK-Ireland black comedy The Dead Spit Of Kelly, which Myriad Pictures has introduced to worldwide buyers here.

Iain Softley will direct from Johnny Ferguson’s adaptation of the short story by Irish writer Flann O’Brien about a taxidermist (Morgan) who kills his cruel boss (Isaacs) and uses his skills to wear the dead man’s skin and live a double life.

The film is a co-production between Grand Pictures (Dark Lies The Island) and Forthcoming Films...

Powell founded Palace Productions with Stephen Woolley in 1983.

Nik Powell, the former director of the UK’s National Film And Television School (Nfts), has died aged 69.

Powell had been receiving treatment for cancer. He died this morning (November 7) in Oxford, with his family beside him.

He was director of the Nfts from 2003 to 2017, and received a Bafta for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema in 2018.

Prior to his role at the Nfts, he established Palace Pictures with Stephen Woolley in 1983, which produced titles Mona Lisa (1986) and The Crying Game (1992).

Following Palace’s collapse in 1992, Powell formed Scala Productions, also with Woolley,...

Mark Allison Dec 12, 2017

It's 20 years today that Tomorrow Never DIes first landed in UK cinemas. But was it, in its own way, ahead of its time?

Imagine a world in which deceitful news reporters and mysterious computer hackers are conspiring to destabilise the geopolitical status quo. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has developed delusions of grandeur about its place in the world, and begun to embark upon an effort to restore itself to former imperial greatness. All this might seem a little familiar to anyone who has glanced at a newspaper recently, but it’s not a summary of recent events – this is a synopsis for the seventeenth James Bond film, Roger Spottiswoode’s Tomorrow Never Dies, which has just turned 20 years old.

See related Riverdale season 2 episode 7 review: Tales From The Darkside Riverdale season 2 episode 6 review: Death Proof Riverdale season 2 episode 5 review: When A Stranger Calls

Described by this website...

Stars: Stella Maeve, Evan Taubenfeld, Ashley Carin, Michael Madsen | Written by Harris Demel, Rob Greenberg | Directed by Harris Demel

[Note: With the film out on DVD here in the UK, here’s an extended review of Trapped, aka Flipped; which we originally reviewed back in April 2016 under the title Blood Rush]

Directed by Harris Demel, Trapped fixes on Nicole Diamond, an internationally-known model, who finds herself in an upside-down car in the middle of nowhere. In the passenger seat is her unconscious boyfriend, pop singer Scott Donnoly, a.k.a. Scotty Dee. Not a soul is around to help, and her legs are wedged under the dashboard. She’s trapped. Danger lurks everywhere, including a small fire under the car, wild animals in the vicinity, and the unknown, life-threatening physiological effects of hanging upside down indefinitely. With her damaged cell phone, she dials random numbers until she finally reaches someone willing to help – a mysterious man named Casey. However, she soon learns that roadside assistance is the last thing on Casey’s mind.

Running along similar themes as Iain Softley’s 2015 thriller Curve,...

Exclusive: Kris Thykier's Archery Pictures, Iain Softley's Forthcoming Films and Michael Maher's Start Motion Pictures are joining forces to develop Icarus, a feature film about legendary British-American astronaut Mike Foale. K-Pax and The Outcast filmmaker Softley is set to direct the project, which follows the story of Foale and his real-life space adventure in the 1990s during which he overcame a series of crises aboard the Mir space station to become one of Nasa's…...

Exclusive: Directors UK report concludes that there is “unconscious, systemic bias” towards male directors in UK.

An extensive new report commissioned by Directors UK has found that in the decade from 2004 to 2014, only 13.6% of working film directors in the UK were women.

‘Cut Out of the Picture: A study into the gender and inequality amongst directors in UK film,’ examines the data behind all 2,591 films made in the UK across that decade to explore how female filmmakers are faring at all levels.

The findings, which Screen will address in a feature to be published tomorrow, reveal that over that decade of study the situation not only stagnated, but worsened in terms of the number of female-directed films supported by public funding.

Over that period, just 21.7 percent of films receiving public funding had a woman at the helm, and that support fell dramatically in the seven years from 2008 to 2014; from 32.9% to 17%.

Crucially, the report...

Exclusive: Directors UK report concludes that there is “unconscious, systemic bias” towards male directors in UK.

An extensive new report commissioned by Directors UK has found that in the decade from 2004 to 2014, only 13.6% of working film directors in the UK were women.

‘Cut Out of the Picture: A study into the gender and inequality amongst directors in UK film,’ examines the data behind all 2,591 films made in the UK across that decade to explore how female filmmakers are faring at all levels.

The findings, which Screen will address in a feature to be published tomorrow, reveal that over that decade of study the situation not only stagnated, but worsened in terms of the number of female-directed films supported by public funding.

Over that period, just 21.7 percent of films receiving public funding had a woman at the helm, and that support fell dramatically in the seven years from 2008 to 2014; from 32.9% to 17%.

Crucially, the report...

Welcome to week three of VOD Vault, where we take a look at another bunch of direct-to-market releases, many of which hit iTunes and the supermarket shelves without fanfare, walking you – our readers – down the fine line between spending your money wisely, or throwing it away on another slice of Dtv dross. Up this week are two films on the opposite end of the cinematic spectrum: Get a Job, a long-delayed rom-com starring Anna Kendrick and Miles Teller; and claustrophobic horror Blood Rush.

Get A Job

Stars: Anna Kendrick, Alison Brie, Miles Teller, Bryan Cranston, Cameron Richardson, Greg Germann, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Marcia Gay Harden, Nicholas Braun, John C. McGinley, Jorge Garcia, John Cho, Bruce Davidson | Directed by Dylan Kidd

Life after college graduation is not exactly going as planned for Will (Teller) and Jillian (Kendrick) who find themselves lost in a sea of increasingly strange jobs, perpetual unemployment and adulthood angst.

Stars: Julianne Hough, Teddy Sears, Madalyn Horcher, Penelope Mitchell, Drew Rausch | Written by Kimberly Lofstrom Johnson, Lee Patterson | Directed by Iain Softley

If I wanted to watch The Hitcher, I’d watch The Hitcher. If I wanted to watch 127 Hours, I’d watch 127 Hours. If I wanted to watch Buried, I’d watch Buried. I certainly wouldn’t sit through Curve again.

Another mediocre movie from the Blumhouse production line, Curve is also the latest film from director Iain Softley, whose directorial career consists of one good movie, Backbeat; one cult movie, Hackers; and a whole heap of decidely average ones. Apparently he got the gig directing this film thanks to his 2005 effort The Skeleton Key which, like this film, is another example of the generic, housewife-friendly horror that tend to get on my very last nerve…

Curve follows bride-to-be Mallory, who is driving to Denver for her wedding when...

MoreHorror.com

The Screamfest Horror Film Festival is the longest running horror film festival in the United States, now in its 15th year. The festival has been responsible for premiering many now classic horror films such as Paranormal Activity and Feast, both of which are having anniversary screenings at this year's festival. Additionally, Screamfest will be screening the premiere of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.

The 2015 festival will run from October 13th through the 22nd in Hollywood, California at the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres.

Screamfest has an amazing star-studded lineup this year, and if you live in Los Angeles, you owe it to yourself to check out a movie or two, or three or four or all of them. Many of the screenings include discussions with filmmakers such as John and Clu Gulager, James Franco, and more. You can check out the programming and purchase tickets at the festival website Screamfest.

We talk to British director Iain Softley about his newest film Curve and a couple of his previous productions – Hackers (1995) and Skeleton Key (2005).

Curve, which played at Frightfest 2015, tells the story of a young woman who becomes trapped in her car after a hitchhiker causes her to crash off the road. The film is currently touring other genre festivals ahead of a limited cinema run and VOD/DVD release. Keep up to date with the tour here: blumhouse.com/films

2015 is the 20th anniversary of cybercrime favourite Hackers (1995) and is enjoying celebratory screening across America and London. Check the PictureHouse website for details of screenings during September and October 2015. 2015 is also the 10th anniversary of voodoo infused horror mystery Skeleton Key (2005). There’s a special screening and Q & A at Picture House Central, London on Monday 2 November 2015.

Check their website for details and tickets www.picturehouses.com/cinema/Picture…ntral...

Read More: Dinner and a Movie (and Drinks!) is the Future of Movie Theaters: Nitehawk Shows How It's Done Nitehawk, one of Brooklyn’s foremost purveyors of niche indies and cult revivals, took September 15 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the teen cyberpunk thriller "Hackers." The director, Iain Softley, and members of the cast, including Jonny Lee Miller, Renoly Santiago, Laurence Mason and Fisher Stevens, were all in attendance to celebrate the film and its thumping tribute to youth and technology. The movie skids through the streets of New York City to follow a group of young hackers as they attempt to thwart the unleashing of a dangerous computer virus as they are tailed by the secret service and the evil tech genius who developed it. Featuring hacker names like Phantom Phreak, Acid Burn and Crash Override, as well as a young Angelina Jolie, "Hackers" has developed a cult following...

Stars: Julianne Hough, Teddy Sears, Madalyn Horcher, Penelope Mitchell, Drew Rausch | Written by Kimberly Lofstrom Johnson, Lee Patterson | Directed by Iain Softley

If I wanted to watch The Hitcher, I’d watch The Hitcher. If I wanted to watch 127 Hours, I’d watch 127 Hours. If I wanted to watch Buried, I’d watch Buried. I certainly wouldn’t sit through Curve again.

Another movie from the Blumhouse production line, Curve is the latest film from director Iain Softley, whose directorial career consists of one good movie, Backbeat; one cult movie, Hackers; and a whole heap of decidely average ones. Apparently he got the gig directing this film thanks to his 2005 effort The Skeleton Key which, like this film, is another example of the generic, housewife-friendly horror that is not made for the type of crowd that attend Frightfest each and every year. Which makes it all the more odd that...