News

A little over a year after making a worldwide deal for Tenzing, a new film based on the true story of sherpa Tenzing Norgay and his 1953 summiting of Mount Everest, Apple has found its lead in Genden Phuntsok (Jinpa), who will play the title role.

The news comes days after Apple’s announcement that BAFTA nominee Ruth Madeley will lead its disability rights drama Being Heumann, based on the bestselling memoir by Judy Heumann, from Coda Oscar winner Siân Heder. Production is currently underway, and you can check out a first-look still of Phuntsok above.

As previously announced, Tom Hiddleston co-stars in Tenzing as New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, with Willem Dafoe set to portray English expedition leader, Colonel John Hunt, and Caitríona Balfe on board for the role of Jill Henderson, a friend of Tenzing who helped organize trips up Mount Everest. Thinley Lhamo (Shambhala) will round out the cast as Tenzing’s wife,...

Exclusive: Caitríona Balfe is set to join the ensemble of Apple Original Films upcoming pic Tenzing, which already stars Tom Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe. Jennifer Peedom is directing the film. Peedom has a close relationship with the Tenzing family and the Sherpa community following her acclaimed documentary, Sherpa.

Oscar-winning producer See-Saw Films (The King’s Speech) is producing Tenzing, about the inspirational life of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and his summit of Mount Everest in 1953 alongside fellow outsider New Zealander Edmund Hillary. Balfe will play ‘Jill Henderson,’ a friend of Tenzing who helped organize trips up Mount Everest.

Tibetan born Tenzing Norgay, alongside New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, both outsiders on a British Expedition, defied insurmountable odds to achieve what was once thought impossible, reaching the summit of the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest. After six previous attempts, Tenzing risked everything for one final venture. He had to navigate treacherous...

Upgrade Productions has acquired worldwide sales rights outside Australia and New Zealand to actor Rachel House’s directorial debut The Mountain ahead of its North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Jonathan Kier and Matt Brodlie’s Upgrade Productions will launch sales talks at the festival next month on the adventure story from Piki Films and Sandy Lane Productions about three children on a secret mission to climb Taranaki Mountain in New Zealand.

The film is currently the number one New Zealand film across New Zealand and Australia and has earned close to $600,000 in the two countries, releasing...

Tenzing recaptures the inspiring 1953 Everest expedition, showcasing the international dynamics and personal ambitions involved. The film highlights the unique partnership between Norgay and Hillary, portraying their triumphant and arduous climb. Director Jennifer Peedom's deep connection to the Sherpa community and the Norgay family promises a fresh perspective on this storied ascent.

Tom Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe will star in the upcoming film, Tenzing, a biographical drama about the historic ascent of Mount Everest. Apple Original Films recently announced its acquisition of the distribution rights to this inspiring true story.

Per Variety, Tenzing offers a recount of Tenzing Norgays monumental 1953 expedition alongside Edmund Hillary. The film captures the physical challenges of the daunting climb and also the complex interplay of international relations and personal ambition that characterize the endeavor.

The plot examines the lives of Norgay, a Tibetan mountaineer, and Hillary, a New Zealand native, as outsiders in a predominantly British mission.

“Tenzing,” a film about the true story of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay’s 1953 trek to the summit of Mount Everest alongside Edmund Hillary, has been snapped up by Apple Original Films.

Casting is underway for Tenzing while “Loki” star Tom Hiddleston is set to play New Zealand mountaineer Hillary.

Willem Dafoe (“Eternity’s Gate”) is expected to star as English expedition leader Colonel John Hunt.

Apple acquired the rights the project in what was described as a “competitive situation” as Cannes kicked off. It is one of the first major deals to come out of the market as it goes into Day 3.

“Tibetan born Tenzing Norgay, alongside New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, both outsiders on a British Expedition, defied insurmountable odds to achieve what was once thought impossible, reaching the summit of the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest,” reads the logline. “After six previous attempts, Tenzing risked everything for one final venture.

Apple Original Films has taken worldwide rights to true-story mountaineering drama Tenzing, from See-Saw Films and director Jennifer Peedom.

Based on the famous 1953 ascent of Mount Everest by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, the film is set to star Tom Hiddleston as Hillary and Willem Dafoe as English expedition leader Colonel John Hunt. Casting is underway for the role of Norgay.

Peedom, whose previous projects include Bafta-nominated documentary Sherpa, has a close relationship with the Tenzing family and the Sherpa community and has been working on a Norgay biopic project for almost a decade.

The project gained momentum in...

Apple has landed the worldwide rights to mount Everest climbing drama Tenzing, starring Willem Dafoe and Tom Hiddleston.

The package, which sold out of the Cannes film market, tells the true story of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who led the first climbers to the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. Hiddleston will play New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Dafoe will play English expedition leader Colonel John Hunt. Casting is underway for the role of Tenzing Norgay.

Jennifer Peedom is set to direct the film. She made docs Sherpa and Mountain and has a close relationship with the Tenzing family and the larger Sherpa community. Lion writer Luke Davies is behind the screenplay.

Producing is Liz Watts, Emile Sherman and Iain Canning for See-Saw Films, alongside Desray Armstrong, Peedom and Davies. (Apple and See-Saw have partnered on five seasons of the series Slow Horses.) Simon Gillis, David Michôd and Norbu Tenzing (son of...

Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has acquired a pair of starry indies — Alice Englert’s dark comedy Bad Behaviour, starring Jennifer Connelly, and Christian Ditter’s family comedy The Present, starring Isla Fisher and Greg Kinnear. Bad Behaviour opens in limited theaters and on digital and VOD in the U.S. and Canada on June 14, with The Present to hit digital and cable VOD in the U.S. on June 18.

World premiering at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Englert’s debut feature Bad Behaviour watches as a former child actress seeking enlightenment at a retreat navigates the close but turbulent relationship with her daughter. Also starring Ben Whishaw, Englert, and Ana Scotney, among others, the film is produced by Desray Armstrong and Molly Hallam. Exec producers included Stephen Braun of Bee-Hive Productions, Whishaw and Englert. The film was made with finance from the New Zealand Film Commission, the New Zealand Government’s Screen Production Rebate,...

Beware! New Zealand is ready to hear the roar of its first “authentic” monster movie, “Taniwha.”

“If you ask any New Zealander what our own unique Indigenous monster is, they will immediately reply: Taniwha!” explains director Libby Hakaraia.

“In our Māori culture, they are very real: Every tribe has their own. They inhabit waterways, mountains, rivers, oceans and forests, and take many shapes. They are to be feared and respected as guardians, and they are avengers of wrongs.”

Now, they will also star in the film produced by Tainui Stephens and Desray Armstrong (Māoriland Productions), recently presented to the industry insiders at Canada’s Frontières.

The “monster thriller,” already in the advanced development stage, will boast the participation of Wētā Workshop.

“In the world of this film, Aotearoa [Māori name for New Zealand] had the world’s largest birds. The moa, a flightless bird over 2.6 meters tall and the pouakai, an eagle with a wingspan of 3-4 meters.

Exclusive: Production has wrapped on the Piki Films and Sandy Lane Productions (Bad Behaviour) family drama The Mountain from Kiwi filmmaker Rachel House.

The film marks House’s directorial debut. Producers are Desray Armstrong for Sandy Lane Productions and Morgan Waru for Piki Films with Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi, and Paul Wiegard serving as Executive Producers. The film was shot on location around Taranaki on New Zealand’s west coast, with support from the local Māori tribes.

Billed as a “heartfelt drama,” the pic follows three children on a mission to find healing under the watchful eye of the Taranaki mountain and discover friendship in the spirit of adventure. House co-wrote the screenplay with comedian Tom Furniss.

House is best known for her performances in Waititi’s 2016 comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Boy (2010), and Niki Caro’s Whale Rider. She also had lead roles...

In Alice Englert’s debut feature as director, drama-comedy “Bad Behaviour,” which plays in World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, the Australian-Kiwi actor-turned-filmmaker explores spirituality, passive aggression and mother-daughter dynamics, as well as paying homage to stunt performers.

Englert, who is the daughter of director Jane Campion, has appeared in 20 films and series, including Sally Potter’s “Ginger & Rosa,” Richard Lagravenese’s “Beautiful Creatures,” and Starz series “Dangerous Liaisons.” Englert has directed two shorts, “The Boyfriend Game,” which premiered at the Berlinale in 2016, and “Family Happiness,” which played at BFI London Film Festival in 2017.

“Bad Behaviour,” which Englert also wrote and features in, follows Lucy (played by Jennifer Connelly), a former child actress who seeks enlightenment at a retreat led by spiritual leader Elon (played by Ben Wishaw), while also navigating the close yet turbulent relationship with her stunt performer daughter Dylan (Englert).

“I think I wanted...

Bad Behaviour

After a decade in front of the camera Alice Englert got more into the family business getting behind the camera to make her feature debut. After a couple of shorts under her belt, the Australian enlisted Jennifer Connelly, Ben Whishaw (who appeared in Englert’s short Family Happiness), Ana Scotney, Dasha Nekrasova, Karan Gill, Marlon Williams and Englert herself on a project set in New Zealand. Production on Bad Behaviour took place in June of last year – this tale about splitting the family nucleus in two was produced by Desray Armstrong and Molly Hallam.

Gist: This is a dark comedy about Lucy (Connelly), a former child actress who seeks enlightenment at a retreat led by spiritual leader Elon (Whishaw) while she also navigates the close yet turbulent relationship with her stunt performer daughter, Dylan (Englert).…...

Exclusive: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to New Zealand drama Juniper, starring Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (45 Years).

Directed by first time feature director Matthew J. Saville, the movie will play at Palm Springs this week and has already screened at festivals including Tallinn, Edinburgh, Munich and Brisbane.

Rampling plays Ruth, a worldly former war correspondent now bored in retirement with a drinking problem and a newly fractured leg. Her semi-estranged adult son Robert — still harboring childhood emotional scars from her long absences — arranges for her to convalesce in his home in New Zealand and look after her teenage grandson Sam (George Ferrier) who she has never met. Sam, unruly and recently kicked out of boarding school, is grieving from the recent death of his mother and reacts with defiance to this imperious woman he doesn’t know.

The film will launch in the U.

Exclusive: Jennifer Connelly and Ben Whishaw are set to star in Bad Behaviour, which marks the directorial debut for Alice Englert. Ana Scotney and Dasha Nekrasova Karan Gill and Marlon Williams round out the cast.

The film is a dark comedy about Lucy (Connelly), a former child actress who seeks enlightenment at a retreat led by spiritual leader Elon (Whishaw) while she also navigates the close yet turbulent relationship with her stunt performer daughter, Dylan (Englert).

Bad Behaviour is produced by Desray Armstrong and Molly Hallam, and executive produced by Stephen Braun of Bee-Hive Productions. The independent film’s production is taking place in New Zealand and is financed with funds from the New Zealand Film Commission, the New Zealand Screen Production Grant, Fulcrum Media Finance and Bee-Hive Productions with additional support from Ahi Films and Images&Sound. CAA Media Finance and Verve Ventures will co-represent the sale of North America,...

New Zealand drama has screened at Berlin and SXSW film festivals.

Film Movement and Signature Entertainment have taken US and UK-Ireland rights respectively to New Zealand director Michelle Savill’s debut feature Millie Lies Low from UK sales outfit Reason8.

The comedy will receive a theatrical relase in North America with a date yet to be set while Signature is planning a digital release this August.

Ana Scotney stars as a woman on track to leave Wellington having secured a prestigious architectural scholarship in New York, only to suffer a panic attack that sends her into hiding.

Produced by New...

Charlotte Rampling starrer “Juniper” has been picked up by distributor Parkland Entertainment in the U.K. and Ireland.

In “Juniper,” Rampling plays Ruth, a “funny, rude, fearless, flirtatious” grandmother who unexpectedly descends on her grandson Sam and his father after Sam is suspended from boarding school. For Sam, who is already struggling with suicidal thoughts, the thought of having to take care of his ailing relative is, initially, infuriating – until he gets to know her. Soon they develop a friendship that transcends age – helped in part by the fact that Ruth can drink Sam and his friends under the table.

The film is set in New Zealand and also stars George Ferrier as Sam, Marton Csokas as his father Robert and Edith Poor as Ruth’s nurse Sarah.

Matthew J. Saville (“Hitch Hike”) wrote and directed the feature.

Desray Armstrong (“Stray”) and Angela Littlejohn (“Slow”) produce “Juniper” in association with the New Zealand Film Commission,...

Coming Home In The Dark Review — Coming Home In The Dark (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by James Ashcroft and starring Daniel Gillies, Erik Thomson, Miriama McDowell, Matthias Luafutu, Billy Paratene, Frankie Paratene, Desray Armstrong, Alan Palmer, Ike Hamon, Sam Carter, Bailey Cowan, Timon Zeiss, Tioti O’Donnell and Kaira O’Donnell. New Zealand director [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Coming Home In The Dark (2021): Grim And Violent Film Is Well Acted But Occasionally Redundant...

Coming Home in the Dark Trailer 2 — Dark Sky Films has released the second movie trailer for Coming Home in the Dark (2021). View here the first Coming Home in the Dark trailer. Crew The Coming Home in the Dark stars Daniel Gillies, Erik Thomson, Miriama McDowell, Desray Armstrong, and Matthias Luafutu. James [...]

Continue reading: Coming Home In The Dark (2021) Movie Trailer 2: Two Drifters take a Family by Force, Initiating a Collision with Their Past...

Coming Home in the Dark Trailer — James Ashcroft‘s Coming Home in the Dark (2021) movie trailer has been released. The Coming Home in the Dark trailer stars Daniel Gillies, Erik Thomson, Miriama McDowell, Desray Armstrong, and Matthias Luafutu. Crew James Ashcroft and Eli Kent wrote the screenplay for Coming Home in the Dark. Matt Henley [...]

Continue reading: Coming Home In The Dark (2021) Movie Trailer: A Family is Kidnapped on Vacation in James Ashcroft’s Thriller Film...

When local newspapers complain about traffic jams caused by Nicole Kidman filming (in New South Wales’ picturesque Byron Bay) and Natalie Portman stopping Sydney traffic by wearing revealing shorts, there is a sense that normality has returned to everyday life in Australia. The film industry is back in production high gear.

Indeed, films starring Zac Efron (“Gold”), Chris Hemsworth (“Escape From Spiderhead”), Joel Edgerton and Tom Hanks, are all currently lensing in different parts of Australia. Portman is preparing to shoot Marvel’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” while Kidman and Melissa McCarthy were recently shooting Hulu miniseries “Nine Perfect Strangers.” George Miller is shooting his “Furiosa,” a “Mad Max” spinoff, for Warner Bros.

Neighbor and sometime rival New Zealand is equally busy. Disney’s “Avatar” movie franchise and Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” TV series are

both moving again after a coronavirus hiatus. A slew of local movies is also now shooting.

Exclusive: Here’s the first look at Charlotte Rampling in Juniper, Matthew Saville’s dark comedy in which the actress plays a feisty alcoholic grandmother whose self-destructive teenage grandson (George Ferrier) is sent to live with her as a punishment. However, the crazy time they spend together turns his life around.

London-based Celsius is handling rights and has now sold the title into Germany and Austria (Square One), Australia and New Zealand (Transmission), and Greece and Cyprus (Odeon).

Producers on the pic are Desray Armstrong and Angela Littlejohn. Project is now in post-production and Celsius will be showing 16 minutes of footage to buyers at AFM.

Exclusive: Chelsea Winstanley, the Oscar nominated producer of Jojo Rabbit and What We Do In The Shadows, has arrived back in her native New Zealand to begin filming on feature documentary Toi Tu Toi Ora – Visual Sovereignty.

The pic will follow the final year of preparation for the first international showing of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki’s forthcoming exhibition, Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art; the most comprehensive survey of contemporary Māori art to be presented in New Zealand in recent history. It will feature more than 120 indigenous artists, the majority being women, who have exhibited at Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou in Paris and many other prestigious venues around the world.

Ranging from the 1950s to the present day, the show will highlight various art forms that combine history, story, technique and indigenous authorship. Covid-19 has been an obstacle to the exhibition but the artists and gallery...

Nz On Air and the New Zealand Film Commission are funding the development of 10 drama series ideas with international and domestic appeal.

The initiative, Raupapa Whakaari Drama to the World, will support each writer/producer team to develop high-end scripted series with an initial grant of Nz$10,000.

Each team will attend a series drama lab held in conjunction with Script to Screen, where international advisers will give feedback on story and market to assist the teams to further develop their concepts and strengthen appeal to the international marketplace.

Following the lab and submission of the re-worked projects, four teams will be selected to receive additional development funding of up to Nz$80,000.

Nzfc CEO Annabelle Sheehan said: “There really has never been a better time to tell stories than now, thanks to the global expansion of mega platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and now Disney with Disney+ and its takeover of Hulu this week.