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A cast has been revealed for the upcoming Scorpions biopic Wind of Change. Among the actors set to appear in the film are Dominic West, Alexander Dreymon (The Last Kingdom), and Ludwig Trepte (Generation War), among others.

West will play the German band’s legendary manager Doc McGhee, while Trepte will portray singer Klaus Meine and Dreymon will play guitarist Rudolf Schenker. Ed Speleers (You), and Luke Brandon Field will play guitarist Matthias Jab and drummer Herman Rarebell, respectively.

Get Scorpions Tickets Here

The film is currently in production in London, with plans for a theatrical release before the end of the year. It’s being directed by Alex Ranarivelo, and produced by Esx Entertainment for Fox Entertainment Studios in association with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

“It’s been an unbelievable journey developing this film and bringing it to life feels surreal” stated Ali Afshar, founder and president of Esx Entertainment.

A cast has been revealed for the upcoming Scorpions biopic Wind of Change. Among the actors set to appear in the film are Dominic West, Alexander Dreymon (The Last Kingdom), and Ludwig Trepte (Generation War), among others.

West will play the German band’s legendary manager Doc McGhee, while Trepte will portray singer Klaus Meine and Dreymon will play guitarist Rudolf Schenker. Ed Speleers (You), and Luke Brandon Field will play guitarist Matthias Jab and drummer Herman Rarebell, respectively.

Get Scorpions Tickets Here

The film is currently in production in London, with plans for a theatrical release before the end of the year. It’s being directed by Alex Ranarivelo, and produced by Esx Entertainment for Fox Entertainment Studios in association with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

“It’s been an unbelievable journey developing this film and bringing it to life feels surreal” stated Ali Afshar, founder and president of Esx Entertainment.

Follow the Moskva down to Gorky Park, and listen to the Wind of Change. The iconic post-Cold War anthem and the Scorpions, the musicians who wrote and recorded it, are getting their own biopic later this year. Dominic West and Ed Speleers are set to star in the film, which will chronicle the rise of the German rockers and the recording of the ballad that helped unite their divided country after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Deadline reports that the film is now in production in England, and will be released later this year.

Speleers (Star Trek: Picard) will play guitarist Matthias Jabs, with Alexander Dreymon (The Last Kingdom) as guitarist and band founder Rudolf Schenker, Ludwig Trepte (Deutschland 83) as singer and lyricist Klaus Meine, and Luke Brandon Field (Interview With the Vampire) as drummer Herman Rarebell. West (The Crown) will play the band's manager, Doc McGhee, and David Kross...

Dominic West, Alexander Dreymon, Ludwig Trepte, Ed Speleers, David Kross and Luke Brandon Field have been cast in lead roles in the Scorpions biopic film, “Wind of Change,” which recently started production at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in London.

Directed by Alex Ranarivelo and produced by Esx Entertainment for Fox Entertainment Studios in association with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, “Wind of Change” is a music biopic chronicling the incredible journey of the legendary rock group the Scorpions, with the longest-running and most successful line-up of the band including guitarist Rudolf Schenker (Dreymon), Klaus Meine (Trepte), Matthias Jab (Speleers) and drummer Herman Rarebell (Field). It tells the story of a band united by their passion for music, who sought to inspire change in the world through their powerful sound and meaningful lyrics.

At the heart of the film is their iconic anthem “Wind of Change,” which became the soundtrack to the end of the Cold War,...

Exclusive: Esx Entertainment’s new biopic about the Scorpions, the German band whose music defined an end to the Cold War and a bridge to peace at the time, has set its cast with Dominic West (The Crown), Alexander Dreymon (The Last Kingdom), Ludwig Trepte (Generation War), Ed Speleers (You), David Kross (The Reader) and Luke Brandon Field. Cameras are rolling at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in London for a theatrical release this year.

In addition, we’ve learned that Fox Entertainment Global has worldwide distribution rights, excluding U.S. and global transactional which Warner Bros Discovery Global Content Sales will manage. Both studios are producing with Esx.

Dreymon will play guitarist Rudolf Schenker, Trepte is Klaus Meine, Speleers is Matthias Jab and Field is the drummer Herman Rarebell. West will play their manager, Doc McGhee, and Kross will star as Andrej, the band...

Totoro is making his way back onto the big screen.

As part of Gkids and Fathom Entertainment’s Studio Ghibli Fest, “My Neighbor Totoro” will be re-released in theaters across the country July 19-23. Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 film follows sisters Satsuki and Mei, who relocate to a country home alongside their father to be close to their hospitalized mother. As the two children explore the countryside, they stumble upon creatures, including forest spirit Totoro.

Screenings will include both English dubbed and Japanese versions. Audience members can stick around after the film ends for a “Creating the Characters” bonus featurette that will include Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki.

This year’s Studio Ghibli Fest consists of an eight-film lineup, including “The Boy and the Heron” (the first time the film returns to theaters after its 2023 release).

Tickets for “My Neighbor Totoro” are available at GhibliFest.com. July 19, 20 and 23 are...

German distributor Der Filmverleih in Stuttgart has boarded Berlin-based Films in Motion’s World War II trilogy penned by American writer J. Frank James.

The films, in various stages of development, include “The Face,” produced with Leipzig-based Departures Film and starring Ludwig Trepte (“Deutschland 86”). The story turns on a traumatized Jewish survivor and an army deserter posing as a priest who are bonded together into a friendship while reconstructing a bombed out church. Markus Imboden (“The Foster Boy”) is set to direct.

In “Life Through a Dead Man’s Eyes,” directed by veteran helmer Jo Baier and produced with Amsterdam-based Nl Film and Hupe Film in Cologne, a former SS concentration camp guard in danger of being apprehended for his brutal past faces horrors beyond his imagination. Herbert Knaup and Matthias Habich star in the haunting drama.

“Bones of the Wise Men,” currently in development, is set in the...

The line-up includes new TV projects from Hirokazu Kore-eda, Gurinder Chadha and Gregg Araki.

Canneseries, the annual TV festival running alongside the Miptv content market in Cannes, has unveiled the competition line-up for its second edition (April 5-10).

The first two epsidoes from 10 new international series will screen in the main competition.

Titles include Channing Powell’s London-set psychological thriller The Feed for Amazon and Liberty Global. David Thewlis stars in the dystopian tale as the inventor of a brain implant that allows people to share thoughts and emotions alongside Guy Burnet, Michelle Fairley and Nina Toussaint-White as his family members.

Netflix movies may still be question mark in terms of being allowed in competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in May, but the streaming giant will be present at Cannes Series. The Cannes television festival will mark its second year next month with Netflix going up against rival Amazon in the competition section. The full lineup includes series from Israel, Norway, Spain, and Belgium.

Netflix’s competition entry is the German series “How to Sell Drugs Online Fast,” from writers Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann. Amazon is heading to Cannes Series with “The Feed,” a London-set drama created by Channing Powell and based on the novel Nick Clark Windo. “The Feed” stars “Game of Thrones” favorite Michelle Fairley opposite David Thewlis in a story about a piece of technology that allows people to instantly share thoughts and emotions. The tech falls into the wrong hands and becomes a murderous weapon.

Cannes Series has revealed the lineup, jury and masterclasses for its second edition, which takes place alongside the Mip TV market on the French Riviera.

Among ten series in competition at the TV festival are Netflix’s German show How To Sell Drugs Online and Amazon’s UK series The Feed with Michelle Fairley and David Thewlis. Out of competition shows include Starz’ Now Apocalypse and Russel T Davies’ Years And Years. Scroll down for the lineup in full.

The competition jury will be presided over by Dark show-runner Baran bo Odar with members comprising actor, director and author Stephen Fry (Gosford Park), actors Miriam Leone (Non Uccidere) and Emma Mackey (Sex Education), actor and director Katheryn Winnick (Vikings) and composer Rob (The Bureau). David Cross and Jude Law are among those with projects in the short form competition.

Among those set to give masterclasses will be Game Of Thrones...

Stars: Ben Litwinschuh, Lutz Simon Eilert, Helena Pieske, Ludwig Trepte, Sylvie Testud | Written by Johanna Stuttmann | Directed by Mara Eibl-Eibesfeldt

We first see Sabine (Sylvie Testud) in happier times, frolicking with her three young kids: Jonas (Ben Litwinschuh), Nick (Lutz Simon Eilert) and Miechen (Helena Pieske). But Sabine, suffering with mental health problems, can’t cope with her parental responsibilities. The father is well-meaning, although any assistance is strictly of the remote, debit card variety. One day, Sabine books herself into hospital to get over her “demons”, leaving Jonas, the eldest, in charge.

After the initial thrill of adult-free independence, the house falls into disrepair. While scavenging in bins, Jonas meets Felix (Ludwig Trepte), who becomes a kind of mentor. Felix mocks Jonas – he calls him “Dwarf” – but they strike up an awkward friendship. Despite Jonas’s best efforts, his siblings are ill and starving and their home is becoming shrouded in cobwebs.

Kayti Burt Oct 25, 2018

Everything you need to know about Deutschland 86, the sequel series to Sundance TV's German spy thriller Deutschland 83...

If you've yet to watch Deutschland 83, the Peabody Award-winning German TV series about an East German 24-year-old kid who gets sent to West Germany in 1983 as a spy, then you need to stop what you are doing right now and check it out on Hulu where all eight episodes are currently available. The historial thriller is one part The Americans, one part Atomic Blonde, and all parts awesome.

Now is the perfect time to catch up, as well, given that Sundance TV, who co-produces the series with Rtl Television, has a 10-episode sequel series, called Deutschland 86, premiering tonight. The second season of the spy drama filmed in South Africa and Berlin last year. As you might expect from the title, Deutschland 86 will pick up three years...

As expected back in August, the Deutschland83 TV show has been renewed for a second season on SundanceTV, with the new title, Deutschland86. The Cold War spy thriller from creators Anna Winger and Joerg Winger will return to East and West Germany, but as the new name suggests, it will make a time jump to 1986. Should the Deutschland TV series be renewed for a third season, expect it to return as Deutschland89.Deutschland follows Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay), a 20-something East German native who is embedded in the West German military, to gather Nato military secrets. The cast also includes Maria Schrader, Ulrich Noethen, Sylvester Groth, Sonja Gerhardt, Ludwig Trepte, Alexander Beyer, and Lisa Tomaschewsky.Read More…...

Amazon Prime Video Germany is reportedly poised to pick up the second season of the German-language Deutschland 83 TV series drama which runs on SundanceTV in the Us. The second season is set in 1986, and this is entitled Deutschland 86.Described as a Cold War era "coming of age spy thriller," Deutschland 83 follows Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay), an East German native who, in his mid-twenties, is embedded in the West German military, to gather Nato military secrets. The cast also includes Maria Schrader, Ulrich Noethen, Sylvester Groth, Sonja Gerhardt, Ludwig Trepte, Alexander Beyer, and Lisa Tomaschewsky.Read More…...

Premiering its first two episodes at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival, the eight episode Cold War television mini-series “Deutschland 83” went on to become the first German series to be broadcast on American television in its native language. A Sundance TV original series (co-produced by Rtl Television), it stands as one of the more notable moments in television from 2015, an example of a growing international industry with increased cross-over potential. Created by husband and wife duo Anna Winger, an American novelist, and Joerg Winger, a German television producer, the series reflects not only period tensions but is constructed in a familiar format that’s earned it comparisons to the acclaimed Us series “The Americans.” Imbued with a delectable early 80s soundtrack, East meets West with vintage flair, an antidote to the curiously hampered mechanics of Steven Spielberg’s recent theatrical release, Bridge of Spies, which documents the birth of the infamous...

How did this sneak by? It's a combo escapist spy story, engrossing soap opera, and historically accurate Cold War flashback to the time of Duran Duran and Blondie, produced in Germany with a great cast of young and/or unfamiliar actors. Sure, the expected unlikelihoods are there, but so is an essential authenticity. Great fun! Deutschland 83 DVD (Season 1) Kino Lorber 2015 / Color / 1:78 enhanced widescreen / 336 min. / Street Date September 29, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Jonas Nay, Maria Schrader, Sonja Gerhardt, Ulrich Noethen, Ludwig Trepte, Sylvester Groth, Alexander Beyer, Nikola Kastner, Errol Trotman Harewood, Godehard Giese. Cinematography Philipp Haberlandt, Frank Küpper Music Reinhold Heil Written by Anna Winger Produced by Joerg Winger, Nico Hoffman, Henriette Lippold Small>Directed by Edward Berger, Samira Radsi

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

This is something extraordinary, an exciting TV serial about the misadventures of an East German spy during the Cold War's '80s high point,...

Deutschland 83, Season 1, Episode 7, “Bold Guard”

Written by Georg Hartmann and Anna Winger

Directed by Samira Radsi

Airs Wednesdays at 11pm (Et) on SundanceTV

Shall we play a game?

The year that War Games hit theaters, 1983, was also the year that the world came the closest it had to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis. While that film depended on a computer to figure out the concept of mutually assured destruction, Deutschland 83‘s penultimate episode of the season, “Bold Guard,” places that burden squarely on Martin’s young shoulders. Of course, a computer simply analyzes a situation based on hard data and spits out a conclusion. In War Games, the data told the computer, called Joshua, that the only winning move is not to play in the first place. Unfortunately for Martin, he is dealing with humans, and unlike computers, humans are rarely motivated by data alone.

“Bold...

Deutschland 83, Season 1, Episode 6, “Brandy Station”

Written by Ralph Martin and Anna Winger

Directed by Samira Radsi

Airs Wednesdays at 11pm (Et) on SundanceTV

After focusing almost entirely on Martin—and the enormously appealing Jonas Nay—in its earliest episodes, Deutschland 83 has slowly widened its frame to include a larger mix of characters. Last week’s “Cold Fire,” while still centering on Martin’s return back to the West, spent considerable time exploring the stories of Alexander, Annett, and even Ursula Edel. Now comes “Brandy Station,” which brings Alexander to the forefront and feels like the first true ensemble episode of the series.

But first there is Martin. Still recovering from his kidney surgery, he receives a visit from Annett, whom he now knows is pregnant with his child. Any hope viewers had of a heartfelt reunion between the two young lovers is quickly squelched. Martin wants to remain...

Deutschland 83, Season 1, Episode 3, “Atlantic Lion”

Written by Anna Winger

Directed by Edward Berger

Airs Wednesdays at 11pm (Et) and SundanceTV

Throughout its first two episodes, Deutschland 83 introduced its characters, plots, and politics with such blithe adventure and fun that it was easy to miss that all the pieces were being placed on the chess board. But “Atlantic Lion” pulls back to reveal the board and starts to slowly circle the pieces around each other, letting the show’s interweaving character dramas finally begin to percolate and providing a glimpse of where this may all be headed.

Fresh off of Martin’s successful pilfering of a Nato official’s floppy disc in “Brave Guy,” he is sent off with General Edel to a Nato conference in Brussels. The dynamic between Edel and Martin really works. Edel faces tremendous job stress, has a strained marriage, and feels his children, both of whom have pacifist tendencies,...

Deutschland 83, Season 1, Episode 2, “Brave Guy”

Written by Steve Bailie and Anna Winger

Directed by Edward Berger

Airs Wednesdays at 11pm (Et) on SundanceTV

After Deutschland 83‘s pilot, “Quantum Jump“, seemed to set the series up as a stylish, welterweight version of The Americans, its second episode,”Brave Guy,” establishes the show as something lighter still. And that’s not a bad thing at all.

The overall theme of “Brave Guy” is that being a spy—even a very green one—is pretty badass if you have game. And boy, does Martin (Jonas Nay) have game. The episode requires him to run, skulk, flirt, and fight his way to a hotel safe containing top secret documents, and he delivers with more pizzazz than he has a right to. It’s hard to imagine poor, morally-exhausted Philip Jennings ever enjoying such boyish enthusiasm as he cut his teeth in the...

Oliver Mahrdt, Andrew Nagorski, Ingrid Scheib-Rothbart, with moderator Anne-Katrin Titze on Generation War Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Philipp Kadelbach's Generation War, written by Stefan Kolditz, and produced by Nico Hofmann for the Zdf was first shown on German and Austrian television in 2013 on the evenings of March 17, 18 and 20, in 90 minute episodes as a three-part miniseries. It garnered more than 7 million viewers. The film stars Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Miriam Stein and Ludwig Trepte as five friends in Berlin, June 1941 whom we follow throughout the war.

Two brothers, Wilhelm and Friedhelm are Wehrmacht soldiers on the Eastern Front. Charlotte becomes an army nurse. Greta is an aspiring singer involved with Viktor, a tailor who is Jewish, escapes deportation and joins Polish partisans. The performances are outstanding, the battle scenes filmed by cinematographer David Slama and edited by Bernd Schlegel pull you in and yet the plot choices remain controversial.

A pair of trailers for two World War II films have arrived, the first is actually a three-part miniseries titled Generation War, which has been described as "Germany's 'Band of Brothers'" and will be released theatrically by Music Box Films on January 15, though only at New York's IFC Center and I doubt it will be expanding much further. Set in Berlin 1941, the miniseries centers on five friends eager to become heroes in the German army only to later find their lives irrevocably damaged after years of bloodshed. Directed by Philipp Kadelbach, the film stars Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schuttler, Ludwig Trepte and Miriam Stein. Here's the trailer. yt id ="XwH35_w1oZY" width="610" Next we have Stalingrad from director Fedor Bondarchuk. The film is a 3D action film that recently stormed the Chinese box office to the tune of $8.3 million during its opening weekend and has been submitted by...

A+E Networks UK’s History channel has set details of its upcoming local version of Pawn Stars. The show will focus on Regal Pawn, a shop near Chester, England. The eight-part series will star Regal’s owner Mark Manning, (aka Big Mark), his daughter Vicki, his best friend Little Mark and Little Mark’s son, Marco. The UK will be the first market to make its own version of the series that will feature distinctly British items. The show airs in the UK this fall and is produced by Leftfield Pictures, the production company behind the original U.S. series which has increased in popularity in Britain since it debuted in 2010. Music Box has taken U.S. rights on Beta Film’s Generation War, a six-hour miniseries about the fate of young men and women who fought in World War II. The Band Of Brothers-like story is from Zdf,...

The mind of a teenaged boy is a scary place at the best of times but if it's as frightening as writer/director Eva Urthaler imagines it to be in Keller (Basement) -- Teenage Wasteland, then we're in deep trouble.

A fierce story about two boys who almost absent-mindedly kidnap and violate an attractive woman, it is unlikely to escape the festival circuit but it is a tremendous showcase for Urthaler's skills.

The Austrian filmmaker's use of an abandoned factory as the setting for most of the action is a simple device expertly utilized to convey the way the boys have lost their way.

Paul (Ludwig Trepte) is a shy poor boy with a sick mother and an absent father. Sebastian (Sergej Moya) says his father is a rich businessman and he appears spoiled and keen to befriend and dominate Paul.

Petty theft, vandalism and idle chatter fill their after school hours until a shop assistant (Elisabetta Rocchetti) catches Sebastian stealing a bottle of vodka. The boys follow her from the store and end up assaulting her in the laundry room of her apartment building.

With brutal carelessness, they wheel her unconscious body to the disused factory and tie her to a chair. But their hostage is completely alien to them as if they have no idea she's human. They have no clue what to do next but it's bound to be not good.

It's a pessimistic picture, but Urthaler explores her theme of how society can breed callous and empty minds with compelling authority.