News

FilmNation Entertainment has boarded “La Ola (The Wave),” a musical about the 2018 student feminist protests in Chile directed by Sebastián Lelio. The company is launching worldwide sales outside of Latin America at Cannes, where the film will premiere in the Cannes Premieres section.

Lelio won the Oscar for best international feature for “A Fantastic Woman.” His other credits include both the Chilean film “Gloria” and its English-language remake “Gloria Bell,” as well as “Disobedience” and “The Wonder.”

“La Ola” stars newcomers Daniela López, Avril Aurora, Lola Bravo and Paulina Cortés. It is produced by Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue and Lelio. Fabula also produced the movie, which is co-financed by Participant and Fremantle. The screenplay was written by Lelio, Manuela Infante, Josefina Fernández and Paloma Salas. “La Ola” was shot on location in Chile over nine weeks.

The film follows Julia, a music student drawn into the...

Oscar-winning Chilean director Sebastián Lelio has wrapped production on the newly announced musical film “The Wave,” inspired by the mass protests and university rallies that took place during Chile’s so-called “feminist May” movement in 2018.

The film — starring newcomers Daniela López, Avril Aurora, Lola Bravo and Paulina Cortés — centers on Julia, a dedicated music student who gets involved in the growing feminist movement on her university campus — a group effort where women step up to bring attention to the widespread harassment and abuse suffered by many of their peers. Amid the excitement of protest marches, she joins her friends in dancing and singing, revisiting her own experiences of mistreatment. But as she gathers the courage to share her story, she unexpectedly becomes a central figure in the movement. It’s a role she didn’t foresee, but one which forces her to address her identity as a survivor in a...

Sebastián Lelio is setting the soundtrack of a feminist revolution with musical film “The Wave (La Ola)” — it just wrapped production.

The Academy Award-winning director helms the film that follows music student Julia (Daniela López) who gets involved in the growing feminist #MeToo movement on her university campus. Amid the excitement of protest marches, per the official synopsis, Julia joins her friends in dancing and singing, revisiting her own experiences of mistreatment. As she gathers the courage to share her own abuse story, she unexpectedly becomes a central figure in the movement — a role she didn’t foresee, which forces her to address her identity as a survivor in a society that promises change but remains resistant to it.

Avril Aurora, Lola Bravo, and Paulina Cortés also star. See below for first-look images.

Lelio co-wrote the screenplay with Manuela Infante, Josefina Fernández, and Paloma Salas. The writer/director/producer was...

Sterlin Harjo’s FX pilot The Sensitive Kind has added 8 actors to star alongside executive producer and lead Ethan Hawke.

They are Keith David (American Fiction), Siena East (Sex Lives of College Girls), Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love), Tim Blake Nelson, Scott Shepherd (Killers of the Flower Moon), Tracy Letts (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Kyle Maclachlan (Twin Peaks) and Macon Blair (Oppenheimer).

The Sensitive Kind is a Tulsa noir about a guy (Hawke) who knows too much. Roles for the newly added cast are being kept under wraps.

Harjo also serves as writer and director on the pilot, which he and Hawke executive produce with Garrett Basch. The project falls under Harjo’s overall deal with the studio behind the pilot, FX Productions. The order for The Sensitive Kind comes on the heels of Reservation Dogs ending its award-winning three-season run on FX.

Fandoms everywhere can now rejoice, for in October Our Flag Means Death finally returns to our screens for its second season. Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi will be romancing the high seas once more thanks to an enormous outpouring of love and support from the show’s fans. The safety of the cult favorite is not yet known beyond season two, but if this one is as good as the first, it certainly won’t be for lack of trying.

Talking of little shows that could, Doom Patrol is back for its last ever block of episodes, having long outlasted the many of the other ill-fated DC streaming series. Season two of The Gilded Age is also streaming this month, with Bertha challenging both Mrs. Astor and the old system in this new run.

And if none of that is up your street, there’s always Jason Statham punching sharks in the face,...

Rhys Darby in ‘Our Flag Means Death’ season 2 (Photograph by Nicola Dove/Max)

Max’s 2023 October lineup of series includes new seasons of Our Flag Means Death, The Gilded Age, and 30 Coins, as well as the second half of Doom Patrol season four (the final season). A documentary focusing on the notorious Bling Ring premieres on October 1st, along with all five Final Destination films.

In addition to a batch of horror films joining the network’s lineup, Max is celebrating Halloween with new seasons of Ghost Adventures and The Haunted Museum.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In October 2023:

October 1

3 Godfathers (1948)

The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996)

All About the Benjamins (2002)

The Amazing Panda Adventure (1995)

Angels in the Outfield (1951)

The Answer Man (2009)

Anthropoid (2016)

Appaloosa (2008)

The Apparition (2012)

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Badlands (1973)

Be Cool (2005)

Bee Season (2005)

Beetlejuice (1988)

The Benchwarmers (2006)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Blindspotting (2018)

Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)

Cesar Chavez (2014)

Charlie Wilson’s War...

Carl Sagan, for those who may not know, was an astronomer and charismatic cosmologist who came into the public eye in 1980 with the broadcast of his PBS series "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage." That show, in addition to Sagan's many novels, books, and lectures, helped popularize astral science, bringing casual conversations about space to new heights. 

Sagan's popularity is understandable. He was affable and well-spoken, and he talked about fun scientific concepts like the existence of UFOs, and the actual, mathematical odds that an alien civilization might someday visit Earth; given the size of the universe, Sagan calculated that there are at least a million Earth-like civilizations out there somewhere. The film "Contact" is based on his novel. Sagan was also a major advocate for marijuana use, and was rather spiritual, despite often speaking out against religion or the existence of an intelligent God. He was a fascinating dude. 

Sagan...

Sebastián Lelio, the Oscar-winning auteur behind “A Fantastic Woman,” will direct Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones in “Voyagers,” the story of the romantic relationship between astronomer and “Contact” author Carl Sagan and documentary producer and director Ann Druyan.

The feature is produced by Ben Browning for FilmNation Entertainment, Lynda Obst, who guided “Contact” to the big screen, and Druyan herself. FilmNation Entertainment is set to launch global sales at the upcoming Cannes Market

“Voyagers” unfolds in 1977 as NASA prepared to launch humanity’s first interstellar probes. A team led by Sagan sets out to create a message to accompany them, known as the Golden Record, which included music and images, for possible alien civilizations. But what starts out as a race-against-the-clock mission blossoms into a love story between Sagan and Druyan. FilmNation Entertianment paired Druyan, who married Sagan in 1981, with screenwriters Lelio and Jessica Goldberg. They then wrote the original...

Exclusive: Sean Astin (Stranger Things) and Craig Parker (Good Trouble) have signed on to star alongside Domenica Cameron-Scorsese in Jason Mac’s political thriller, A Social Contract — the filmmaker’s follow-up to his directorial debut A Father’s Legacy, which was released by Cinedigm last year.

In the film exploring the dynamics and social constructs of power, relationships and government, a political dinner turns deadly when a group of power-starved politicians fight for a seat of survival on a helicopter at the onset of a nuclear war. While Astin will play the lead role of Senator Bennett Wilde, details as to Parker’s part haven’t been disclosed.

A Social Contract also stars Christopher Wallinger (The Offer) and Samora Smallwood (Star Trek: Discovery), as well as Angela Morris (Shining Girls), Rachel Kang (Power Book IV:...

Click here to read the full article.

World premiering at Telluride and to be distributed by Netflix this fall, The Wonder scintillates for a number of reasons. For one thing, its study of religious fanaticism and sexual abuse touches a nerve in today’s culture. It also represents perhaps the finest achievement to date of Chilean director Sebastian Lelio, who won an Oscar for A Fantastic Woman and also helmed such well received movies as Gloria (and its American remake, Gloria Bell) and Disobedience. But the film will be remembered primarily for the monumental performance by Florence Pugh, who transports audiences on her character’s journey to save the life of a child victimized by 19th century society.

In assigning credit, however, one should not overlook the contribution of novelist Emma Donoghue, who first created the story and also wrote the book Room, another study of women and children abused and tormented.

The Lord works in mysterious ways, Christians are fond of telling us. More mysterious still is the matter of faith, a uniquely human idea which operates on the principle that phenomena we can’t explain are true, not because we understand them but because we don’t need to.

Set in an almost medieval-feeling 1862, “The Wonder” asks audiences to ponder the meaning of a miracle. Is it possible, as the devout residents of a small Irish community believe, for an 11-year-old girl to survive for four months without food? The child, Anna O’Donnell (Kíla Lord Cassidy), suddenly stopped eating, and swears that since then, she’s been sustained by “manna from heaven.” As word of this “wonder” spread, pilgrims have come to see the phenomenon for themselves. Local authorities understandably have their doubts, calling for an English nurse, Lib Wright (Florence Pugh), to observe the situation.

An outwardly stoic but...

For some filmmakers, winning an Oscar marks the start of a new chapter. For Sebastián Lelio, it was the end of one.

In 2018, when the Chilean filmmaker won the Best International Feature award for his beloved trans character study “A Fantastic Woman,” he was emerging from a whirlwind of projects: He had already shot his first English-language feature, the British lesbian romance “Disobedience,” and was nearly finished with production on “Gloria Bell,” the English-language adaptation of his own 2013 midlife crisis crowdpleaser “Gloria.” With four movies in five years, Lelio had established himself as one of the most celebrated Latin American filmmakers working today and successfully brought his penchant for engaging, female-focused character studies to English-language audiences.

“It was this big episode of my life where a lot of things happened,” Lelio said in an interview with IndieWire over Zoom from his apartment in Chile. “The pandemic times were an interesting...

Exclusive: Oscar nominee Sean Astin has signed on to star alongside fellow Stranger Things alum Matthew Modine in the cycling drama Hard Miles, which 2021 Academy Nicholl Fellow R.J. Daniel Hanna is directing from his and Christian Sander’s script.

Additional cast set for the indie includes Cynthia Kaye McWilliams (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey), Leslie David Baker (The Office), Jahking Guillory (On My Block), Jackson Kelly (Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion), Damien Diaz (Marvel’s Runaways) and Zachary T. Robbins (Bloodline).

The film is based on the true story of the cycling team at Colorado’s Ridge View Academy, which for decades has given at-risk youth a second chance through academic rigor, targeted treatment, competitive sports and leadership. Modine stars as Greg Townsend, who has led the team at Ridge View for the last 30 years, as previously announced. Astin will play benevolent local bike shop mechanic Speedy, with McWilliams as...

Exclusive: Reid Miller (Joe Bell), Jonathan Silverman (Good Girls), Marguerite Moreau (Wet Hot American Summer) and Chris Mulkey (Twin Peaks) have signed on to star in the indie Feeling Randy, marking the solo directorial debut of veteran cinematographer Dean Lent.

The film inspired by Lent’s own youth follows Randy (Miller), who amid family turmoil, heads off with his high school buds on a road trip to uncover their emerging sexuality in 1970s California. Silverman and Moreau will play Randy’s parents, with Mulkey as his understanding teacher. Richard Riehle, Tyler Lawrence Gray, Kerrice Brooks, Shane Almagor, Blaine Kern III and O. Hibbs Wyman will round out the cast.

Lent penned the script, with Salome Breziner on board to produce under her Semblance banner. Production is underway in the Los Angeles area.

Miller is best known for starring alongside Mark Wahlberg and Connie Britton in Reinaldo Marcus Green’s drama Joe Bell for Roadside Attractions.

Exclusive: Chris Mulkey (On the Basis of Sex, Captain Phillips) has signed on to a starring role in The Redeemer, the indie Western from writer-director Myles Clohessy, which is heading into production in Montana later this month.

The two-time Independent Spirit Award nominee joins a cast that includes Titus Welliver, Brandon Routh, SAG Award winner Robert Clohessy, Mo Brings Plenty, Eddie Spears, Golden Globe nominee Irene Bedard, Timothy V. Murphy and newcomer Baylee Toney, as previously announced.

The Redeemer tells the story of Butch (Mulkey), a washed up war hero in 1880s Montana who embark on a life-or-death rescue mission into the frontier, alongside his estranged son Garrett (Routh), to save his Indigenous wife Aponi (Bedard) and daughter-in-law (Toney), after they’re kidnapped by a gang of violent outlaws led by the formidable former Calvary Captain Randall Ferguson (Murphy). But a harsh winter, the horrors and dangers of the frontier,...

Exclusive: Alanna Ubach has joined the Season 2 cast of HBO Max’s critically acclaimed series The Flight Attendant as a recurring guest star.

She’ll appear in the new season—which is currently in production—alongside returning series regulars Kaley Cuoco, Zosia Mamet, Griffin Matthews, Deniz Akdeniz and Rosie Perez; new series regulars Mo McRae, Callie Hernandez and JJ Soria; returning recurring guest stars T.R. Knight, Yasha Jackson and Audrey Grace Marshall; and new recurring guest stars Cheryl Hines, Jessie Ennis, Mae Martin, Margaret Cho, Santiago Cabrera and Shohreh Aghdashloo.

The Max Original based on Chris Bohjalian’s 2018 novel of the same name centers on Cassie Bowden (Cuoco), a reckless flight attendant with an alcoholism problem who in Season 1, wakes up in the wrong hotel, in the wrong bed, with a dead man—and no idea what happened. Season 2 finds Cassie living her best sober life in Los...

Chile’s ‘A Fantastic Woman’ editor Soledad Salfate has boarded Costa Rican-Mexican title “Matryoshka” by Maricarmen Merino, which snagged two key awards at the Santiago Documentary Lab of Chile’s Sanfic Industria.

Produced by Merino and Mexican producers Karla Bukantz and Paulina Villegas of Puchunka Cine, “Matryoshka” throws a spotlight on Merino’s mother, Patricia Mora Castellanos, who was born and married into powerful families of Costa Rica’s political left. A trailblazing feminist and activist, Mora Castellanos was the first congresswoman from Costa Rica’s left-wing party and is now running for Vice President of Costa Rica’s communist party. The docu follows Mora Castellanos’ rise in politics following her husband’s death when she took his place to lead the leftist party.

“Editing is extremely fundamental to a documentary so we’re thrilled to have Soledad on board,” said Villegas, who lists “Matryoshka” as one of the documentaries...

Chilean bio-musical series “Los Prisioneros” had its European debut at Madrid’s inaugural Iberseries Platino Industria on Sept. 28 where it screened in the event’s Chapter One sidebar.

Taking place in the mid ‘80s, the eight-episode show kicks off with the titular iconic band Los Prisioneros playing their sardonic protest songs to a rowdy, unappreciative crowd. It’s only when they perform at Chile’s then biggest entertainment show, “Sabado Gigante,” hosted by the equally iconic Don Francisco, that their career takes flight.

Episode one shows the key moments of their debut on the show and the start of their career, which later led to their persecution by the military regime and censorship on Chilean radio and television. To this day, their songs are anthems at protest rallies in the region, most recently in Chile and Colombia.

“Their songs have become ever more relevant, they still resonate to this day,...

Exclusive: Sean Astin (Stranger Things), Ali Larter (The Rookie), Madison Wolfe (The Conjuring 2), Brec Bassinger (Stargirl), Skai Jackson (Bunk’d), Gavin Warren (12 Mighty Orphans) and Julianne Arrieta (Reagan) have signed on to star in The Man in the White Van, a true-crime thriller from Garrison Film Productions, Legion M, XYZ Films and writer-director Warren Skeels (Siesta Key).

The film co-written by Sharon Y. Cobb is set in 1974, watching as an ominous white van begins stalking a young girl from the town of Brooksville, Fl. Her parents’ disbelief that this is really happening, given her tendency to exaggerate, leads in the end to a terrifying Halloween nightmare. Pic will explore the origins of the “white van” trope in popular culture, and chart the beginnings of the destruction fomented by real-world serial killer Billy Mansfield Jr.

Wolfe will play the lead role of Annie, with Bassinger cast as Annie’s sister Margaret.

Documentary

More than a dozen members of the British Royal Family offer their personal thoughts in a new documentary as they pay tribute to the life of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April at 99.

All the children of the Queen and the Duke, along with their adult grandchildren and other members of the Royal Family, agreed to take part in Oxford Films’ “Prince Philip: The Royal Family.” Originally conceived to mark Prince Philip’s 100th birthday, the documentary features interviews filmed both before and after the Duke’s death and has footage filmed inside Buckingham Palace, including the Duke’s study, private office and library.

It was commissioned by Patrick Holland, BBC director of factual, arts and classical music, and Claire Sillery, head of commissioning, documentaries. The BBC commissioning editor is Simon Young.

The writer and co-producer is Robert Hardman and the executive producer is Nicolas Kent.

Violence — or, rather, the threat of violence — haunts every frame of João Paulo Miranda Maria’s debut feature film, “Memory House.” Set in an Austrian settlement in Southern Brazil, this discomfiting drama tells the story of a man so alienated by the world around him that the stench of death at work and the menacing environment outside it have hollowed him out. That is until his titular dwelling kicks off a transformation that turns Miranda Maria’s character study into a folk-infused fable for a country in crisis.

Cristovam spends his days listlessly working at a dairy factory. Displaced by the very company that now employs him, he’s resettled from the North and finds little in common with either his German-speaking employers or his fellow workers. At 81 years old, Pitanga is a towering presence on screen, bringing with him not just a wealth of cultural signifiers but his laconic...

The Dakota Johnson indie “Cha Cha Real Smooth” has added seven stars to its supporting cast, as production kicks off Thursday in Pittsburgh.

Leslie Mann, Brad Garrett, Raúl Castillo, Odeya Rush, Vanessa Burghardt, Evan Assante and Colton Osorio have all joined the film project from writer-director-star Cooper Raiff.

“Cha Cha Real Smooth” follows a directionless college grad embarking on a relationship with a young mom and her teenage daughter, all while learning the boundaries of his new gig as a bar mitzvah hype man. Erik Feig’s Picturestart, Endeavor Content, and Johnson and Ro Donnelly’s TeaTime Pictures are producing. Financing is from Picturestart and Endeavor Content, and the latter is co-repping worldwide distribution rights with ICM Partners.

The feature comes on the heels of Raiff’s debut “Shithouse,” which won the 2020 SXSW Grand Jury Prize.

“We are thrilled to begin production on this heartwarming, heartbreaking, heart-pumping and unique film of Cooper Raiff’s,...

As production starts on Sebastian Lelio’s ‘The Wonder’, Netflix has released a first look image of Florence Pugh in the feature.

Coming from ‘Disobedience’ and ‘Gloria Bell’ filmmaker Leilo, the psychological thriller is set in the Irish Midlands, 1862 – a young girl stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year-old Anna O’Donnell. Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months. Is the village harbouring a saint ‘surviving on manna from heaven’ or are there more ominous motives at work?

Co-written by Emma Donoghue, Tom Burke, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy and Kíla Lord Cassidy join Florence Pugh in the adaptation alongside Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, Dermot Crowley, Brían F. O’Byrne and David Wilmot.

Also in news – Idris Elba to voice Knuckles in Sonic sequel

Filming is currently taking...

Chile is starting its own big restart. Few national industries will have a larger online presence at this year’s Cannes Film Market. Big name news has broken in early market plays as well.

After features with Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams (“Disobedience”) and Julianne Moore (“Gloria Bell”), Academy Award winner Sebastián Lelio, (“A Fantastic Woman”) will associate produce “El Porvenir de la Mirada,” a doc feature that captures the trauma of some of the 460 protesters shot in the eyes by Chilean police during massive demonstrations that erupted in October 2019.

Set up at Storyboard Media, “Porvenir” is directed by distinguished Chilean doc filmmaker Cristián Leighton.

Even while gearing up to direct Joaquin Phoenix in A24’s “Disappointment Blvd.,” Ari Aster has signed on to executive produce Chilean stop-motion short “The Bones,” directed by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña (“The Wolf House”) with a soundtrack composed by acclaimed U.S. violinist Tim Fain,...

“The Marsh King’s Daughter” has rounded out its cast with Brooklynn Prince, Gil Birmingham, and Caren Pistorius joining the ensemble of the psychological thriller. They will appear alongside the previously announced Daisy Ridley and Ben Mendelsohn in the big-screen adaptation of Karen Dionne’s best-selling novel of the same name. Neil Burger, the director of “Limitless” and “The Illusionist,” will slide behind the camera on this one.

STXfilms, Black Bear Pictures and Anonymous Content have joined forces on the film, which started production in Canada this week.

Here’s the official logline: “‘The Marsh King’s Daughter’ follows Helena (Ridley), a woman living a seemingly ordinary life with her husband and young daughter, but hiding a dark secret within: that her father is the infamous ‘Marsh King,’ the man who kept Helena and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. Helena is forced to face her demons when her father escapes from prison unexpectedly.

Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio‘s been on quite the tear in the last few years. Between 2017 and 2019, the filmmaker released three films, “A Fantastic Woman” (2017)— which would go on to win the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards—“Disobedience” (2018) and “Gloria Bell” (2019). Perhaps the filmmaker was making up for lost time given that his 2013 film “Gloria” won major acclaim in Berlin that year, and it took a little bit to manifest all the offers that came pouring in from American companies and interest from A-list talent who wanted to work with him.

Continue reading Florence Pugh To Star in Sebastián Lelio’s ‘The Wonder’ at The Playlist.

Florence Pugh is set to star in “The Wonder,” a big-screen adaptation of the suspenseful novel by Emma Donoghue.

Set in the late 1850s, the story follows an English nurse who goes to a tiny village in Ireland to observe what some view as a medical anomaly and others consider a miracle: a young girl who has survived without food for months. As tourists flock to the cabin of the 11-year-old to witness the bizarre occurrence, a journalist is sent to cover the sensation.

Sebastián Lelio is directing “The Wonder.” His previous credits include “Gloria,” and the English-language remake “Gloria Bell” starring Julianne Moore, as well as “A Fantastic Woman.”

Alice Birch, who has written for TV shows such as “Normal People” and “Succession,” is penning the screenplay, with Ed Guiney and Tessa Ross serving as producers.

Donoghue is best known for writing the book “Room,” which inspired the 2015 film...

Exclusive: Jeanne Tripplehorn is set as a lead opposite Chris Pratt, Constance Wu and Taylor Kitsch in Amazon’s conspiracy-thriller series The Terminal List, based on Jack Carr’s bestselling novel.

Pratt also executive produces the series along with Antoine Fuqua, who directs, and writer David Digilio. The Terminal List is a co-production from Amazon Studios and Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television.

Written by Digilio, The Terminal List follows James Reece (Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. However, as new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life but the lives of those he loves.

Tripplehorn, who I hear has a one-year deal, will play Lorraine Hartley, the first female Secretary of Defense.

As foreign Oscar submissions start to roll out, France is sending Filippo Meneghetti’s feature debut “Two of Us” to the 93rd Academy Awards. This tale of a decades-long, secret lesbian romance will be distributed stateside on February 5 by Magnolia Pictures, which scooped it out of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. Check out the exclusive to IndieWire trailer below.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Two retired women, Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), have been secretly in love for decades. Everybody, including Madeleine’s family, thinks they are simply neighbors sharing the top floor of their building. They come and go between their two apartments, enjoying the affection and pleasures of daily life together, until an unforeseen event turns their relationship upside down and leads Madeleine’s daughter to gradually unravel the truth about them.”

This story of a pair of lovers in their 70s was inspired by Meneghetti...

Oscar-winning filmmaker Sebastián Lelio has set up his next project at A24, “Bride,” a genre-bending film set to star Scarlett Johansson. Lelio, whose “A Fantastic Woman” at Sony Pictures Classics won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018, previously teamed with A24 on “Gloria Bell.” “Bride” is also the latest collaboration between A24 and Apple, who together are this year releasing Sofia Coppola’s “On the Rocks” in theaters and via streaming on Apple TV+.

Johansson will also produce “Bride,” which is co-written by Lelio with Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. The film centers around a woman designed by an obsessive and brilliant entrepreneur to be the ideal wife. But things go awry when she rejects her maker, and she’s forced to flee her confined existence and into a world that sees her as a monstrous other. Along the way and on the run, she discovers her true identity,...

Scarlett Johansson will star in “Bride,” the next film from the Chilean director of “Gloria Bell” Sebastián Lelio, that will be set up at A24 as part of the studio’s partnership with Apple Original Films.

“Bride” is described as a genre-bending story that stars Johansson as a woman who is created and designed by a brilliant entrepreneur to be the ideal wife. But when she rejects her creator and is forced to flee her confined existence, she’s confronted with a world that sees her as a monster. While on the run, she discovers her true identity, some surprising power and the strength to remake herself as her own creation.

Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, both writers on “Orange Is the New Black” and the upcoming “Wolfman” movie, will write the screenplay with Lelio, who will direct. A24 will serve as the studio.

Johansson will also produce “Bride...

Chilean filmmakers have quietly become a force in international cinema. From Sebastián Lelio’s “Gloria” and its subsequent remake “Gloria Bell” to Dominga Sotomayor Castillo’s groundbreaking “Too Late to Die Young,” the country’s best are reaching success far from home. Now, it’s time for Gaspar Antillo to achieve that same level of notoriety thanks to the film “Nobody Knows I’m Here.”

Read More: ‘Palm Springs’ Trailer: Andy Samberg Stars In Sundance Standout Coming To Hulu

Having previously studied film at the National School of Cinema, director Antillo sets up an interesting first act of his own in this impressive freshman effort.

Continue reading ‘Nobody Knows I’m Here’ Trailer: Jorge Garcia Stars In Gaspar Antillo’s Tribeca Drama at The Playlist.

Chilean producers to track, who will be forming part of the Berlinale’s 2020 Country in Focus dedicated to Chile. Five are well-known, another five on the rise :

Up-and-coming

María José Díaz

Dos Be Producciones

An executive producer and investigative journalist for TV series and doc-features, Diaz is an executive producer at Dos Be Prods. and founder of Galgo Storytelling, a transmedia content producer. Projects in development: Doc “Haganse la Luz,” Ignacia Merino and Isabel Reyes’ debuts, and docu series “Nepen” about Chile’s indigenous Mapuches.

Yeniffer Fasciani

Niebla Producciones

A 2015 Berlinale Talents participant, Fasciani is a partner/co-founder of Niebla Prods. In 2016 she produced TV series “Martin, Man and Legend” for La Santé Films and was executive director of Dci, a Chilean film distributor. Upcoming projects: Carola Quezada’s “Perros sin Cola,” Chilean-Japanese co-production “Green Grass” by Ignacio Ruiz, and pregnant boxer drama “A La Deriva.”

Cynthia García

Cyan Prods

Founder of Cyan Prods.

New films from Pepa San Martín and Golden Bear winner Adina Pintilie among the line up.

The films selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 22-26) have been revealed and top 50% by female directors in the official project selection for the first time.

Scroll down for full list of titles

A total of 36 features from 34 countries will be showcased by producers seeking co-production partners through one-to-one meetings with distributors, financiers and sales agents.

For the official project selection, 21 projects with budgets ranging from €750,000 to €5m were selected from more than 300 submissions. With 11 projects by female directors, the proportion here has exceeded 50% for the first time.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that 344 feature films are eligible for the 2019 Academy Awards.

To be eligible for the consideration, the films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by Dec. 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days. Academy rules also state that a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. The ceremony takes place on Sunday, Feb. 9, airing live from Hollywood on ABC.

“Abominable”

“Ad Astra”

“Adam”

“The Addams Family”

“The Aeronauts”

“After the Wedding”

“The Aftermath”

“Aga”

“Aladdin”

“Alita: Battle Angel”

“Always Be My Maybe”

“The Amazing Johnathan”

“American Factory”

“American Woman”

“Angel Has Fallen”

“The Angry Birds Movie 2”

“Anna”

“Annabelle Comes Home...

Rita Wilson is everyone’s best friend, one of those performers who appears as beloved in real life as on the screen. As Meg Ryan’s character says in “Sleepless in Seattle” after mistaking Wilson’s character for a romantic rival, “She looked like somebody we would’ve been friends with.” Of course, acting is only one facet of her personality; she’s also a heralded singer and award-winning producer. But to so many people, she’s instantly identifiable as a welcome presence on screens.

“I’ve played the wonderful, warm, kind, understanding sisters, aunts, mothers, daughters, friends, and I have loved it,” Wilson says of her roles in hits including “Now and Then” and “It’s Complicated”; she is on screens now in “Gloria Bell” as Julianne Moore’s bestie. But she has also enjoyed going against type in recent roles. “Playing a narcissistic mother on ‘Girls’ was so liberating.

Jordan Peele's Us dominated this weekend's box office with a record breaking $70.3 million domestic opening. The debut was enough to earn the Get Out follow up the third highest grossing debut for a horror movie in history. Only Steven Muschietti's big screen adaptation of Stephen King's It ($123.4 million) and last year's Halloween sequel ($76.2 million) are ahead of Us. Peele's latest project has been a hit with fans and critics and many recommend seeing the movie twice to fully digest everything that is going on in it.

As for the number two spot this weekend, that goes to Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel, which was able to bring in an additional $35 million. In the three weeks that the Carol Danvers standalone movie has been in theaters, it has earned over $910 million globally and is inching towards the $1 billion club, which it will inevitably do. It's just a matter of time now.

Julianne Moore as Gloria in Sebastian Lelio’s Gloria Bell. Courtesy of A24 Films.

Julianne Moore stars in Gloria Bell, Oscar-winning Chilean writer/director Sebastian Lelio’s English-language remake of his romance/comedy/drama about a free-spirited middle-aged woman, Gloria. Lelio’s 2017 A Fantastic Woman, about a transgender woman, won an Oscar and Lelio followed that up with Disobedience, starring Rachel Weisz as a gay woman in an ultra-conservative Jewish community. Lelio also won praise and some international attention for his 2013 film Gloria, which focused on another kind of character rarely put at the center of movie plots, a middle-aged woman.

Julianne Moore shines gloriously in Gloria Bell, as the irrepressible Gloria, a long-divorced kind-hearted woman who loves to dance who is ever hopeful about finding love. While Moore is wonderful, the film itself is not as charming or involving as the original. Rather than feeling like Gloria is starting...

For the past couple of weeks, it's been Captain Marvel's time to shine at the box office. In its second frame, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe pulled in a very impressive $67.9 million last weekend. While the comic book adaptation will do quite well in its third weekend, it will be Jordan Peele's Us that takes home the box office crown as the highly-anticipated horror movie looks to have a huge debut.

Us has been earning rave reviews (for the most part) ever since its debut at SXSW. Up until very recently, it was sitting at a perfect 100 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This serves as Jordan Peele's sophomore directorial effort and his follow-up to the acclaimed, Oscar-winning Get Out. As such, expectation and anticipation is very high. That will drive it to an opening weekend box office between $38 and $45 million. Though, some analysts believe...

While “Captain Marvel” accounted for 75 percent of this weekend’s box office business, another woman was leading the way at the indie box office: Julianne Moore.

This weekend, A24 released Sebastian Lelio’s new romance film “Gloria Bell,” which stars Julianne Moore as a recent divorcee who flings herself into a new romance while enjoying Los Angeles’ nightlife. This is Lelio’s follow-up to his Best Foreign Language Oscar-winning film “A Fantastic Woman” and is a remake of his 2013 film “Gloria.” It has a 98 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Released on five screens this weekend, “Gloria Bell” had a strong launch of $154,775 and a per screen average of $30,955. It’s the highest PSA of the weekend for limited releases, and the second-highest overall behind the $35,499 average for “Captain Marvel.”

Also Read: 'Captain Marvel' Sends Box Office Soaring With $153 Million Opening

Elsewhere, Neon/CNN Films’ “Apollo 11” expanded to...

It’s well known that “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” was originally set to star Julianne Moore as Lee Israel before she left the project in 2015 and was later replaced by Melissa McCarthy. Well, according to Moore, she didn’t leave on her own accord.

“I didn’t leave that movie. I was fired,” Moore revealed Thursday on “Watch What Happens Live” while promoting her new film “Gloria Bell” (watch above). “Nicole [Holofcener] fired me. So, you know, that’s the truth.”

Holofcener, who shared a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination with Jeff Whitty for the film, was initially slated to direct. At the time of Moore’s departure in July 2015, her exit, which occurred a week before production was scheduled to start, was chalked up to the usual “creative differences.”

“I think she didn’t like what I was doing,” Moore continued. “We had just been rehearsing and doing pre-production and stuff,...

Julianne Moore plays a 50-something divorcée in her new film “Gloria Bell,” but she’s dancing and having the time of her life in this free-spirited romcom about middle age.

“Gloria Bell” is directed by Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”), remaking his own 2013 film “Gloria.” Though he told TheWrap’s Steve Pond ahead of the film’s premiere at Toronto earlier this year that it’s best to forget the original and appreciate this one on its own terms.

“When the world blows up, I hope I go down dancing,” Moore’s Gloria says in the trailer with a smile.

Also Read: A24 Bumps Andrew Garfield's 'Under the Silver Lake' to April 2019

It’s a spirited, lively, colorful trailer that also includes Moore firing a paintball gun and even getting her body hair waxed. And while the plot is much the same as in the Chilean film,...

Releasing a movie the old-fashioned way, in brick-and-mortar theaters, is an expensive and risky proposition, especially at the height of the fall rush, when premium bookings are hard to find. That’s why every year distributors take their weaker ducklings and push them back in order to find an easier, less costly landing, with room to breathe.

Thus, under new studio chief Jennifer Salke, Amazon Studios has not only indefinitely scuttled the release of tainted four-time Oscar-winner Woody Allen’s “A Rainy Day in New York,” starring Timothée Chalamet (greenlit by ousted Roy Price), but also is now moving Mike Leigh’s talky period battle recreation “Peterloo.” The push from November 9 to April 5 follows mixed critical reactions from Venice, Telluride and Toronto.

The only reason to leave “Peterloo” in the fall frame was to grab an Oscar nomination or two. After all, the lauded British auteur has earned five screenplay...

Releasing a movie the old-fashioned way, in brick-and-mortar theaters, is an expensive and risky proposition, especially at the height of the fall rush, when premium bookings are hard to find. That’s why every year distributors take their weaker ducklings and push them back in order to find an easier, less costly landing, with room to breathe.

Thus, under new studio chief Jennifer Salke, Amazon Studios has not only indefinitely scuttled the release of tainted four-time Oscar-winner Woody Allen’s “A Rainy Day in New York,” starring Timothée Chalamet (greenlit by ousted Roy Price), but also is now moving Mike Leigh’s talky period battle recreation “Peterloo.” The push from November 9 to April 5 follows mixed critical reactions from Venice, Telluride and Toronto.

The only reason to leave “Peterloo” in the fall frame was to grab an Oscar nomination or two. After all, the lauded British auteur has earned five screenplay...

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper got a standing ovation, Alfonso Cuaron brought audiences to tears, and Michael Moore revved up the crowds at the Toronto International Film Festival with a broadside against Donald Trump. It was, by any measure, a week and a half of high drama. Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” and Cuaron’s “Roma” solidified their positions as Oscar frontrunners, and Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9” made it clear it wouldn’t be getting a White House screening, at least not during this administration.

But Toronto is more than just a film festival. Hollywood studios cross the border hoping to find films to buy. In that regard, it wasn’t much of a market. The festival is nearly over, but dozens of films still need to find distributors. Moreover, the all-night bidding wars that once injected energy into the easy-going Canadian gathering never really materialized.

“It was a lot slower than last year,...

Mark Wahlberg isn’t the only “Boogie Nights” star saddened by the death of Burt Reynolds. Julianne Moore, who also acted alongside the actor in his Oscar-nominated role, tells Variety, “I loved Burt. I loved him” in a new Variety interview occasioned by the Tiff premiere of her new film “Gloria Bell.”

“Not only did I work with him in ‘Boogie Nights’ but he had a TV show in the ‘80s called ‘B.L. Stryker.’ I got a job on it and it was shot in Jupiter, Florida and I came down and shot for two weeks. He was so gracious and so lovely,” the actress says.

Reynolds died on Thursday at age 82. In addition to “Boogie Nights,” he was best known for such films as “Deliverance” and “The Longest Yard.”

“All those years later when we worked on ‘Boogie Nights,’ I went and knocked on his door was like, ‘Hey,...

A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to Julianne Moore’s “Gloria Bell,” the distributor announced Monday.

Sebastian Lelio’s newest film also stars John Turturro, Brad Garrett, Rita Wilson, and Michael Cera. Written and directed by Lelio, “Gloria Bell” is a remake of his 2013 breakout Chilean feature of the same name.

Lelio also directed 2017’s Oscar-winning “A Fantastic Woman” as well as 2018’s “Disobedience” starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams.

Also Read: Julia Roberts TV Series 'Homecoming' to World Premiere at Toronto Film Festival

A24 is planning a spring 2019 release for “Gloria Bell” following its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film follows Gloria (Moore) who is a free-spirited divorcee who spends her days at her office job and her nights on the dance floor. When she meets Arnold (Turturro), she finds herself in the midst of an unexpected romance.

“Lelio has made a completely heartwarming and winning new film,...

A24 has acquired U.S. rights to “Gloria Bell” from FilmNation Entertainment and is planning a spring 2019 release, Variety has learned.

The deal comes in advance of the film’s world premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival. It had been expected to be one of the hotter titles available at the Canadian film gathering.

The film stars Julianne Moore and John Turturro. It is an English-language remake of Chilean director Sebastián Lelio’s 2013 breakout feature film “Gloria.” The plot centers on a free-spirited divorcée (Moore) who spends her days at a straight-laced office job and her nights on the dance floors of various Los Angeles clubs. After meeting Arnold (Turturro) on a night out, she finds herself thrust into an unexpected new romance.

A24 has built a reputation for backing edgy, auteur-driven fare. The indie studio nabbed the Oscar for best picture for 2016’s “Moonlight,” and has...

Pablo Larraín is back. Two years after his Jacqueline Kennedy biopic “Jackie” scored an Oscar nomination for Natalie Portman while his “Neruda” was the Chilean submission for best foreign language film, Larraín is getting behind the camera again for a secret project that came together just a few weeks ago.

With his next American project, “The True American,” pushed into 2019, Larraín has begun production on “Ema,” an original story co-written by “Neruda” screenwriter Guillermo Calderon and New York-based playwright Alejandro Moreno. The movie stars Gael García Bernal, who previously worked with Larraín on “No” and “Neruda,” opposite newcomer Mariana Di Girolamo. Seeing an opening in his schedule, Larraín and his co-writers conceived of the project earlier this summer and plan to continue writing it throughout the six-week shoot, which commences Monday at the Chilean seaport of Valparaíso.

Read More: Why Pablo Larraín’s Films Deserve Your Attention

In “Ema,” Bernal...

Returning veterans take the lead: Brad Bird could land his fifth Oscar nomination for Disney/Pixar smash sequel “Incredibles 2.” His scripts for “Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” both scored Original Screenplay nominations and the films took home Oscars for Best Animated Feature. And “In the Loop” and “Veep” creator Armando Iannucci could earn a second nomination for turning satiric comic book “The Death of Stalin” (IFC Films) into a BAFTA-nominated indie hit.

Spike Lee is another possibility. “Do the Right Thing” scored an Original Screenplay Oscar nomination, and in 2016 he won an honorary Oscar, and now has strong reviews as well as the Cannes Grand Jury Prize for “BlacKkKlansman”. Produced by Jordan Peele and Jason Blum, the outrageous and provocative true tale starring John David Washington and Adam Driver as Colorado undercover cops who join the Kkk could score some Oscar nods.

Debra Granik played both Sundance and Cannes with Directors...