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A burglar stumbles upon a woman being held captive by a serial killer in Bad Samaritan, a “well-directed thriller with knuckle-chewing suspense”*debuting August 3 on digital from Electric Entertainment and distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on Blu-ray and DVD August 14th. Directed by Dean Devlin (Geostorm), the tense horror-thriller stars David Tennant, Robert Sheehan (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), Carlito Olivero (“The X Factor”), Kerry Condon and Jacqueline Byers (Ordinary Days). Bonus content includes deleted scenes.

Bad Samaritan is a terrifying cautionary tale of two thieves uncovering more than what they bargained for when breaking into a house they thought would be an easy score. After making a shocking discovery, they must choose to run and hide, or face the killer whose dark secrets they have exposed. Directed by Dean Devlin and written by Brandon Boyce, Bad Samaritan was produced by Dean Devlin,...

From writer Brandon Boyce (Apt Pupil) and director Dean Devlin (Geostorm), the thriller Bad Samaritan follows Sean (Robert Sheehan) who, along with his best friend (Carlito Olivero), is a valet at a local restaurant in Portland, Oregon, where the two men burglarize the houses of customers while they eat. It’s a situation that works for them, until Sean robs the wrong customer – a wealthy man named Cale Erendreich (David Tennant) – and discovers that he’s holding a woman (Kerry Condon) captive and, in order to save her, he must endure the wrath of the kidnapper, who now seeks revenge …...

The second weekend of Disney-Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” is heading for $115 million at 4,474 North American sites, while the opening of “Overboard” will take in about $13 million, early estimates showed Friday.

Should the forecasts hold, “Avengers: Infinity War” will follow up its record-breaking debut with the second-highest domestic second weekend of all time behind only “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at $149.2 million. “Black Panther” currently has the second-highest total at $111.7 million, followed by “Jurassic World” at $106.5 million.

“Avengers: Infinity War” was pegged in the most recent domestic estimates to take in between $25 million and $32 million on Friday, its eighth day in theaters, and between $105 million and $125 million for the weekend. That will give the superhero mashup around $450 million in its first 10 days in North America.

“Infinity War” had the biggest domestic and global launches ever last weekend. In North America, it opened with $258.2 million, while internationally, it secured...

“Overboard” has opened with a moderate $675,000 at 1,400 North American locations on Thursday night.

“Overboard,” MGM and Lionsgate-Pantelion’s reboot of the 1987 comedy, is expanding on Friday to 1,623 sites, with forecasts in the $10 million to $13 million range. It will finish a distant second to the sophomore weekend of Disney-Marvel’s mega-hit “Avengers: Infinity War.”

“Overboard” is a gender-swapped remake of the Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s romantic comedy, in which Hawn played a spoiled heiress and Russell portrayed a blue-collar laborer. The new film reverses the roles with Derbez as a rich playboy who becomes amnesiac and Faris as a working mother who convinces him that she’s his wife. Rob Greenberg directed from a screenplay he wrote with Bob Fisher and Leslie Dixon.

Critics have been unimpressed, giving “Overboard” a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 28%. The film is a relatively low-risk project with a budget in the $12 million range.

Confession: I'll see anything with David Tennant in it. Bad Samaritan, however, barely qualifies as "anything." Mostly, it's a collection of spare suspense parts that someone ransacked at the movie dump and is trying to resell as fresh product. Good luck with that.

As compensation, there's Tennant, the Scottish actor who is the 10th (and arguably the best-ever) Doctor Who and a villain for the ages as Kilgrave on Jessica Jones. He's clearly relishing the role of supercreep Cale Erendreich, a trust-fund snob who likes getting his way. We hate...

From writer Brandon Boyce (Apt Pupil) and director Dean Devlin (Geostorm), the thriller Bad Samaritan follows Sean (Robert Sheehan) who, along with his best friend (Carlito Olivero), is a valet at a local restaurant in Portland, Oregon, where the two men burglarize the houses of customers while they eat. It’s a situation that works for them, until Sean robs the wrong customer – a wealthy man named Cale Erendreich (David Tennant) – and discovers that he’s holding a woman (Kerry Condon) captive and, in order to save her, he must endure the wrath of the kidnapper, who now seeks revenge …...

Bad Samaritan Electric Entertainment Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Dean Devlin Screenwriter: Brandon Boyce Cast: David Tennant, Robert Sheehan, Carlito Olivero Screened at: Dolby24, NYC, 4/24/18 Opens: May 4, 2018 A traveler is stripped of clothing, beaten, left for dead. A Levite and a priest walk by and ignore the man. A Samaritan (a group […]

The post Bad Samaritan Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

“Avengers: Infinity War” will follow up its record-breaking debut with another powerful weekend at the domestic box office.

The Marvel title should nab between $100 million to $130 million in its second frame. After seven days of release, “Infinity War” has earned $305.9 million in North America, tying “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” as the fastest film to cross the $300 million mark. It launched domestically with $258 million, securing the biggest opening weekend of all time. Globally, it’s made $808.4 million. Mighty numbers, indeed.

“Infinity Wars” was originally scheduled to open this coming weekend, though no other tentpole films replaced the comic book epic when its big screen debut was pushed up a week. A number of smaller releases will bow in its wake.

MGM and Lionsgate-Pantelion’s “Overboard” is looking to make a splash with $10 million to $12 million from 1,600 screens. It’s a Latinoremake of the beloved (at least by TBS...

From writer Brandon Boyce (Apt Pupil) and director Dean Devlin (Geostorm), the thriller Bad Samaritan follows Sean (Robert Sheehan) who, along with his best friend (Carlito Olivero), is a valet at a local restaurant in Portland, Oregon, where the two men burglarize the houses of customers while they eat. It’s a situation that works for them, until Sean robs the wrong customer – a wealthy man named Cale Erendreich (David Tennant) – and discovers that he’s holding a woman (Kerry Condon) captive and, in order to save her, he must endure the wrath of the kidnapper, who now seeks revenge …...

A small-time scam artist inadvertently stumbles upon a far more dangerous criminal (a sadistic serial killer played by ex-“Doctor Who” star David Tennant), earning a chance to redeem himself in the catchy if somewhat nonsensically titled “Bad Samaritan.” The notion of a well-meaning sinner doing penance for past wrongs may as well extend to producer-turned-director Dean Devlin, who’s evidently using this potboiler to atone for last year’s disastrous “Geostorm” (in which Sheehan also appeared), delivering a down-and-dirty quickie that’s less ambitious in every sense yet ultimately far more effective as a piece of shamelessly manipulative, armrest-clutching genre entertainment.

Banking heavily on the unconventional, almost-androgynous looks of its blue-eyed, ringlet-haired leading man, “Bad Samaritan” expects audiences to identify with an opportunistic hustler — and talented amateur photographer — who uses a Portland restaurant’s valet parking service to break into rich folks’ homes while they dine. Sean (Sheehan) and...

How, indeed, do you follow up Geostorm? If you’re Dean Devlin, you take one of the lesser-known castmembers of that disastrous 2017 disaster movie (from which Devlin was removed during reshoots), abscond to Portland, Oregon — “my home away from home” per his press notes director’s statement — with a dreckish screenplay by Brandon Boyce (Apt Pupil), and make a low-budget serial killer thriller so ludicrous and imbecilic that it’s almost charming. Almost.

Irish actor Robert Sheehan plays Sean Falco, a restaurant valet to most people’s eyes and a petty thief in actuality. Whenever a clearly well-to-do customer drives up, he...

How, indeed, do you follow up <em>Geostorm</em>? If you’re Dean Devlin, you take one of the lesser-known castmembers of that disastrous 2017 disaster movie (from which Devlin was removed during reshoots), abscond to Portland, Oregon — “my home away from home” per his press notes director’s statement — with a dreckish screenplay by Brandon Boyce (<em>Apt Pupil</em>) and make a low-budget serial killer thriller so ludicrous and imbecilic that it’s almost charming. Almost.

Irish actor Robert Sheehan plays Sean Falco, a restaurant valet to most people’s eyes and a petty thief in actuality. Whenever a ...

We at Collider have an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette for the upcoming thriller Bad Samaritan to share with our readers today. Written by Wicker Park and Apt Pupil scribe Brandon Boyce and directed by Dean Devlin (Geostorm), the film stars Robert Sheehan as a valet who develops a scam to burglarize the houses of rich customers. But when he enters the house of David Tennant’s character, he discovers a woman (Kerry Condon) being held captive in his home, and thus begins a journey towards rescuing the woman while also avoiding being brutally killed by one very dangerous individual. …...

Companies collaborated on Lbj, The Book Of Love.

Electric Entertainment has teamed up with P&A financier and media provider Global Pictures Media on the upcoming Us release of Bad Samaritan.

The thriller’s nationwide release is scheduled for May 4, with Global Pictures Media serving as its exclusive media agency and assisting in financing the release with Electric.

Electric Entertainment CEO Dean Devlin directed Bad Samaritan, which stars David Tennant and Robert Sheehan in the story of thieves who find more than they bargained for after breaking into a house.

Kerry Condon, Carlito Olivero, and Jacqueline Byers also star. Brandon Boyce...

Producer Dean Devlin, best known for producing Hollywood blockbusters such as Independence Day and Godzilla, is through with working on studio films that often have too many chefs in the kitchen. Devlin has taken to the directing chair and independently-financed the thriller, Bad Samaritan starring David Tennant. At WonderCon, he and Bad Samaritan screenwriter Brandon Boyce talked about casting David Tennant as the villain, geeking out when calling Tennant to offer him the role and why he's focusing on producing and directing his own films without the involvement of movie studios.

Electric Entertainment has released the first trailer and poster for their upcoming thriller Bad Samaritan, arriving in theaters March 30. This thriller marks the second feature directorial effort for Dean Devlin, who made his directorial debut last year with the big-budget action-thriller Geostorm. Bad Samaritan is quite scaled back in terms of scope, compared to Geostorm, but this intriguing thriller has a unique enough premise that it could make some waves in a crowded spring movie season.

The story centers on a valet named Sean (Robert Sheehan), who, along with his partner Derek (Carlito Olivero), develops a clever scam to burglarize the houses of rich customers. Things go smoothly until he robs the wrong customer (David Tennant), and discovers &#8239a woman being held captive in his home. &#8239 Afraid of going to prison, he leaves the woman there and makes a call to the police, who find nothing when they investigate. Now,...

Dean Devlin's latest directorial effort, Bad Samaritan, starring David Tennant and Robert Sheehan, has sold in a slew of territories at the Cannes market.

New buyers include Dutch Filmworks, which will do a wide theatrical release in the Netherlands and all Dutch-speaking territories. Wise & Wide bought all rights for Korea, Tanweer bought multiple territories including Turkey, Greece, Indonesia and Malaysia, and Jaguar bought international airlines. As previously announced, the project also sold to Atlas in Germany, Imagem in Latin America and Eagle in the Middle East.

Written by Brandon Boyce, the film, being sold by Electric Entertainment, centers on...

Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment announced today that they have sold German, Latin American and Middle Eastern territories for Devlin’s latest directorial effort Bad Samaritan, starring David Tennant and Robert Sheehan. Brandon Boyce (Apt Pupil, Wicker Park) penned the screenplay with Electric’s Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan producing alongside Devlin.

Buyers include Atlas in Germany, Imagem in Latin America, and Eagle in the Middle East. The deals were brokered by Sonia Mehandjiyska, Ralph Kamp and their international sales team, which will continue sales at the Marché du Film in Cannes.

Bad Samaritan centers on two young car valets who use their business as a front to burglarize houses of their unsuspecting patrons. Life is good for these petty thieves until they target the wrong house, changing their lives forever.

The company recently announced the high profile acquisition of Rob Reiner’s Lbj starring Woody Harrelson in the role of the bombastic 36th President.

Exclusive: Electric Entertainment scores key deals on thriller.

Electric Entertainment has scored key sales on Dean Devlin’s upcoming thriller Bad Samaritan.

Atlas has acquired rights for Germany, Imagem for Latin America, and Eagle for the Middle East.

Sonia Mehandjiyska, Nolan Pielak, and consultant Ralph Kamp brokered the deals for Electric and continue talks with buyers here.

David Tennant and Robert Sheehan star in the film about two young car valets who use their business as a front to break into the homes of their unsuspecting patrons.

Life is good for the petty thieves until they target the wrong house, changing their lives forever.

Brandon Boyce wrote the screenplay and Electric’s Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan produce alongside Devlin.

Electric Entertainment recently acquired North American distribution rights to Rob Reiner’s Lbj starring Woody Harrelson in the role of the bombastic 36th president of the United States. The film will open in autumn.

As a writer and producer, Dean Devlin has had a hand in some of the highest profile projects of the last quarter of a century. Universal Soldier, Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla – all have been revisited repeatedly by Devlin and others, in numerous media. This is why – even though he is not the most prolific filmmaker – when he sets up a new property, people pay attention. We pay even more attention, when he casts an actor like David Tennant (Doctor Who, Jessica Jones), in a thriller like Bad Samaritan.

The script comes from Brandon Boyce, who previously wrote effective dramas Apt Pupil and Wicker Park. It centres on two young men working as car valets, who use their position to rob the homes of their customers. Inevitably, they eventually rob the wrong home, and face some unexpected consequences.

The first thing that is very clear about this movie is that it is about men.

“Jessica Jones” star David Tennant has been cast in Dean Devlin‘s “Bad Samaritan,” Devlin’s Electric Entertainment announced Thursday. The film is set to begin shooting later this year in Portland, Oregon. Brandon Boyce wrote the screenplay, while Electric’s Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan are producing along with Devlin. The film follows two young car valets who use their business to burglarize homes of the patrons. One day, they attempt to steal from the wrong house, which changes their lives forever. See Video: David Tennant Roasts Donald Trump Over Brexit Comments Tennant is best known for his role...

Exclusive: David Tennant has been tapped to star in Bad Samaritan, the next film from Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment that Devlin is set to direct himself. Brandon Boyce (Apt Pupil, Wicker Park) penned the screenplay for the thriller, which is lining up a shoot later this year in and around Portland, Or. The film centers on two young car valets who use their business as a front to burglarize the houses of their unsuspecting patrons. Life is good for the petty thieves…...

Dean Devlin’s company announced on Thursday that the former Doctor Who star has come on board the thriller.

Tennant arrives as Electric Entertainment said it had earmarked an autumn start in Portland, Oregon, for Bad Samaritan.

Devlin will direct the story from Brandon Boyce’s screenplay about two young car valets who use their business as a front to burgle their patrons’ homes.

When they target the wrong house, things take a turn for the worse.

Electric’s Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan are producing alongside Devlin.

“I’m a huge fan of David’s work,” said Devlin. “I’m overjoyed at the opportunity to work with him. “Brandon’s script had me on the edge of my seat. Tennant’s intensity is a perfect match for this material.”

Electric Entertainment recently acquired the horror comedy Fear, Inc. and drama The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea starring Jason Sudeikis, Jessica Biel and [link...

A few months ago came word that "Teen Wolf" show runner Jeff Davis was set to take on that role for a TV series adaptation of the recent horror classic "Let the Right One In" for A&E.

Appearing on Artist Alley, Davis says the recent renewal of MTV's "Teen Wolf" for a sixth season has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works as he originally had no intention of taking on another show while "Teen Wolf" was still running:

"I have to be honest, I thought season 5 was it. I thought we were ending... I have no idea what's going to happen with season six. Now I have the challenge of doing both, if we're that lucky on Let the Right One In, to see it go to series. We're still in the script stage."

Davis confirms he does plan to take elements from the original Swedish novel and make them darker.

First, "Let The Right One In" was a fresh take on the vampire genre from Sweden that made impressive waves in 2008. Two years later, it was remade as the arguably better "Let Me In" (yep, I went there) by Matt Reeves, who trimmed the fat, and delivered a leaner, more effective take on the story of a relationship between a young boy and an ageless, bloodthirsty girl. And now, the property is headed to the small screen.  THR reports A&E has started development on a TV series based on the cult horror film. The good news is that the network seems dedicated to quality genre fare, already the home to the acclaimed "Bates Motel" and the recently launched "The Returned." A cause for pause might be the fact that Jeff Davis, the showrunner for MTV's tweenage "Teen Wolf," is working on the adaptation along with Brandon Boyce ("Apt Pupil,...

First it was a novel, then an acclaimed Swedish movie, then a surprisingly classy English-language remake, and then two separate stage productions. Now John Ajvide Lindqvist's Let The Right One In is heading for yet another adaptation, this time as a TV series for the American cable network A&E. Brandon Boyce (Apt Pupil, Wicker Park) will write the new take, with Jeff Davis (MTV's Teen Wolf) acting as showrunner. Both, along with Tomorrow Studios' Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements, will serve as executive producers. So too will Hammer CEO Simon Oakes: Hammer retains the rights as the studio that brought us the Let Me In version in 2010.The story, in all forms so far, gives us a young boy called Oskar (Owen in the Hammer film) who befriends a local girl called Eli (or Abby). Eli lives in mysterious circumstances with her seemingly much older 'guardian',...

A&E has prevailed in a bidding war with Showtime for the rights to John Ajvide Lindqvist's best-selling Swedish book Let the Right One In for a TV series adaptation. The novel was adapted into the 2008 foreign thriller of the same name by director Tomas Alfredson, which was remade into the English-language film Let Me In, starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz. Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis is teaming with actor-writer Brandon Boyce to write the pilot script.

The original novel centers on a bullied young boy who becomes friends with a mysterious girl he eventually learns is a vampire. The series will take a slightly different approach, centering on the boy and female vampire, who live together in secret with the young girl's guardian. After a string of grisly murders rocks their sleepy Vermont town, a federal marshal comes to investigate, who has a mysterious past of his own.

It seems werewolves and vampires can work together, after all.

Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis and actor Brandon Boyce (who portrayed Dr. Vandenburg on the MTV series) are teaming with A&E to adapt Swedish vampire flick Let the Right One In, per The Hollywood Reporter.

PhotosTeen Wolf‘s Dearly Departed: Allison, Derek & More — Who’s Most Missed?

Based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In centers on a bullied teen boy who befriends a female vampire just as a string of murders occurs in their town.

Davis and Boyce will executive-produce the drama...

Swedish horror Let The Right One In has already been subjected to the Hollywood treatment, but that’s not going to stop its exsanguination in favor of another remake. For this latest iteration, currently in development at A&E, the network has tapped Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis and writer Brandon Boyce to revamp the movie a second time.

A&E snagged the rights from Hammer Films Productions – who produced the original movie based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s best-selling novel – in a bidding frenzy. The network nearly lost out to Showtime, whose slate already boasts the genre-tastic Penny Dreadful. All’s fair in love and (bidding) war.

Like all other previous versions of the property, the series will revolve about a bullied teen boy who befriends a young girl – who turns out to be a century-old vampire unable to restrain her bloodlust.

The first adaptation sprung up in the...

Norman Bates and the resurrected people of The Returned could be getting more company in the growing horror community on A&E, as the network is developing a TV series adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's world-renowned Sweden-set vampire novel, Let the Right One In.

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that A&E is collaborating with Jeff Davis (Teen Wolf showrunner) and Brandon Boyce (who wrote the screenplay adaptation of Stephen King's Apt Pupil and also played Dr. Vandenburg in Teen Wolf) on the adaptation of the 2004 novel, Let the Right One In, aka Låt den rätte komma in, with both Davis and Boyce set to scribe the script.

A&E and Showtime were both looking to adapt the vampiric coming-of-age story, with the former outbidding the latter in the end and gaining the optioned story from Hammer Films Productions.

A&E is currently developing the series in-house along with Tomorrow Studios.

This will draw the ire of fans around the World. According to a report over at THR's The Live Feed, U.S. television network A&E is planning a drama, adapted from the Swedish vampire coming of age film Let The Right One In.The network will be working with MTV's Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis. Davis is adapting the property with actor/writer Brandon Boyce (Teen Wolf)The original Swedish film, a much more pleasant adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's horror novel, was lauded and adored by critics and horror fans around the World. The story was about a young bullied boy who befriends the young girl who movies in next door. After a series of bizarre murders in their town he finds out that she is a vampire and...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

A&E has emerged victorious in a bidding war with Showtime for the rights to adapt the 2004 Swedish novel Let The Right One In for the small screen, THR is reporting.

The novel, which was made into a Swedish feature by the same name in 2008 by Tomas Alfredson, was also adapted in 2010 by Hammer Films Production for the big screen for an English-language feature, which was directed by Matt Reeves and called Let Me In. Hammer Films recently optioned the adaptation rights to the novel, which A&E won, intending to produce the tv series in their own production studio, A+E, in collaboration with Tomorrow Studios.

The show has already landed a creative team as well, as it will be steered by Jeff Davis and Brandon Boyce. Davis is best known for creating what ultimately became the CBS series Criminal Minds, as well as being the creator and showrunner...

Let the Right One In is to be remade as a Us television series.

A&E are developing a show based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's 2004 book and the 2008 film adaptation, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Jeff Davis - showrunner on MTV's Teen Wolf - will adapt the story alongside actor and screenwriter Brandon Boyce.

Let the Right One In tells the tale of a bullied 12-year-old boy who befriends a young female vampire.

The 2008 Swedish film, adapted by Lindqvist from his own novel, was a hit with critics and was nominated for a BAFTA.

A Us film version, retitled Let Me In, was released in 2010 starring Chloë Moretz and directed by Cloverfield's Matt Reeves.

A&E is said to have acquired the TV rights from Hammer Films Productions following a bidding war with cable network Showtime.

Hannibal, Bates Motel and more: 7 horror films and their TV off-cuts

Watch the...

A&E is teaming with "Teen Wolf" show runner Jeff Davis and actor-screenwriter Brandon Boyce for yet another adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's Swedish vampire story "Let the Right One In".

The story, about a bullied teen boy who befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her mysterious guardian, was adapted into Tomas Alfredson's critically acclaimed 2008 movie of the same name. Matt Reeves did a less well received but still praised English-language remake in 2010 entitled "Let Me In".

This new take though will be a drama series version of the story. The action will be shifted to a small Vermont town where a series of strange murders attracts the attention of a federal marshal with a mysterious past of his own.

A+E Studios and Tomorrow Studios will produce the project with Davis, Boyce, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements and Simon Oakes to serve as executive producers.

This is the first of a daily report on the various international sales agents who will converge at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica for 10 days beginning November 4 at the American Film Market.

The film and television production company Electric Entertainment, owned by producer/ writer and previously an actor, Dean Devlin, has recently launched an international theatrical film and television sales and acquisitions division. Devlin has appointed industry veteran Sonia Mehandjiyska to run the new division, which will represent Electric’s original productions as well as third-party product from A-list filmmakers and seasoned television producers from around the globe.

Dean Devlin's Electric Entertainment has recently acquired two new projects, Critical Hour and No Good Deed as director vehicles for Devlin and Electric's Marc Roskin respectively. Eric Tipton wrote Critical Hour, and Brandon Boyce ( Apt Pupil, Wicker Park) penned No Good Deed. Devlin, Roskin and Electric’s Rachel Olschan are producing both projects.

Dean and I spoke together about his plans and his incredible trailblazing in the international film business.

How was Toronto?

Toronto was interesting as the place to begin international sales again. It's been a while since I started Voltage with Nicholas Chartier.

What decided you to return to international sales?

Since 2004, we have been independent and we have about 100 hours of entertainment. We have studios in Portland, a state-of-the-art post-production facility here in L.A. We think we can leverage all these assets to bring down costs, not only for ourselves but for others. We want to capitalize on what such a workflow can bring to the marketplace.

What size films are you looking to make and represent internationally?

$25 million and under to start. We want to build on our brand identity. We want to continue with the genres we have been doing.

I notice that you began as an actor in 1980 as the boy in The Bodyguard, and then you wrote 1992 you wrote Universal Soldier. Then you wrote and produced Stargate and Independence Day. Are you still writing?

Yes, in fact I wrote and am now producing Geostorm with Skydance Pictures' David Ellison and Dana Goldberg and Paramount.

(Author’s note: I just realized, as I write this, that Geostorm will actually be Dean’s directorial debut!)

Will Paramount release U.S. And Electric Entertainment take foreign?

No, actually Paramount will take worldwide rights to this film as it is larger than those we will take on initially.

I notice you also are working in television. Which do you prefer, TV or theatrical?

When I started, TV was very formulaic. Now movies are more expensive and predictable and TV has exploded. With all the channels, it has become more creative. I love TV as much as I love film.

You have also produced documentaries – well you exec produced Who Killed the Electric Car? and other docs (Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story and Bellflower , Becoming Santa and Go Far: The Christopher Rush Story) give you thanks. Will you continue with docs?

We all know about passion projects. I don't have plans for docs, but there are some which I feel passionate about and so I get involved with them.

Any plans for U.S. Distribution?

No plan yet. But it's interesting to see all the forms of releasing, like iTunes releasing before theatrical on certain types of films. Perhaps in the distant future we will get into U.S. Distribution, but not yet.

You showing such intelligence in your planning and executing. It's a pleasure to see you at work.

Thank you. I think that to have any creative freedom requires risk taking. People are quick to criticize the studio system but we know they are taking risks every day and I think we need to share the risk which is what I am doing.

Well you are really keeping up with the times and the changes and I wish you great success. And thank you for taking the time to talk with me about Electric.

Industry vet Sonia Mehandjiyska serves as Head of International Distribution

Mehandjiyska introduced Electric’s slate to buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival and is proceeding on sales at the American Film Market. She was previously Head of Sales at Global Screen, a Bavaria-Telepool joint venture in Munich, Germany, where she negotiated license agreements on theatrical films, TV Series and M.O.W.’s for one of Europe’s biggest libraries.

Since 2003, Mehandjiyska has served in a variety of international distribution positions with Gibraltar Entertainment, Lightning Entertainment and Echo Bridge, where she served as Vice President of International Sales in their London office.

Devlin commented, “Sonia’s business acumen, professionalism, and taste for material represents exactly what I am looking for in the person we want to head our new division. We welcome her to the Electric family, and look forward to working with her as we present our product to the global marketplace.”

“I am thrilled to be working with Dean as he builds Electric into a full-service independent production and distribution company. His reputation and astonishing body of work is indisputable, and an inspiration as I move half-way across the globe to join the company,” said Mehandjiyska.

The first project for the new division is The Wannabe, a film written and to be directed by Nick Sandow, starring Patricia Arquette ( Stigmata, True Romance, “Boardwalk Empire”), Vincent Piazza ( Jersey Boys, “Boardwalk Empire”), and Michael Imperioli (“Oldboy,” “The Sopranos”). Martin Scorsese will Executive Produce the project. Electric Entertainment is fully financing the film and Executive Producing along with Traction Media (Short Term 12). Lizzie Nastro (Bluebird) and Michael Gasparro are producing. Set in New York City during the early 1990s, the film centers on Thomas (Piazza), a man obsessed with mob culture who attempts to fix the jury in the trial of John Gotti. But as the plot is foiled and he’s rejected by the ones he idolizes most, he sets off with Rose (Arquette), a neighborhood fixture, on a ride worthy of mob lore.

Electric recently wrapped its fifth and final season of TNT’s action-packed drama “Leverage,” which starred Academy Award® Winner Timothy Hutton and was Executive Produced by Dean Devlin, John Rogers, Chris Downey and Marc Roskin. “Leverage” won the 2013 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Cable TV Drama.

Electric’s other television credits include TNT’s "The Librarian" starring Noah Wyle, which was the highest rated movie on cable that year (2004), its sequel, “The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines” and the third installment of the franchise, “The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice.” Along with Bryan Singer’s Bad Hat Harry production company, Electric produced SyFy Channel’s “The Triangle,” which won an Emmy for its Visual Effects, and was the highest-rated miniseries on the cable channel since “Steven Spielberg Presents Taken” (2002).

Devlin is currently in pre-production on his feature directorial debut, Geostorm, which he is producing with Skydance Pictures’ David Ellison and Dana Goldberg and his Electric Entertainment team of Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan. Paramount retains worldwide rights to the film.

Dean Devlin is set to direct the action chase thriller "Critical Hour" for his Electric Entertainment label.

Eric Tipton penned the script about a wounded hitman/whistleblower and two paramedics on the run from a cartel.

Electric Entertainment has also picked up Brandon Boyce's thriller script "No Good Deed".

The story revolves around a pair of young valets who moonlight as burglars. During one house break-in, they come upon a woman being held captive.

Devlin, Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan are producing both projects.

Source: Deadline...

The director of the new black comedy starring David Duchovny and Demi Moore discusses his intriguing and compelling film

Former graphic designer and commercial director Derrick Borte makes his feature film debut with the new black comedy The Joneses, which opened in theaters on April 16th. The film stars David Duchovny (The X-Files) and Demi Moore (Ghost) as Kate and Steve Jones, a seemingly perfect couple that are actually part of a fake family commissioned by a marketing company as a way to introduce new luxury-level products to neighborhoods around the world, using undercover marketing techniques. We recently had a chance to sit down and talk with Derrick Borte about the new film; it's commentary on consumerism and working with the talented cast. Here is what the first time director had to say:

To begin with, how did you first come up with the concept for this film and what...

Derrick Borte made his feature directorial debut with The Joneses which he also wrote and produced. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Borte began his career as a graphic artist for surf companies such as Billabong, Gotcha and Rip Curl. He graduated from Old Dominion University with a B.F.A. in painting, and quickly achieved success as an artist, showing work on both coasts. He earned an Ma from the media studies program at The New School in New York, and joined the production staff at Sony Music Studios, where his fine arts background evolved with his indoctrination to film and video. Prior to making The Joneses, Derrick honed his skills by directing commercials, as well as corporate and institutional films. Next up, he will be directing The Zero, based on an adaptation of Jess Walter’s novel, in late 2010 [from thejonesesmovie.com].

CW: Can you tell me what inspired you to make The Joneses?...

As much as some might wish for a change that leads back to the days of Permanent Midnight and Reality Bites, Ben Stiller is superglued to comedy. Variety reports that he will direct a new flick, written by Kevin Napier, called The Station. Taking a cue from the success of Tropic Thunder, the comedy will focus on "a covert CIA office in South America." No specifics are being shared about what happens in this office, but it's not hard to imagine the possibilities when Stiller is involved.

But that's not the only South American comedy on the way. Variety also reports that Stephen Hopkins (Californication) has signed on to helm a romcom called Chasing Bohemia. This will be an adaptation of Carmen Michael's book Chasing Bohemia -- A Year of Living Recklessly in Rio de Janeiro.

Stateside, Variety posts that Barbarian Films has grabbed an indie action film called Jonah.

Doug MacLaren, a motion picture agent at ICM, has been promoted to co-head of the agency's motion picture literary department alongside Nick Reed. Six other promotions designed to strengthen ICM's motion picture department also were announced by ICM co-president Ed Limato and Robert Newman, head of the motion picture division. MacLaren's clients include such directors as Rob Marshall (Chicago), Jay Roach (Meet the Fockers), Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) and Adrian Lyne (Unfaithful) and such writers as Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife), Keir Pearson (Hotel Rwanda), Peter Morgan (Last King of Scotland), Brandon Boyce (Wicker Park) and Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs). MacLaren also works closely with Richard Gere, a longtime ICM client.

Wicker Park may have been adapted the 1996 French film L'Appartement, but pretty much all evidence of what was once an engaging psychodrama has been lost in the translation.

A stilted, episodic tale of obsession that grows more ridiculous by the second (with much unintended audience giggling to attest to the fact), the MGM picture has been taken out of long-term storage, dusted off and given a last-gasp-of-summer release, but it will unlikely be requiring anything much bigger than a breadbasket to collect its boxoffice earnings.

Like the original, which won a BAFTA Award for best foreign-language film, the story concerns a young exec (Josh Hartnett) who, despite being engaged to his boss' younger sister, risks throwing it all away when the woman (Diane Kruger) who was once the love of his life before abruptly disappearing resurfaces in a Chicago restaurant.

Or so it would appear.

Nevertheless, that possibility is enough to send the resmitten Matthew on the phantom Lisa's trail, leading to a whole lot of dead ends and wispy flashbacks to those carefree, happier days when he first stalked, uh, met her.

Without revealing any of the film's trick plot twists, it turns out Matthew doesn't have the monopoly on obsession.

While on the subject, it would appear director Paul McGuigan, who was also responsible for this year's much better The Reckoning, has a thing for shots with mirrors in them. That probably has something to say about appearances being deceiving and people's reflections not always being indicative of their actions, but all the fancy camera angles and split-screen effects in the world can't compensate for a script (credited to Brandon Boyce and L'Appartement writer-director Gilles Mimouni) in which characters say things like, "Take my picture. I'll feel beautiful tonight!"

Not that the original was all that original -- there's more than a little Single White Female and a touch of Vertigo in the telling -- but leads Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci provided the necessary dark and sultry (respectively) undercurrents.

Here, Hartnett, an actor trained in the Keanu Reeves school of laid-back emoting, and newcomer Kruger just aren't the right people for the job.

Providing some much-needed energy, meanwhile, is the dependable Matthew Lillard as Hartnett's supportive buddy, while Rose Byrne shows up later in the role of Alex -- and let's just say it's probably no accident she shares her name with a certain character played by Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.

Wicker Park

MGM

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment present

A Lakeshore Entertainment production

A Paul McGuigan film

Credits:

Director: Paul McGuigan

Screenwriter: Brandon Boyce

Based on the motion picture screenplay L'Appartement by: Gilles Mimouni

Executive producers: Georges Benayoun, Gilles Mimouni, Henry Winterstern, Harley Tannebaum

Producers: Andrew Lamal, Marcus Viscidi, Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi

Director of photography: Peter Sova

Production designer: Richard Bridgland

Editor: Andrew Hulme

Costume designer: Odette Gadoury

Music: Cliff Martinez

Cast:

Matthew: Josh Hartnett

Alex: Rose Byrne

Luke: Matthew Lillard

Lisa: Diane Kruger

Daniel: Christopher Cousins

Rebecca: Jessica Pare

MPAA rating: PG-13

Running time -- 115 minutes...

Scooby-Doo star Matthew Lillard will star opposite Josh Hartnett in the Lakeshore Entertainment/MGM thriller Wicker Park for director Paul McGuigan. Production begins Dec. 16 in Montreal. Wicker will be produced by Lakeshore chairman and CEO Tom Rosenberg and president Gary Lucchesi from a script by Brandon Boyce. Based on the 1996 Giles Mimouni-directed L'Appartement, Wicker is an intense, Hitchcockian psychological drama about a man (Hartnett) and his obsessive search for a lost love from his past that ends up uncovering the twisted machinations of an eccentric secret admirer. Lillard will portray Hartnett's character's best friend in the film. Rose Byrne and Diane Kruger star as film's two female leads. Lillard, repped by CAA and Mosaic Media Group, previously starred in such films as Thirteen Ghosts, Summer Catch, She's All That, SLC Punk! and Scream. He next has a cameo role in Paramount Pictures' A Perfect Score.

More than a few eyebrows were raised when Bryan Singer revealed that he was planning to follow up his acclaimed "The Usual Suspects" with a Stephen King novella.

But Singer, working from an adaptation by first-time screenwriter Brandon Boyce, does it up right. An effectively chilling and quite disturbing psychological thriller, "Apt Pupil" is the best screen King in years and further evidence of Singer's potential as a filmmaker of considerable ability.

Screened this week at the Venice International Film Festival, the TriStar picture, though certain to spark controversy over its unflinching Holocaust themes, is apt to do some sturdy boxoffice when it arrives in theaters next month on the strength of excellent word-of-mouth and critical response.

As with "The Usual Suspects", Singer knows how to put together one terrific cast. Brad Renfro displays a deft clarity of character as 16-year-old Todd Bowden, an intense high school student who becomes obsessed with the Holocaust. When history class studies aren't enough to satisfy his burning curiosity, he spends his after-school hours in the library poring over reams of documentation.

Todd ends up getting more than he bargained for when he spots an elderly bus passenger (Ian McKellan), whom he recognizes from an SS photograph. After doing a little detective work involving dusting a mailbox for fingerprints, Todd goes to the man's house with the evidence.

The boy blackmails the elusive Nazi war criminal into providing the gory details of his past atrocities in exchange for his silence. But the compliant Kurt Dussander, or Arthur Denker as he is now known, proves to be neither as weak or as threatened as he would at first appear. Warning Todd that he's playing with fire, it soon becomes clear that both are in possession of a full box of matches, and the interchangeable game of cat and mouse that ensues makes for riveting viewing.

Singer and screenwriter Boyce keep it involving and unsettling, particularly in their decision to make the Renfro character a bit of a cipher. It remains (for the most part) deliberately unclear whether his actions stem from an overactive curiosity or something much darker or pathological.

There's a bit of Hitchcock in Singer's technical approach that suits the shades-of-gray material. That vibe is also captured by composer-editor John Ottman (who also wore both hats for "The Usual Suspects"), who works director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel's crisp, clean visuals into a rhythmic synergy with his thematically complex score.

APT PUPIL

Sony Pictures Releasing

TriStar Pictures

Phoenix Pictures presents

a Bad Hat Harry production

A Bryan Singer film

Director: Bryan Singer

Producers: Jane Hamsher,

Don Murphy, Bryan Singer

Screenwriter: Brandon Boyce

Based on the novella "Apt Pupil" by: Stephen King

Executive producer: Tim Harbert

Director of photography: Newton Thomas Sigel

Production designer: Richard Hoover

Editor: John Ottman

Costume designer: Louise Mingenbach

Music: John Ottman

Casting: Francine Maisler, Kathryn Eisenstein

Color/stereo

Cast:

Kurt Dussander: Ian McKellen

Todd Bowden: Brad Renfro

Richard Bowden: Bruce Davison

Archie: Elias Koteas

Ed French: David Schwimmer

Monica Bowden: Ann Dowd

Running time -- 117 minutes

MPAA rating: R...