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Twilight star Robert Pattinson has had a series of critically and commercially successful films. His new movie, Mickey 17, features a series of different versions of the actor, and the early reception is encouraging.

Mickey 17 comes from critically acclaimed director Bong Joon-ho, the South Korean filmmaker who made history with the 2019 drama Parasite. The sci-fi comedy following Pattinson's Mickey, who wants to get off Earth and signs up for a disposable clone worker program, where he is regenerated every time he dies. Ahead of its Mar. 7 premiere, Mickey 17's critical score is up on Rotten Tomatoes, and it rivals Pattinson's hit superhero film, 2022's The Batman.

Related'i Kind of Did It by Accident': Robert Pattinson Based His New Role On Steve Buscemi Without Realizing It

The accents were almost based off of two MTV reality TV stars

The sci-fi comedy debuted on the review aggregator website with an 84% score, and...

London’s Mercato Metropolitano food market is opening a studio for TV and movie productions – while still functioning as a sustainable food court – after servicing the shoot of upcoming doc series “The Unknown Chefs” produced by Italy’s Andrea Iervolino and British music producer David Tickle.

The “Unknown Chefs” series chronicling the journey of four cooks who sought refuge in the United Kingdom –- respectively from Syria, Namibia, Nepal, and Uzbekistan –- and then managed to turn the food of their homeland into their livelihoods, will drop March 7 on streamers including Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Iervolino’s Tatatu platform.

Iervolino produced the show with Tickle via his Tickle Entertainment shingle. Tickle is known for his work with artists including Blondie, Peter Gabriel, U2, Prince and Joe Cocker.

The show’s protagonists were able to launch their own street food businesses with the support of Mercato Metropolitano.

Iervolino, whose credits include Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,...

Exclusive: Bobby Moresco, who won an Oscar for the screenplay he co-wrote for Crash, has come aboard to script car racing biopic Bugatti, continuing his collaboration with Italian producer Andrea Iervolino (Ferrari).

Bugatti is slated to film late next year in Italy and France for Iervolino’s new banner, The Andrea Iervolino Company, and will feature a U.S. and international cast and be English-language. Moresco is scripting with Amanda Moresco and in collaboration with Soraya Azzabi.

The movie is set to tell the life story of Bugatti, the founder of the iconic automobile company, who was known for transforming the automotive world with his creative genius and relentless dedication to design and technology. The Italian-born French designer and manufacturer also designed aeroplane engines and was no stranger to tragedy: Bugatti’s son, Jean, was killed on August 11 1939 at the age of 30 while testing a Bugatti car near the family’s factory HQ in Germany.

Chris Hemsworth and Jason Momoa become pirates and join Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow in fan-made Pirates of the Caribbean 6 art. After getting its start back in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the hit Disney franchise would release four sequels of varying quality, the most of recent of which came in 2017. Since then, Depp's future as Sparrow has been in question, but Pirates of the Caribbean 6 has been confirmed to be in development, though few updates have emerged on the project in recent months.

As Pirates of the Caribbean 6's cast remains a mystery, new AI-generated images shared by Esh-El on Instagram imagine some big names joining Depp's fan-favorite pirate. Featuring four images in total, the carousel sees Thor's Hemsworth and Aquaman's Momoa in full pirate costumes, with both also sporting fitting facial hair to accompany the look. Depp himself...

Exclusive: Andrea Iervolino, the Italian producer of sports car biopics Ferrari, Lamborghini: The Man Behind The Legend and the upcoming Maserati movie, is revving up a biopic of Ettore Bugatti.

Bugatti is slated to film late next year in Italy and France for Iervolino’s new banner, The Andrea Iervolino Company.

The movie is set to tell the life story of Bugatti, the founder of the iconic automobile company, who was known for transforming the automotive world with his creative genius and relentless dedication to design and technology. The Italian-born French designer and manufacturer also designed aeroplane engines and was no stranger to tragedy: Bugatti’s son, Jean, was killed on 11 August 1939 at the age of 30 while testing a Bugatti car near the family’s factory HQ in Germany.

Iervolino is in talks with writers and directors on the project, which will feature a U.S. and international cast and be English-language.

Monika Bacardi and longtime business partner Andrea Iervolino, producers on dozens of movies including Ferrari and To The Bone, have entered into a war of words and legal saber rattling following their recent split.

The producers were longtime partners at prolific Italian production and distribution company Ilbe (Iervolino & Lady Bakardi Entertainment), but Bacardi is unhappy following the latter’s recent announcement of his new company.

Iervolino announced earlier this week that he was stepping back from Ilbe to launch film and TV outfit The Andrea Iervolino Company (Taic). Among projects noted on the slate were a Maserati biopic written and directed by Bobby Moresco, and the biopic Ferrari vs Mercedes, also directed by Moresco.

In a press statement today, Bacardi has claimed that Iervolino doesn’t own the IP to certain projects seemingly mentioned as part of his initial slate, including the Maserati biopic, and that prior to Iervolino’s exit,...

Updated: Italian producer Andrea Iervolino — whose credits include Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” the Johnny Depp-starrer “Waiting for the Barbarians” and “Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend” — has parted ways with business partner Monika Bacardi and is launching a new film and TV outfit called The Andrea Iervolino Company.

Iervolino and Bacardi were partners in Ilbe, the studio they co-founded and jointly ran for 13 years.

“With the launch of Taic, Iervolino has stepped down as president and CEO of Ilbe, the studio he co-founded and ran for the last decade, to focus on Taic,” Iervolino said in a statement. “He will remain available in a non-exclusive capacity to assist Ilbe with the transition of a new CEO.”

No reason for the falling out between Iervolino and Bacardi was provided in the statement.

Recent films produced by Iervolino while at Ilbe include the Depp-directed “Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness...

Modi and Ferrari producer Andrea Iervolino is stepping back from his longtime Italian production and sales company Ilbe (Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment), which he co-founded with Monica Bacardi, to launch film and TV outfit The Andrea Iervolino Company (Taic).

Based in Rome and Los Angeles, the Italian production and distribution company’s upcoming slate includes a Maserati biopic written and directed by Bobby Moresco, and the biopic Ferrari vs Mercedes, also directed by Moresco.

With the launch of Taic, Iervolino has stepped down as President and CEO of Ilbe, the studio he co-founded with Bacardi and ran for 13 years. He says he will remain available in a non-exclusive capacity to assist Ilbe with the transition of a new CEO. No explanation was given for his break from Ilbe.

Recent films produced by Iervolino include Johnny Depp’s San Sebastian entry Modi starring Al Pacino, Jean-Claude Van Damme’s franchise sequel...

Exclusive: Rustin and A Man In Full star Aml Ameen is leading feature thriller Killing of a Nation, about political unrest and crime in Haiti.

Also starring are Jimmy Jean-Louis (Heroes), Aïssa Maïga (Russian Dolls), O-t Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale), Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break), Ayoola Ayolola (The Chosen), Jairo Ordoñez (Sound of Freedom), Grainger Hines (Dr. Death) and Grace Van Dien (Stranger Things).

Ameen plays Anderson Toussaint, a young American lobbyist for an investment fund in Haiti who becomes entangled in a web of corruption and power struggles after gaining access to President Jovenel Moise’s inner circle. The country’s political woes ultimately lead to the shocking assassination of Moïse and the country descends further into chaos.

Filming wrapped last month in Panama on the under-the-radar English-language project from director Carlos Bolado (Under California) and writer Jimena Gallardo. Olga Segura is producing with Harold Sánchez.

Actress and producer Segura is known for starring in and producing Amazon series Veronica and has produced movies including Johnny Depp starrer Waiting for the Barbarians, and exec-produced Oren Moverman’s The Dinner and Sundance title The Truth About Emanuel. Bolado is a regular director on long-running Mexican telenovela La Reina del Sur.

I May Destroy You, Porter and The Maze Runner actor Ameen most recently starred opposite Jeff Daniels in the Netflix limited series A Man In Full from David E. Kelley, and portrayed Martin Luther King Jr opposite Colman Domingo in Netflix’s Oscar-nominated Rustin from director George C. Wolfe. He is currently working on a sequel to Christmas rom-com Boxing Day, which he co-wrote, starred in and directed.

Ameen is repped by The Artists Partnership, UTA, Link Entertainment, and attorney Dave Feldman.

Johnny Depp’s Last 10 Films At The Box Office. (Photo Credit – YouTube)

A very happy birthday to our Hollywood superstar – Johnny Depp, who’s been through thick and thin but never gave up. He was at the peak of his career when his ex-wife, Amber Heard, accused him of domestic violence. It was inevitable for his career to suffer a fall, and it did! And it’s not us, but the box office numbers are proving so! Scroll below for a detailed analysis.

Many wouldn’t know, but Depp has always wanted to be a renowned musician. He began his acting career as a means to pay his bills. 21 Jump Street, Edward Scissorhands, and A Nightmare on Elm Street were some of the films that brought him immense fame. But the real game-changer was Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

Johnny Depp is an undisputed superstar today.

Jim Sheridan has dispelled rumors around a possible return to acting by Daniel Day-Lewis, who gave an Oscar-winning performance in the Irish director’s drama My Left Foot and also starred in his subsequent films In The Name Of The Father and The Boxer.

Rumors have been rife that Day-Lewis, who retired from acting in 2017, might be contemplating a return to the big screen after he was photographed by paparazzi coming out of a New York restaurant with Sheridan and Steven Spielberg in early January.

Sheridan said the trio had been holding a meeting about a possible reboot of his long-gestating project about the Kennedy family, focused on its social climber-patriarch Joseph Kennedy.

“We were talking about a project. Daniel was only going to be involved, if he did get involved, as an executive producer, not as an actor,” said Sheridan.

“It was on the life of Joe Kennedy, the patriarch of the Kennedy family…...

Mike Tyson is set to play himself in “Bunny-Man,” an offbeat superhero movie that is being shot in Italy.

The former heavyweight boxing champion on Tuesday attended a press conference held in the Northern city of Turin with Italian producer Andrea Iervolino and writer Enrico Remmert to announce “Bunny-Man,” which will be entirely shot in Turin.

Iervolino, whose production credits include Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Johnny Depp-starrer “Waiting for the Barbarians” and “Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend,” is producing the film via his TaTaTu shingle.

“Bunny-Man” involves a multimillionaire superhero who strikes against evil forces in anonymity wearing a rabbit mask, according to a provided synopsis. He is driven by the desire to avenge his sister who committed suicide after suffering a violent act, images of which wound up on the internet.

“We are excited to embark on this innovative project, 95% of which will be shot on a virtual set,...

Stars: Nell Hudson, Wil Coban, Florrie Wilkinson, Alice Eve, Joel Fry, Lenny Rush, Sophia Dunn-Walker, Wesley Alfvin, Maddison Nixon | Written by Tom Vaughan | Directed by Gary Shore

Horrors on the high sea are a common enough theme, from Ghost Ship and Deathship to The Haunting of the Mary Celeste and Titanic 666 there are plenty of them. The most recent of these, The Haunting of the Queen Mary opens on Halloween Eve,1938 when the ship’s festivities are replaced with terror as an axe-wielding man hacks his way through its corridors.

The plot then circles back a few hours to show Gwen and David Ratch sneaking into an exclusive party in an attempt to get their daughter Jackie introduced to some Hollywood stars who they hope can help her become the next Shirley Temple.

In the present day, Anne and Patrick Calder along with their son Lukas visit the ship with...

Veteran Italian film executive Claudio Rapino, prominent producer Andrea Iervolino and entrepreneur Pietro Peligra have teamed to form film and TV distribution and development company Maestro Distribution, which will launch from the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin.

Rapino (pictured left), a former head of acquisitions and sales at top Italian companies including Leone Film Group, Notorious Pictures and Koch Media Italia, will head Maestro, which plans to buy and theatrically distribute up to 10 international feature films a year. The new company will also act as an international sales agent and an incubator, developing film and TV content and selling original IPs to producers and international partners.

“The idea is to handle 50% finished product and 50% product that we develop,” Rapino said, adding that he will be “developing content mostly in non-Italian languages such as French, German or English to then sell the IP.” Maestro, which is working with a team...

In about four years time, Andrea Iervolino hopes to launch a stadium and TV studios into orbit and broadcast the world’s first zero-gravity Mma fight from space. He’d originally thought that Galactic Combat — his idea for reality-show-meets-sports-tournament following a group of spacebound fighters — would be ready sooner, within two or three years, but he’s says some “technical issues” among his aerospace partners has pushed his expectations back. “But it’s not really far away.”

Until then, the Italian producer will sadly have to contend with work on solid ground under Earth’s less exciting gravitation pull, work that includes — among a wide array of activities across entertainment, sport and beyond — being one of the producers on Michael Mann’s all-star and much-anticipated Venice-bowing biopic Ferrari. Under the Ilbe banner he runs with his business partner, rum heiress Monika Bacardi, he was brought in to provide the Italian...

Stars: Nell Hudson, Wil Coban, Florrie Wilkinson, Alice Eve, Joel Fry, Lenny Rush, Sophia Dunn-Walker, Wesley Alfvin, Maddison Nixon | Written by Tom Vaughan | Directed by Gary Shore

Horrors on the high sea are a common enough theme, from Ghost Ship and Deathship to The Haunting of the Mary Celeste and Titanic 666 there are plenty of them. The most recent of these, The Queen Mary opens on Halloween Eve,1938 when the ship’s festivities are replaced with terror as an axe-wielding man hacks his way through its corridors.

The plot then circles back a few hours to show Gwen and David Ratch sneaking into an exclusive party in an attempt to get their daughter Jackie introduced to some Hollywood stars who they hope can help her become the next Shirley Temple.

In the present day, Anne and Patrick Calder along with their son Lukas visit the ship with the idea of...

Italian producer Andrea Iervolino, whose credits include Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” “Waiting for the Barbarians” and “Tell It Like a Woman,” has invested around 50 million euros ($55 million) in the construction of Tuscany Film Studios, a technologically advanced studio with the largest virtual set in Italy, and a 360 studio for live-action productions.

The production facility, which is being built just outside Florence, will also host a movie theater and luxury hotel with the aim of attracting premium international productions to Italy.

Construction will begin in fall 2023 with the goal of completing the facility by the end of 2024.

The project will be guided by the criteria of “European taxonomy,” a cornerstone of the EU’s sustainable finance framework, to ensure that the studio is sustainable and green, respecting the environment and the surrounding nature.

Iervolino said: “Tuscany Film Studio will be the most coveted studio in Italy, located in the most desired...

Exclusive: Six-time Academy Award nominee Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) has inked a deal to co-write, direct and produce the historical drama I Am a Man: The True Story of Chief Standing Bear with Andrew Troy.

The film with formal Resolutions of Support from the Ponca Tribe will depict the Ponca’s “Trail of Tears” march that led to the 1879 landmark trial of Standing Bear vs. the United States of America. This mostly unknown legal case helped all Native Americans to be considered “human beings” under the law, also setting legal precedent for many future civil rights matters within the U.S. courts.

Troy has spent the last decade developing the project, while working to gain the support of U.S. and state officials and Native Americans alike. The filmmaker, who is part Chiricahua Apache, was in attendance in 2019 as leaders of the U.S. Congress hosted...

Exclusive: The Latinx House is coming back to the Sundance Film Festival.

First planting its flag at the last in-person Park City shindig in 2020, the Mónica Ramírez, Alexandra Martinez Kondracke, and Olga Segura founded gathering returns to Main Street for a series of events, panels, and activations over the 2023 fest’s opening weekend.

“We are thrilled to come back to Sundance to continue uplifting and celebrating all Latinx filmmakers that have worked so hard to get their movies made and now have an opportunity to share it with the world at the festival,” Waiting for the Barbarians producer Segura told Deadline after a two-year virtual pause. “Creating a space to build community and celebrate our achievements has always been one of our main goals. Our continued collaboration with Sundance is helping us build a bridge to create more opportunities for Latinx creators in the industry for many years to come.

Italian producer Andrea Iervolino has been officially tapped to help promote film and TV production investment opportunities in the West Indies, specifically in the twin island state of Antigua and Barbuda.

Iervolino, whose Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment (Ilbe) shingle produces feature films such as Bobby Moresco’s just released “Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend” and Micheal Mann’s upcoming “Ferrari” feature, has been tapped to work with Dario Item, who is ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to Spain, to the Principality of Monaco, the Principality of Liechtenstein and to the World Tourism Organization is the United Nations (Unwto). The producer has been given a mandate to help foster strategic entertainment partnerships between Antigua and Barbuda and Europe and North America, according to an Ilbe statement.

“It’s an honor to be tasked with building valuable, long-lasting culture and business bridges between the West Indies, Europe and North America,...

AMC is infusing new blood into old wounds. Its Interview with the Vampire series stays loyal to Anne Rice’s novels in spirit, but the flesh is weak. Some characters have aged, others are shifted in time. The origin story begins in 1910 New Orleans, and the demographic of the city, a century later than the book, is more accurately portrayed, even if some of the more delicate points are rounded up.

The 1973 San Francisco interview, which was the basis for the 1976 book, was conducted 50 years prior to the events of the series. Everyone has moved on, but the titular vampire calls Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), the formerly young journalist who conducted the half-century-old interviews, to Dubai for some refinements he’s sure will present a much more nuanced story.

Debuting after the final season premiere of The Walking Dead, Interview with the Vampire ushered in an Anne Rice multiverse for AMC,...

Exclusive: Veteran producer Richard Salvatore has been appointed Head of US Film Production and Distribution at Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment (Ilbe) as the Italian company looks to grow its stateside footprint.

Salvatore steps into the newly created post immediately and will report into CEO Andrea Iervolino. He will operate in LA and Rome and will be responsible for the development, cast selection, production, sales and distribution of Ilbe Group’s films for the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Production veteran Salvatore has worked on more than 60 features. Between 2020 and 2022, he was a producer or exec producer on Vanquish with Morgan Freeman, Ruby Rose for Capstone, Hard Matter with Tyrese Gibson and Harvey Keitel for WonderFilms, and Muti, to be released in the coming months, with Cole Hauser, Morgan Freeman and Peter Stormare for Ilbe. In 2020, he was a producer on Robert De Niro comedy The Comeback Trail.

Ilbe is currently...

Exclusive: Italian firm Iervolino and Monika Bacardi Entertainment has boarded Michael Mann’s big canvas car racing drama Ferrari.

Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi are providing production services via Welcome To Italy, which they co-own, and they’ll also handle the local tax credit, ultimately gaining executive producer credits.

The long-in-the-works feature biopic of Enzo Ferrari stars Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley and Patrick Dempsey. Filming began in Italy earlier this month.

Written, directed and produced by four time Oscar nominee Mann, the movie is set during the summer of 1957 when ex-racecar driver, Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another. He decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.

Driver will play Ferrari,...

Exclusive: Samuel Goldwyn Films has closed a deal with Italian outfit Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment to acquire U.S. distribution rights to star-studded female-powered feature Tell It Like A Woman, whose filmmakers and actors include Taraji P. Henson, Jennifer Hudson, Pauletta Washington, Cara Delevingne, Catherine Hardwicke, Margherita Buy, Marcia Gay Harden, Eva Longoria, Leonor Varela, Jacqueline Fernandez, Anne Watanabe and Mipo O.

For the film, superstar songwriter and 13-time Oscar nominee Diane Warren (who is getting an honorary Academy Award in November) has written original song Applause which was performed by Sofia Carson and is being released later this year as a single through Disney Music Group label Hollywood Records. An accompanying music video was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, starring singer and actress Carson.

Warren’s song is described as “the defining sound of the film and intended to serve as a hymn for female empowerment”. The filmmakers say they...

Exclusive: Andrew Troy is gearing up to direct the feature Midnight in the Orange Grove—an adoption drama based on true-life events, which he wrote with Guinevere Turner (American Psycho).

The film will tell the story of a young woman who is jarred into remembering a tragedy long buried in her subconscious. Through therapy, a blossoming romance and the appearance of a mysterious woman, past and present collide as she’s forced to confront the murder-suicide that changed her life as a child.

The production companies involved with Midnight in the Orange Grove are Troy Entertainment and Wwps.tv. Troy and Ambi Group’s Luca Matrundola (Waiting for the Barbarians) will produce alongside Archie Hernandez, Candi Guterres, and former Alloy Entertainment Creative Executive Jennifer Wu (Gossip Girl), who was involved in the script’s development. Turner will exec produce with Warren Anzalone, Cary Wayne Moore and longtime Anonymous Content exec Paul Green,...

Longtime entertainment attorney Richard Edward Marks was called to the stand Monday in Johnny Depp’s defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard and said the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor became radioactive because companies want “added value not negativity” from talent.

Marks, who said he has nearly 50 years of experience and has negotiated numerous deals, was hired by Depp’s legal team to look at the impact Heard’s 2018 Washington Post op-ed had on her ex-husband’s “life and reputation.”

“My general opinion is the op-ed damaged Mr. Depp, created a cancel situation if you will, harmed his reputation and his ability to get work in the Hollywood industry,” Marks told a Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom.

The Los Angeles-based attorney said he read a “voluminous” amount of files, transcripts from depositions, and news articles to familiarize himself with the case. He noted that companies and studios consider a performer’s reputation,...

Talent manager Jack Whigham testified Monday in Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, saying the impact of the Washington Post op-ed Heard wrote was “catastrophic” for the actor’s career.

Whigham spoke remotely via video from Los Angeles, and said in 2017 Depp had a very busy filming schedule. That year the actor worked on “City of Lies,” “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald,” and independent film “The Professor,” earning him 35 million.

Whigham, who described himself as an attorney and manager, said he also negotiated Depp’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” 6 deal in 2017, which totaled 22.5 million. But in 2019, it became clear that Disney had decided to “go in a different direction.”

In 2018, Depp filmed “Waiting for the Barbarians” for 1 million. In 2019, Whigham negotiated a 3 million deal for Depp to film “Minimata.” Whigham told the court the movie was supposed to start filming in January.

Johnny Depp’s agent testified on Monday that Depp was to receive 22.5 million to star in the sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film, but Disney decided to go “in a different direction” after Amber Heard published an op-ed reviving her domestic abuse allegations.

Jack Whigham, who represented Depp at Creative Artists Agency and later at Range Media Partners, testified that the December 2018 piece in the Washington Post had a “catastrophic” impact on Depp’s career.

“After the op-ed it was impossible to get him a studio film,” Whigham testified.

Depp is suing Heard for 50 million, alleging that she destroyed his career with false allegations of domestic violence. The trial in Fairfax, Va., entered its fourth week on Monday, as Depp’s team continued to call witnesses to support his claims.

Heard’s side has yet to begin offering evidence, and she is expected to tell her own side of the story later in the trial.

The upcoming Los Angeles-Italia Film Fashion and Art Festival will be honoring Italian directors Paolo Sorrentino (“The Hand of God”) and Enrico Casarosa (“Luca”) as well as costume-designer Massimo Cantini Parrini (“Cyrano”) all of whom have scored nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards.

The 17th edition of the pre-Oscars event will be held March 20-26 at Hollywood’s Tcl Chinese Theatre and also online.

This year’s opening ceremony will be hosted by veteran Italian-American actor Robert Davi, who is also this year’s president of the event. Sofia Milos (“CSI: Miami”) and Hollywood acting coach Bernard Hiller will co-host.

Consul General of Italy Silvia Chiave and Italian Institute of Culture chief Emanuele Amendola will also be introducing honorees both at the Chinese Theatre and during a separate March 25 event being held at the Italian Institute of Culture.

Other Los Angeles-Italia honorees this year are ace cinematographer Dante Spinotti actors Riccardo Scamarcio,...

Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video have both pre-bought “Puffins Impossible,” a spinoff of the animated short form series “Puffins” voiced by Johnny Depp, who is reprising his role as Johnny Puff.

The 18-episode show, which is currently in production in Serbia, is being made by Andrea Iervolino and Monica Bacardi’s Ilbe outfit via their Iervolino Studios and Serbia-based company Archangel Digital Studios.

The “Puffins Impossible” showrunner is Peter Nalli, who also made “Puffins” and “Arctic Friends.” These five-minute short form series originated from feature film “Arctic Dogs,” which was released theatrically in 2019 and became popular on Netflix. Iervolino and Bacardi acquired all spin-off rights of the animated characters from the pic.

“Puffins Impossible” is being described as the action-adventure version of “Puffins,” which is about the adventures of a group of cute arctic birds with the protagonist, Johnny Puff, voiced by Depp. In the new spinoff, Johnny Puff...

Exclusive: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment’s family film Dakota, starring Abbie Cornish, Lola Sultan (Netflix’s Yes Day), William Baldwin (Backdraft), Patrick Muldoon (The Comeback Trail) and Tim Rozon (Surreal Estate), for release in limited theaters beginning April 1, with a platformed theatrical rollout to follow.

In the action-adventure pic, recently widowed single mom Kate Sanders (Cornish) lives on her family’s farm in Georgia with her daughter Alex (Sultan). Life on the farm is a challenge and things only get more complicated when the combat dog Dakota, delivered by Sergeant Cj Malcolm (Rozon), arrives on their doorstep. Cj is fulling a promise made to Kate’s late husband, his friend and fellow Afghanistan veteran Marine Clay Sanders, to bring Dakota home to them, upon his death.

Kate spends her time between the farm and running the volunteer fire department,...

Exclusive: Johnny Depp movie Minamata is finally getting a U.S. release, we can reveal, but not from MGM which had previously acquired the film.

Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment (Ilbe) are now teaming up with Samuel Goldwyn Films to give the movie a North American release in theaters beginning December 15. The platformed release is due to extend across U.S. and Canada into 2022 and the team are looking to position it for awards consideration.

This update comes after the film’s director, Andrew Levitas, complained earlier this year that MGM was “burying” Minamata due to Depp’s well publicized off-screen issues. You can read the filmmaker’s impassioned letter to the studio here. Depp also decried the non-release in an interview in August in which he said the film deserved to be seen but was shelved because he was being “boycotted” by Hollywood.

Minamata charts the true story of...

Not to be confused with Barbarians (the Netflix series), Barbarians at the Gate (Wall Street robber barons), or even Waiting for the Barbarians (the already forgotten adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author J.M. Coetzee’s novel), the latest film with the word “Barbarians” in the title, simply called Barbarians, marks the feature-length debut of producer-turned-writer-director Charles Dorfman. The latest addition in the apparently burgeoning “dinner party from hell” sub-genre, Barbarians takes broad, nuance-free satirical swipes at white privilege, capitalistic excess, and, of course, toxic masculinity and its discontents with just enough verve, style, and thorny plot turns to keep the average horror fan modestly engaged. Broken up into chapters announced by black-and-white title cards, Barbarians initially focuses on Adam Davies, a TV...

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

Exclusive: Redbox Entertainment has picked up North American distribution rights to Muti, the action-thriller starring Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) and Yellowstone star Cole Hauser.

As we first revealed, Muti heralds from writer-director George Gallo (Bad Boys) and producers Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment (Waiting For The Barbarians). Above is a first look image of the production.

The film follows Detective Boyd (Hauser), who, unable to process the death of his daughter, embarks on the hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles (Freeman), an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.

Supporting cast includes Peter Stormare (Fargo) and former NFL player Vernon Davis.

Principal photography recently wrapped in Mississippi and will continue in Italy. The screenplay is written by Bob Bowersox,...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) and Yellowstone star Cole Hauser have been set to lead action-thriller Muti from writer-director George Gallo (Bad Boys) and producers Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment (Waiting for the Barbarians).

The film will follow Detective Boyd (Hauser), who, unable to process the death of his daughter, embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles (Freeman), an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.

The supporting cast will include Peter Stormare (Fargo) and former NFL tight end-turned-actor Vernon Davis, a Super Bowl winner and two-time Pro Bowler.

Filming is due to take place in Mississippi and Italy. The Exchange will introduce the project to international buyers during TIFF.

The screenplay was written by Bob Bowersox,...

AMC's Interview with the Vampire series has officially found its Lestat the vampire in Sam Reid. The British actor has reportedly signed on to star in the lead role as Lestat on the upcoming series based on the popular Anne Rice novel of the same name. It's said that this casting could represent a long-term investment in Reid, as AMC has also secured the rights to all of Rice's The Vampire Chronicles books, many of which also feature Lestat.

This casting makes Reid the third actor to portray the vampire Lestat in a live-action movie on the big screen. He was famously played by Tom Cruise in 1994's Interview with the Vampire before Stuart Townsend later took on another incarnation of the character for 2002's Queen of the Damned. Should Reid end up reprising the role in addition projects for AMC, he would be the first to play Lestat multiple times.

Johnny Depp to receive Donostia Award in San Sebastian Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival Pirates Of The Caribbean star Johnny Depp has been announced as a recipient of this year's Donostia Awards for lifetime achievement at San Sebastian Film Festival.

The three-time Oscar nominee Depp, who plays Jack Sparrow in the popular Disney franchise, has more than 90 acting credits to his name, with films ranging from Edward Scissorhands and What's Eating Gilbert Grape in his younger years through to Minimata and Waiting For The Barbarians most recently.

The festival lauded him as “one of contemporary cinema’s most talented and versatile actors”, although the star has not been without controversy in recent years, not least his failed libel suit against The Sun newspaper, which saw the court uphold the paper's description of him as a “wife beater” in relation to actress Amber Heard. That ruling saw him axed from the Fantastic Beasts franchise.

Nearly a year after accusations of sexual harassment and abuse were leveled against Ciro Guerra, the Colombian director behind Oscar-nominated “Embrace of the Serpent,” a Bogota court overseeing a defamation case filed by the filmmaker has ruled in his favor, and asked for more evidence from the outlet that ran the claims.

The court has ordered the editors of Volcanicas, a Latin American feminist journal, to rectify their June 24 article because it did “not comply with the requirements of veracity and impartiality,” as it lacked detail and evidence.

Volcanicas in June published allegations from eight anonymous women who described incidents of harassment and abuse spanning the period between 2013 and 2019 in Colombia, Mexico, New York and Berlin. The publication doesn’t name the women but says it conducted direct interviews with each accuser and heard recordings as well as viewed text message exchanges — which it posted — that detail the alleged harassment...

Italy’s Iervolino Entertainment, the film and television production company founded by producer Andrea Iervolino and co-owned with Monika Bacardi, is planning to invest €100 million ($118.6 million) in the production of animated content along with an additional €8.5 million ($10.1 million) in its new production subsidiary in Serbia.

The new Iervolino Studios, which comprises two facilities located in Belgrade and Novi Sad, will produce animated projects for the global market, among them the short animated series “Puffins,” featuring the voice talent of Johnny Depp. Produced by Iervolino and Bacardi, the toon is a mobile-first, short-content format animated series consisting of 250 five-minute episodes currently available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.

Like the company’s animated series “Arctic Friends,” “Puffins” is a spin-off of its 2019 animated film “Arctic Dogs,” which featured the voice talents of Jeremy Renner, John Cleese, Anjelica Huston, Heidi Klum, Alec Baldwin and James Franco. “Puffins” also reteams Depp and Iervolino...

Directed by Antaine Furlong, starring Charlotte Best, and set in the elevator of a high-rise, the sci-fi thriller Rising Wolf has been acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films:

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired Worldwide Rights (excl. Australia and New Zealand) to Antaine Furlong’s feature ‘Rising Wolf’. The film stars Charlotte Best (A Name Without A Place), Jonny Pasvolsky (The Front Runner), Alex Menglet (TV’s Wentworth), Susan Prior (The Rover), Lily Stewart, Justin Cotta,Tahlia Sturzaker (I am Mother), and introducing Karelina Clarke.

A young woman wakes, trapped, kidnapped in an elevator of a super high­ rise building at the mercy of her tormentors. This stylistic thriller, set in Shanghai, explores a young woman's instinct to survive in a situation out of her control. Trapped, without any form of escape, and cocooned in the belly of the beast, Aria is forced to adapt her thinking,...

Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed and increasingly relevant political drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, which revolves around the raucous trial of a group of protesters accused of disrupting the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, took a leading four awards including best picture at the just concluded 25th annual Capri, Hollywood – The International Film Festival. If past winners at this Italian fest are any indication, the victories should give the Netflix film a boost stateside during Oscar season.

The DreamWorks production, originally put in motion 14 years ago by Steven Spielberg and written and directed by Sorkin, was originally set to be released by Paramount before the coronavirus pandemic turned the exhibition business on its heels and shut theaters — especially in key cities like New York and Los Angeles. It premiered on Netflix in October.

The film also took Capri awards for Sacha Baron Cohen as best supporting actor, film editing and a...

It’s finally the weekend, and with most places around the world still experiencing lockdowns to some degree, not to mention cold weather beginning to take over in a lot of countries now that it’s winter, many people will no doubt be looking to remain indoors and flip on some quality content. And lucky for them, the various streaming services continue to deliver.

Be it Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu or HBO Max, there’s a ton of great stuff to dig into and each of the major platforms is constantly updated, with this weekend bringing several exciting titles that might be worth your time. And down below, you can see the complete list of what’s set to arrive across today, Saturday and Sunday.

Ready to dive in?

December 4

Netflix

Bhaag Beanie Bhaag — Netflix Original

Big Mouth: Season 4 — Netflix Original

Bombay Rose — Netflix Film

Captain...

As the year winds down, streaming services appear to be taking a step back, licking their wounds from this strange pandemic production season, and looking to a hopefully brighter future. This is all to say that Hulu‘s list of new releases for December 2020 isn’t quite its most inspiring batch yet…and that’s Ok.

Hulu’s biggest original title this month is undoubtedly The Hardy Boys. This adaptation of the classic boy detective novels is aimed at younger audiences and will premiere on Dec. 4. Then, near the end of the month, Hulu is bringing a new season of a show that is decidedly not for younger audiences. Season 9 of the very funny and very Canadian Letterkenny arrives on Dec. 26.

Hulu also has some recent movies of note coming in December including Amy Seimetz’s diabolical She Dies Tomorrow on Dec. 4 and children’s movie The Secret Garden on Dec.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, as the various streaming services are stocking their libraries with some great new titles this December to keep us going through the festive period. When it comes to Hulu, the Disney-owned platform is adding a few holiday-related movies and TV shows, but is mostly taking the track of stuffing itself full of classic films that the whole family can enjoy.

This includes a bunch of the best James Bond pics ever made, like GoldenEye, The Spy Who Loved Me, Goldfinger and, the one that kicked it all off, Dr. No. That would be a perfect watch to honor Sean Connery, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

Other action movies you might want to check out this December, meanwhile, include The Hurt Locker, The Fifth Element, 2003’s Hulk and the two “Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon” flicks, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.

Mexican producer, actress and activist Olga Segura has partnered with Exile Content to create a Latina Talent Incubator for the development of emerging female and non-gender binary Latinx content creators.

Segura, whose most recent project is the Robert Pattinson and Johnny Depp-starrer Waiting for the Barbarians, also signed a first-look production deal with the film and TV studio, which centers on content about under-represented groups for global audiences in Spanish and English. She will serve as head of the Latina Talent Incubator, with creative producer and social impact advocate Brittany Zion Estrada running day-to-day operations.

Segura was one of the original signatories of the Time’s ...

Mexican producer, actress and activist Olga Segura has partnered with Exile Content to create a Latina Talent Incubator for the development of emerging female and non-gender binary Latinx content creators.

Segura, whose most recent project is the Robert Pattinson and Johnny Depp-starrer Waiting for the Barbarians, also signed a first-look production deal with the film and TV studio, which centers on content about under-represented groups for global audiences in Spanish and English. She will serve as head of the Latina Talent Incubator, with creative producer and social impact advocate Brittany Zion Estrada running day-to-day operations.

Segura was one of the original signatories of the Time’s ...

Johnny Depp might have been finding himself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently as his protracted legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard continue, but the actor has kept on quietly working in between his frequent appearances in the courtroom. Earlier this year, drama Waiting for the Barbarians was released onto VOD to little fanfare, but his next movie is scheduled for a theatrical debut.

Minamata sees the 57 year-old headline the biopic of war photographer Eugene Smith, who traveled to Japan in the 1970s to investigate and document the disastrous effects that mercury poisoning had caused to many small coastal communities. The Pirates of the Caribbean star is virtually unrecognizable under heavy makeup, and the first trailer paints the picture of an emotional real-life story that looks to be trying to position itself as an awards season contender.

The movie premiered back in February as part of the Berlin International Film Festival,...

Cinemas are looking to bounce back from a week of bad news.

France, opening Wednesday September 23

UFO Distribution and Potemkine Films joined forces this week for a rare general release of a medium-length film to launch Gaspar Noé’s 51-minute work Lux Æterna on 47 prints. Co-starring Beatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a director and actress locked in a hellish shoot, the work debuted Out of Competition in Cannes in 2019.

Noé’s cult status at home ensured plenty of press and according to France’s Cbo Box Office the picture came in fifth out of 15 new releases on its first day in cinemas,...

Organizers at the San Sebastián Film Festival have sent a blunt message to attendees: Follow the strict Covid-19 safety protocols or you’ll be forced to leave. U.S.-born French director Eugène Green has been expelled from the 2020 festival after reportedly refusing to put on a face mask after being asked to do so five times by San Sebastián staff members. The incident occurred during the September 23 evening screening of Green’s new film, “Atarrabi & Mikelats.” The movie is also a selection of this year’s New York Film Festival.

San Sebastián referred to the incident as “unpleasant” in an official statement (via Variety), adding, “The director of the film, Eugène Green, was asked up to five times by the Festival staff to put on the mask and to put it on correctly. Finally, due to his lack of cooperation, the Festival management asked him to leave the theater.

Shooting has resumed in Rome on romantic drama “Eddie & Sunny,” helmed by U.S. director Desmond Devenish and starring Gabriel Luna (“Terminator: Dark Fate”) and Joanna Vanderham (“Warrior”).

The previously unannounced film is the second international shoot to resume filming in Italy, following Sky original series “Domina,” after production was forced to stop due to the coronavirus crisis in February. The next foreign production expected to restart locally after a Covid-19-related halt is “Mission: Impossible 7,” for which Tom Cruise is soon expected in Venice.

“Eddie & Sunny” is based on the eponymous 2015 novel by writer-director Stacey Cochran. Pic is produced by Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Rome-based Iervolino Entertainment, the expanding shingle behind Johnny Depp-starrer “Waiting for the Barbarians.”

Devenish, a multi-hyphenate who previously directed the thriller “Misfortune,” wrote the “Eddie & Sunny” screenplay. Silvio Muraglia’s Los Angeles-based Paradox Studios has acquired worldwide distribution rights.