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Update: Netflix has unveiled a new and gripping trailer for its upcoming 9/11 drama Worth. In the trailer, we find Michael Keaton's Ken Feinberg going above and beyond the law for those affected by the unspeakable attack on the World Trade Center. Following the attack, some number crunchers, analysts, and people in positions of power were willing to allow the…...

"We can't bring them back, but we can help their loved ones." Netflix has unveiled an official trailer for the indie legal drama Worth, which first premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival last year. They will be debuting this streaming in September in less than a month, just in time for the upcoming 9/11 anniversary – because it's about an attorney in Washington D.C. who battles against cynicism, bureaucracy and politics to help the victims of 9/11. Ken Feinberg learns a lesson in empathy when he is faced with the near-impossible task of determining how to compensate families who suffered incalculable losses on September 11th. Based on true events. This stars Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, Amy Ryan, plus Tate Donovan, Shunori Ramanathan, Talia Balsam, Laura Benanti, Marc Maron, Ato Blankson-Wood, Chris Tardio, Carolyn Mignini, and Victor Slezak. It's so important to tell these stories, but it always makes me sad they encountered...

In the early moments of Sara Colangelo’s Worth, lawyer Ken Feinberg (Michael Keaton) tells a classroom full of students that while philosophers can debate the value of human life, in the law profession, you can live in the realm of numbers. While assigning a dollar value to someone’s life may seem cold, there’s a bizarre comfort in compensation and that someone can be held responsible in the face of tragedy. What makes Worth impressive is how it dives into the complicated space between hard pragmatism and necessary compassion. The central conflict explores why individualism is essential in …...

As a child, when future TV host Fred Rogers would see scary images on the news, his mother would tell him, “Look for the heroes.” If Fred were a boy today, she’d add, “Look for Ken Feinberg.” Feinberg, the lawyer at the center of Sara Colangelo’s “Worth,” specializes in putting a price tag on human tragedy. He’s brought his calculator to the shootings in Sandy Hook, Aurora, Virginia Tech and Orlando, and tallied spreadsheets for victims of the Boston Bombing, the Bp oil spill, Agent Orange, asbestos, bad breast implants, bad car ignitions, Boeing 737s, the Catholic Church and Penn State. Feinberg even haggled the value of the Zapruder Tape.

Here, Colangelo (“The Kindergarten Teacher”) and screenwriter Max Borenstein are only interested in Feinberg’s most famous case: the payout for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. The two-year grind involved more than 7,000 families and turned the disaster accountant,...

Sara Colangelo, who saw her Maggie Gyllenhaal-starring feature The Kindergarten Teacher become a hit (and Netflix acquisition) at Sundance in 2018, is set to direct the biopic What Is Life Worth, with Michael Keaton set to star.

Stanley Tucci has also been cast in the film, which was first announced in Berlin last year, with David Frankel originally attached to direct. 

Based on the acclaimed memoir by Ken Feinberg, the Black List script was penned by Max Borenstein. Described as an "Erin Brockovich/Spotlight-type story," What Is Life Worth will tell the story of Feinberg, a powerful D.C. lawyer ...

Sara Colangelo, who saw her Maggie Gyllenhaal-starring feature The Kindergarten Teacher become a hit (and Netflix acquisition) at Sundance in 2018, is set to direct the biopic What Is Life Worth, with Michael Keaton set to star.

Stanley Tucci has also been cast in the film, which was first announced in Berlin last year, with David Frankel originally attached to direct. 

Based on the acclaimed memoir by Ken Feinberg, the Black List script was penned by Max Borenstein. Described as an "Erin Brockovich/Spotlight-type story," What Is Life Worth will tell the story of Feinberg, a powerful D.C. lawyer ...

Iconic actor Michael Keaton is making headlines again, as its been announced that the Batman actor is in talks to star in director David Frankel's What Is Life Worth, a biopic based on the memoir of Kenneth Feinberg. The Black List script is penned by Max Borenstein, and is said to deliver an Erin Brockovich/Spotlight-type story of Ken Feinberg, a powerful insider D.C. lawyer put in... Read More...

MadRiver Pictures announced today that Academy Award nominee Michael Keaton (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Spotlight) is in negotiations to star in Academy Award winner David Frankel's (The Devil Wears Prada, Collateral Beauty) true-life biographical drama, What Is Life Worth. Additional casting is currently underway. Academy Award&#174 winning producer Michael Sugar (Spotlight) will produce alongside Marc Butan, Sean Sorensen and Max Borenstein and Bard Dorros. Kim Fox will executive produce along with Riverstone's Nik Bower and Deepak Nayar. Riverstone is financing.

Based on the acclaimed memoir by Kenneth Feinberg, the Black List script is penned by Max Borenstein. What Is Life Worth is an Erin Brockovich/Spotlight-type story of Ken Feinberg, a powerful insider D.C. lawyer put in charge of the 9/11 Fund, who in almost 3 years of pro bono work on the case, fights off the cynicism, bureaucracy and politics associated with administering government funds and in doing so,...

Biographical story to be directed by Oscar winner David Frankel.

MadRiver Pictures has announced that Michael Keaton is in talks to star in What Is Life Worth, a biographical drama to be directed by Academy Award-winner David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada, Band Of Brothers).

Oscar-nominated for his leading role in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman, Keaton would play Ken Feinberg, the D.C. lawyer in charge of the 9/11 fund who fought through years of bureaucracy and cynicism to administer the money.

Keaton, who last year appeared in Spiderman: Homecoming and American Assassin, has recently wrapped production on Tim Burton’s Dumbo ahead of a scheduled 2019 release.

Additional casting for What Is Life Worth is underway, with Oscar-winning producer Michael Sugar (Spotlight, also starring Keaton) set to produce alongside Marc Butan, Sean Sorensen, Max Borenstein and Bard Dorros.

Riverstone is financing, with Imr launching sales in Berlin on a slate that also includes Sandra Bullock film Vigilance and [link...

Biographical story to be directed by Oscar winner David Frankel.

MadRiver Pictures has announced that Michael Keaton is in talks to star in What Is Life Worth, a biographical drama to be directed by Academy Award-winner David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada, Band Of Brothers).

Oscar-nominated for his leading role in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman, Keaton would play Ken Feinberg, the D.C. lawyer in charge of the 9/11 fund who fought through years of bureaucracy and cynicism to administer the money.

Keaton, who last year appeared in Spiderman: Homecoming and American Assassin, has recently wrapped production on Tim Burton’s Dumbo ahead of a scheduled 2019 release.

Additional casting for What Is Life Worth is underway, with Oscar-winning producer Michael Sugar (Spotlight, also starring Keaton) set to produce alongside Marc Butan, Sean Sorensen, Max Borenstein and Bard Dorros.

Riverstone is financing, with Imr launching sales in Berlin on a slate that also includes Sandra Bullock film Vigilance and [link...

Michael Keaton is in negotiations to star in Oscar winner David Frankel's true-life biographical drama, What Is Life Worth, MadRiver Pictures revealed Wednesday.

Additional casting is currently underway. Oscar-winning producer Michael Sugar (Spotlight) will produce alongside Marc Butan, Sean Sorensen, Max Borenstein and Bard Dorros. Kim Fox will executive produce along with Riverstone’s Nik Bower and Deepak Nayar. Riverstone is financing.

Based on the acclaimed memoir by Kenneth Feinberg, the Black List script was penned by Borenstein. Described as an "Erin Brockovich/Spotlight-type story," What Is Life Worth will tell the story of Ken Feinberg, a powerful insider D.C. lawyer put...

President Barack Obama was given the 2017 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Sunday, and he used his speech to urge members of Congress to exhibit courage in the current battle over health care. The John F. Kennedy Library and Foundation honors political leaders each May who have exhibited “the qualities of politically courageous leadership” President Kennedy outlined in his 1957 book. In the book, Kennedy profiled eight senators who took unpopular but ultimately good positions despite the political risk. In his 30-minute speech, President Obama invoked the fight over the Affordable Care Act and called on members of Congress...

Who determines how much we are worth in the wake of a tragedy? Kenneth Feinberg. Called upon by the United States during its most troubling dealings with oil spills, domestic terror attacks, or exposure to chemical warfare, Feinberg determines just at what cost it’s all worth.

Read More: Hot Docs 2017 Announces Full Lineup, Including ‘Bee Nation,’ ‘Bill Nye: Science Guy’ and More

Directed by acclaimed German documentarian Karin Jurschick, “Playing God” brings you into the complicated, and at some times cruel, reality of compensation specialist Feinberg. The film examines past cases in which Feinberg has lent his expertise, such as handling the treatment of Vietnamese veterans suffering exposure to Agent Orange, families grieving over lost loved ones consequently from 9/11 or to what degree Bp will be held accountable for the largest oil spill in history.

Read More: Film Festival Roundup: Hot Docs Announces Special Presentations, AFI Fest Dates 2017 Festival and More

“Cruel justice,...

Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Margaret Brown returns to her Alabama home to film the aftermath of the Bp oil spill that transfixed the nation in the spring of 2010 in her new documentary,The Great Invisible, now in theaters in New York and Los Angeles. For four years, she followed a wide array of characters, ranging from crew members who survived the initial blas, to local residents whose livelihoods were altered to the lawyer (Kenneth Feinberg) responsible for distributing $20 billion in compensation to victims, to a group of oil executives who share their frank insights over cigars and whiskey.

read more...

All eyes were on JFK's grandson, Jack Kennedy Schlossberg, May 4, when he hosted the Profile in Courage Awards at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. Schlossberg, 21, took over hosting duties for his mom, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, who's currently in Japan, where she's serving as U.S. Ambassador. He bestowed the award to Paul Bridges, Mayor of Uvalda, Georgia, and President George H. W. Bush. Since Bush Sr., 89, couldn't attend, he asked his granddaughter, Lauren Bush Lauren, 29, to accept on his behalf. And it was a match made in politico heaven when she met Schlossberg. That morning, Schlossberg...

All eyes were on JFK's grandson, Jack Kennedy Schlossberg, May 4, when he hosted the Profile in Courage Awards at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. Schlossberg, 21, took over hosting duties for his mom, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, who's currently in Japan, where she's serving as U.S. Ambassador. He bestowed the award to Paul Bridges, Mayor of Uvalda, Georgia, and President George H. W. Bush. Since Bush Sr., 89, couldn't attend, he asked his granddaughter, Lauren Bush Lauren, 29, to accept on his behalf. And it was a match made in politico heaven when she met Schlossberg. That morning, Schlossberg...

Many filmmakers got their start on the independent film circuit.

So who will follow the greats such as Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight Rises”), Oren Peli (“Paranormal Activity”), Marc Forster (“World War Z”) and Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite”)?

The Slamdance Film Festival announced their lineup for the Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition after receiving over 5,000 submissions this year.

All of the competing films are directorial debuts with less than $1 million and without Us distribution. The films include 11 world premieres, 4 North American premieres and one Us premiere.

The 2014 Slamdance Film Festival will take place January 17-23in Park City, Utah at the Treasure Mountain Inn, 255 Main Street.

Here’s the lineup:

Narrative Features Program

Copenhagen – Director & Screenwriter: Mark Raso

(USA, Canada, Denmark) World Premiere

A charming scoundrel visiting the city of his father’s birth, William is drawn to his impromptu guide Effy – wise, spontaneous, and half his age.

Cast: Gethin Anthony,...

Top brass at the upcoming 20th Slamdance Film Festival have revealed their narrative feature and documentary line-up, one day before the first programme announcements are due from Park City neighbour Sundance.

There are 10 narrative and eight documentary films including 11 world premieres, four North American and one Us.

Festival organisers sorted through more than 5,000 submissions to find the 18 titles, all of which are feature directorial debuts budgeted at under $1m and without Us distribution.

Jury awards are presented to feature films in both categories and all films are eligible for the Spirit Of Slamdance Award judged by the film-makers themselves. The festival also presents Audience Awards.

“The 2014 Feature Competition bristles with raw talent and innovative filmmaking,” said Slamdance president and co-founder Peter Baxter. “As an organisation run by film-makers for film-makers, we couldn’t imagine a truer way of representing the first 20 years and beginning our next.”

The 2014 Slamdance Film Festival will run concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival...

Denver — Facing criticism from families of victims of the Aurora movie theater shooting, officials handling the distributions of donations are consulting with a mediator who oversaw compensation for victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and the Virginia Tech shooting.

An email sent to victims' families said that Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's office, the 7/20 Committee and the Community First Foundation have initiated discussions with Kenneth Feinberg and plan to meet with him Friday in Denver.

Feinberg was traveling and couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The mass shooting killed 12 people and wounded 58 others. Former University of Colorado, Denver, graduate student James Holmes has been charged in the July 20 attack.

Last week, the families of 10 people killed and at least a dozen of those wounded called on Hickenlooper and lawmakers to appoint an independent arbitrator to oversee distribution of the donations.

The families say they've been frustrated by an initial plan...

Opera superstar Placido Domingo is to part ways with the Washington National Opera in 2011. The celebrated tenor, 69, has been the company's artistic director for four years. In a letter to the opera's board, obtained by The Washington Post, Domingo suggests the company should consider a merger with the nearby Kennedy Center in an effort to stay financially viable.

He writes, "You can rest assured that I will do everything I can to help during this, my last year as general director." Wno President Kenneth Feinberg says, "He will be missed, but all good things must come to an end."

Under his current contract, the Spaniard will conduct performances of "Madame Butterfly" and "Don Pasquale" in 2011. Domingo's role as the artistic director of the Los Angeles Opera will not be effected; he recently signed a new contract to remain there until at least 2013.

Opera superstar Placido Domingo is to part ways with the Washington National Opera in 2011.

The celebrated tenor, 69, has been the company's artistic director for four years.

In a letter to the opera's board, obtained by The Washington Post, Domingo suggests the company should consider a merger with the nearby Kennedy Center in an effort to stay financially viable.

He writes, "You can rest assured that I will do everything I can to help during this, my last year as general director."

Wno President Kenneth Feinberg says, "He will be missed, but all good things must come to an end."

Under his current contract, the Spaniard will conduct performances of Madame Butterfly and Don Pasquale in 2011.

Domingo's role as the artistic director of the Los Angeles Opera will not be effected; he recently signed a new contract to remain there until at least 2013.

While you were sleeping, innovation was drumming its fingers impatiently on the desk, doing a double take, and thinking, "Wowzers, what if there were a mouse shaped like that?"

1. Although the White House claims that all the oil has gone from the Gulf, scientists are taking a different line, reports The Guardian. It's dropped below the surface and getting into phytoplankton, with around 75% of the oil still in the water, compared to the Government's claims that the same amount had dispersed. Meanwhile, approval numbers for Bp have doubled--but, at only 33%, it's still nothing to write home about. The mediator in charge of the legal claims, Kenneth Feinberg, has warned against beating up on Bp. Feinberg, hired by Obama, is heading up the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which will be taking over the mammoth task of processing claims from the oil firm.

2. The co-founder of Tesla, Martin Eberhard, has gone on...

Bp this week deposited the first $3 billion into what will ultimately be a $20 billion escrow account for claims made by Gulf residents affected by the recent oil disaster. After an additional $2 billion later this year, Bp will continue to deposit $1.25 billion each quarter until it reaches the magic $20 billion.

This is Bp's first baby step into making things right with its record-breaking oil well blowout. But as Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli noted in a statement, "We have made clear that the company still needs to ensure that the necessary funds will be available if something happens to the subsidiary that established the trust and we look forward to completion of an appropriate security arrangement in the near future." In other words, Gulf residents won't receive checks any time soon.

Once Bp is ready to offer up cash, though, it will be a difficult process--just try to imagine how many...

Obama and his B.P. frenemies. Photo by Pete Souza.Well, well: President Obama’s speech last night was not quite the ineffective grandstanding we all thought it was! Per The New York Times: “The White House and Bp tentatively agreed on Wednesday that the oil giant would create a $20 billion fund to pay claims for the worst oil spill in American history.” Twenty billion dollars! And that's in addition to the $1 billion the company has already used to sponge down birds, dispose of possibly toxic garbage, and coach a ragtag team of submersible robots. The fund will be handled by Kenneth Feinberg, the all-star attorney who supervised the government’s payments to 9/11 victims. Still, talks continue between Obama and B.P. The White House has demanded that there be “no ceiling on Bp's liability if costs of the oil-spill cleanup and recovery go higher. Bp officials are pressing for some limits,...

By the Associated Press 

Late-night TV talk show host Conan O'Brien is joining the board of directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Board Chairman Kenneth Feinberg announced Tuesday that the former NBC "Tonight" host and comedian who is moving to TBS in the fall was among six new members elected.

The Brookline native and Harvard graduate joins a group that includes Viacom Inc. Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone.

Read more at the Associated Press.

With the Woodstock 40th anniversary all the rage these days, Legendary Pictures is mounting a feature film about Jimi Hendrix, whose performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was a seminal moment of the original 1969 festival. According to Variety, Legendary president Thomas Tull would produce the film with Bill Gerber. Writing the script is Max Borenstein, who most recently wrote "What Is Life Worth?," a fact-based script about attorney Kenneth Feinberg and his work on the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. Legendary hopes to crack the rights issues that have prevented previous Hendrix projects from getting out of the gate. The company's plan is to develop the project first, then try to win the cooperation of the estate.There have been numerous attempts...

Legendary Pictures is developing a feature film about the life of Jimi Hendrix, arguably rock n roll's greatest guitarist and showman, whose performance of The Star-Spangled Banner remains one of the seminal moments of the Woodstock Festival. Hendrix struggled as a musician for much of the 1960s, until he left for Europe and made his mark. He returned to the Us, and as evidenced by filmed performances at fests like Woodstock, Monterey Pop and Isle of Wight, Hendrix changed the game, from his technique to his fashion sense and theatrics that included lighting guitars on fire and smashing them onstage. He flamed out not long after reaching icon status, as his death in 1970 came just three years after the release of the first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, "Are You Experienced." The script is being written by Max Borenstein, who wrote "What Is Life Worth?," a fact-based script about a attorney...

Hot on the heels of this past Sunday's 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, Legendary Pictures has announced it is developing a feature film about the life of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was arguably rock-and-roll's greatest guitarist and showman, with his performance of The Star-Spangled Banner one of the seminal moments of the Festival.

Hendrix struggled as a musician for much of the 1960s, until he left for Europe and made his mark. He returned to the Us, and as evidenced by filmed performances at fests like Woodstock, Monterey Pop and Isle of Wight, Hendrix changed the game, from his technique to his fashion sense and theatrics that included lighting guitars on fire and smashing them onstage.

He flamed out not long after reaching icon status, as his death in 1970 came just three years after the release of the first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, "Are You Experienced."

Variety reports that the...