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Alex Pettyfer leads the cast of erotic thriller “Blurred,” which Cloud9 is introducing to buyers at the European Film Market. The cast also includes Oscar-nominee Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”), who is joined by Maria Pedraza (“Money Heist”) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Variety can share an exclusive first look of the film, above.

Ben Cookson (“Waiting for Anya”) wrote and directed “Blurred,” which is set in the fashion world of New York City. Pic wrapped last summer in the U.K. Pia Patatian’s Cloud9 Studios (formerly Concord Studios) is handling international rights and will be showing footage to buyers at a private presentation at the European Film Market.

“Blurred” is produced by Pettyfer and James Ireland for Dark Dreams Entertainment and Yariv Lerner for Film Forage, and executive produced by Patatian for Cloud9 Studios.

“’Blurred’ is a smart and sexy thriller with a brilliant cast led by Alex Pettyfer who is joined by Guy Pearce,...

Filming wrapped on an erotic thriller called Blurred way back in the summer of 2024, but we’re just now hearing about it. While the movie has been moving under the radar up to this point, The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that the film’s cast includes Maria Pedraza (Netflix’s Money Heist), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Suicide Squad), Alex Pettyfer (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare), and Guy Pearce, who has received an Oscar nomination for his role in The Brutalist.

The names of the cast members and the fact that the film has been written and directed by Ben Cookson (Waiting for Anya) is almost everything we know about Blurred at the moment, as the plot and character details are being kept tightly under wraps. The Hollywood Reporter was able to learn that the story is set in New York’s fashion world. Cloud9 Studios, which is handling the international...

Fresh off his first-ever Oscar nomination for The Brutalist, Guy Pearce has already wrapped his next feature: Blurred, an erotic thriller set in New York’s fashion world.

Pearce and Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) co-star in the feature, written and directed by Ben Cookson (Waiting for Anya) alongside Maria Pedraza (Netflix’s Money Heist), and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Suicide Squad, HBO’s His Dark Materials).

Produced by Pettyfer and James Ireland for Dark Dreams Entertainment and Yariv Lerner (Hellboy, Rambo: Last Blood) for Film Forage, Blurred wrapped production last summer in the U.K.

Cloud9 Studios is handling international sales and will be pitching the project to buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market next week.

Details on the project are scarce, with Cloud9 only describing it as a “smart and sexy thriller” set against “the hustle and flow of New York’s fashion world.” Cloud...

Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike), Guy Pearce (The Brutalist), Maria Pedraza (Money Heist), and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Suicide Squad) have signed on to star in the erotic thriller Blurred.

The film is written and directed by Ben Cookson (Waiting for Anya). Producers are Pettyfer and James Ireland for Dark Dreams Entertainment and Yariv Lerner (Lionsgate’s Hellboy and Rambo: Last Blood) for Film Forage. The executive producer is Pia Patatian for Cloud9 Studios, who will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming EFM.

Production on the pic was completed last summer in the UK. The film is described as an erotic thriller set in New York’s fashion world.

“Blurred is a smart and sexy thriller with a brilliant cast led by Alex Pettyfer who is joined by Guy Pearce,” Patatian said. “Set against the hustle and flow of New York’s fashion world, it’s a beautiful, raw, and intense...

Exclusive: Amp International has taken world sales rights on the sci-fi film Touchdown from Bandit Country.

The film follows the story of five friends stranded across the world when meteor storms bring a new life form to Earth. As global authorities implement emergency controls and move in secret to eliminate the predator, the friends risk everything to survive as they come face to face with the monster.

The film stars Clinton Liberty (House Of The Dragon), Cressida Bonas (White House Farm), Will Attenborough (Dunkirk), Kai Luke Brummer (Moffie), Lily Frazer (Saint Maud) and Jason Flemyng (Boiling Point).

Produced by Josephine Rose of Bandit Country, Touchdown also marks her first feature as director. The film was shot remotely during lockdown in seven different countries, capturing ground and aerial footage in the UK, U.S., South Africa, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, and Australia. Rose has previously been Executive Producer on projects like Cinderella,...

Egyptian-Austrian director Abu Bakr Shawky, who in 2018 made a splash when his first feature “Yomeddine” had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes, is back on the festival circuit with Saudi-set adventure movie “Hajjan.”

Shawky’s big-budget epic follow-up, which launched from Toronto’s Discovery section, is now premiering regionally at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, where it screened Monday to roaring applause as an out-of-competition gala.

Somewhat similarly to “Yomeddine” – which involved the desert voyage of a leper, a donkey and a child – “Hajjan” also involves a journey across the desert. This time, it’s embarked upon by a young orphan boy and his beloved camel. The beautifully shot film — produced by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, known as Ithra, and Egypt’s Mohamed Hefzy via his Film Clinic shingle — was made mostly in the sprawling area situated along Saudi...

Image Source: YouTube user Vertical

"The Tutor" shows Noah Schnapp as you've never seen him before. In the new movie's trailer, which dropped on March 1, the "Stranger Things" star plays a billionaire's son named Jackson, and he needs a tutor. Garrett Hedlund's character, Ethan, takes the job, where he'll get paid $2,500 a day to help Jackson. However, the wealthy family's many secrets - why are they so rich? - and strange interactions give Ethan an eerie feeling.

Soon, he thinks Jackson is "obsessed" with him. Then Jackson accuses Ethan of assaulting him and leaving deep bruises. But Ethan is sure that Jackson did it to himself and is just screwing with the tutor and his family for some sick reason.

"The Tutor" marks Schnapp's first film appearance since 2020, when he acted in "Hubie Halloween" and "Waiting For Anya." Right now, the actor is gearing up to film the fifth...

Exclusive: Biotech entrepreneur Jonathan Lim’s recently launched production and financing entity City Hill Arts has unveiled the first still from The Penguin & The Fisherman — one of its first feature projects, starring 3x César Award nominee Jean Reno (Léon: The Professional), which has now wrapped production.

The film currently in post in Madrid is based on an incredible true story which went viral in 2016 — that of the lost and injured penguin, Din Dim, who finds love and family in another lost and wounded soul, João (Reno).

Related Story ‘Coup!’: Peter Sarsgaard Satire Wraps Production, Film Constellation Shares First Look — EFM Related Story Biotech Entrepreneur Jonathan Lim Launches City Hill Arts; Unveils Slate Of Projects With Stampede Ventures & More Related Story Jean Reno Joins 'Stranger Things' Star Noah Schnapp And Anjelica Huston In 'Waiting For Anya'

João is a Brazilian fisherman, guilt-ridden from a horrible tragedy which occurred as a young man,...

UK financier Goldfinch has shuttered three of its subsidiary companies.

According to documents on Companies House, Bird Box Distribution Ltd entered a creditors liquidation and Seis vehicle Bird Box Film Development is being dissolved this week. Streaming platform Birdbox.film, a short-lived VOD service, has also gone out of business.

Phil McKenzie, COO Goldfinch, told us: “Goldfinch continues to actively invest in the future of the UK and global independent film industry and operates across a number of lines of business. However, as with most businesses, some ventures are simply more successful than others. Birdbox Distribution Ltd and birdbox.film were only start-up ventures within the Goldfinch group and as with many such enterprises they unfortunately, and after a tough couple of years, became no longer viable and ceased to trade.”

According to Companies House, Bird Box Distribution (Bbd) amassed debts of £363,227. A large part of this debt was a loan owed to a young,...

Exclusive: Dark Dreams Entertainment, the production company owned by Magic Mike and I Am Number Four star Alex Pettyfer, has received backing from an angel investor and has set a three-picture deal with UK, LA and Buenos Aires-based production firm Infinity Hill.

Dark Dreams, which Pettyfer steers with his manager-producer James Ireland, has had “substantial” backing from Magnus Rausing, heir to the multi-billion euro Tetra Laval fortune. Rausing has acquired a stake in Dark Dreams and will take a place on the company’s board as an executive. We understand the Swedish heir has quietly supported films in the past but this is his first investment to be made public.

The three-picture pact with Infinity Hill covers projects Blurred, a Paris-set thriller from writer-director Ben Cookson (Waiting For Anya), which is set to star Pettyfer; an adaptation of the Craig Clevenger novel The Contortionist’s Handbook; and The Weekend, a...

Exclusive: The Queen’s Gambit co-creator Allan Scott has set his next project, the crossover drama from Millionaire Matchmaker star Patti Stanger and Kissing Booth producer Andrew Cole-Bulgin.

The as-yet-untitled scripted project, which isn’t attached to a network yet, will follow a young dating expert from a Jewish family of matchmakers navigating her way through 1970s New York City and New Jersey, as she seeks to turn her family trade into an empire.

Along with Sam Barlow project Minsky, the series represents one of the first major shows for Scott since he wrapped on Netflix smash The Queen’s Gambit, which he co-created with Scott Frank.

The Anya Taylor-Joy-starring hit took Scott and Frank 30 years to get commissioned but was one of the streamer’s most-watched of 2020, a successful gamble taken by Netflix’s UK-based scripted boss Anne Mensah.

Scott, who was BAFTA nominated for 1997’s Regeneration and is a former whisky executive,...

BAFTA-winner Andy Serkis “(War for the Planet of the Apes”) and actors Sadie Frost (“Waiting for Anya”) and Michelle Dockery (“Downton Abbey”) are among the luminaries serving on the jury shortlisting the BAFTA Ee Rising Star Award.

The jury, led by BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar, also includes casting directors Lucy Bevan (“Belfast”) and Leo Davis (“A Very English Scandal”), producer Uzma Hasan (“FirstBorn”), talent agent Ikki El-Amriti of the Identity Agency Group) and film, entertainment, and arts journalists.

The jury meeting took place on Wednesday at BAFTA’s headquarters 195 Piccadilly that has just experienced a major redevelopment.

The Rising Star Award shortlist will be announced on Feb. 1, 2022 and the rest of the BAFTA nominations will be unveiled on Feb. 3. The winners will be revealed at the BAFTA awards ceremony on March 13, 2022.

The award is the only category to be voted for by the British public. Previous winners include James McAvoy,...

Exclusive: Charlotte Hope (Game Of Thrones), Charlie Creed-Miles (Giri/Haji), Plan B/Ben Drew (Harry Brown) and Sadie Frost (Waiting For Anya) are among cast to join UK biopic The Chelsea Cowboy.

As we revealed, Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike), Poppy Delevingne (Riviera) and Filipina actress and singer Lovi Poe (Malaya) are leading cast.

The film will chart the rise and fall of underworld hard-man turned actor John Bindon, who despite a successful acting career and passionate romantic liaisons with members of high society, even royalty, was unable to leave his criminal past behind.

Also joining cast are Charley Palmer Rothwell (Dunkirk) as James Fox, Tamer Hassan (Layer Cake) as Salim, Warren Brown (Luther) as Priddle and Sadie Newman (Holmes & Watson) as Nina.

Hope will play Sandra, Creed Miles is Sir John Hodge, Ben Drew will be Roy Dennis and Frost plays Cissy Bindon.

Leon Butler (100 Streets) has scripted and produces,...

Exclusive: Filipina actress and singer Lovi Poe (Malaya) is joining Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) and Poppy Delevingne (Riviera) in director Ben Cookson’s The Chelsea Cowboy, based on the life of actor, gangster and lothario John Bindon.

In her biggest English-language movie role to date, Poe will play British blues singer Dana Gillespie who employed Bindon as security and also provided him with access to the high life, most notably the island of Mustique where he met Princess Margaret. The charismatic Gillespie was well known for her close personal ties to leading singers and actors. A recent biography notes that her lovers included David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Michael Caine, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon and Sean Connery.

The Chelsea Cowboy charts the rise and fall of underworld hard-man turned actor Bindon, who despite a successful acting career and passionate romantic liaisons with members of high society, was unable to leave his criminal past behind.

Exclusive: Poppy Delevingne (Riviera) is to co-star opposite Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) in biopic The Chelsea Cowboy, based on the life of actor, gangster and lothario John Bindon.

Suicide Squad and Hobbs & Shaw star Idris Elba has boarded the production as executive producer.

Delevingne will play the role of aristocrat, model, actress and original It girl Lady Victoria Hodge, who provided Bindon with access to the high life the working class boy craved. The glamorous couple endured a thirteen-year tumultuous relationship that defined Bindon’s life and serves as the backbone of the story.

UK outfit Moviehouse is repping world sales on the film at Cannes. Ben Cookson (Waiting for Anya) will direct.

Bindon was spotted in a London pub by Ken Loach who asked him to star in his film Poor Cow in 1967 and went on to play a violent mobster alongside Mick Jagger in Performance (1970) and a London...

In one of its biggest plays to date, Rainmaker Content, the London-based distributor founded last June by former Kew Media Distribution execs, has acquired international rights to “The Bone Season,” an eight-hour epic thriller series based on Samantha Shannon’s international bestsellers.

Designed as a series franchise – Shannon’s book series now runs to four novels with another three planned – “The Bone Season” is set up at London’s Little Hat Productions.

Well-known for her work as head of production at Bad Penny Prods., Little Hat founder Harriet Hammond will produce the adaptation. “The Bone Season” is executive produced by Hammond and Victor Glynn at Gcb Films.

A potentially high-end production – folding a Gothic fantasy world into a dystopian alternative London, which mixes Victorian and futuristic detail – “The Bone Season’s” cast and crew will begin to be announced in the coming weeks with agencies currently attaching talent, Rainmaker and...

Exclusive: Magic Mike and I Am Number Four star Alex Pettyfer is attached to star in The Chelsea Cowboy, based on the colorful life of Brit actor, tough guy and lothario, John Bindon.

The project will chart the rise and fall of underworld hard-man turned actor Bindon, who despite a successful acting career and passionate romantic liaisons with various socialites, was unable to leave his criminal past behind.

Ben Cookson (Waiting For Anya) is directing. World sales are being handled by Moviehouse Entertainment which is introducing the title to buyers at this week’s virtual European Film Market.

Bindon was frequently in trouble as a youth for getting into fights and spent time in borstal. He was spotted in a London pub by Ken Loach who asked him to star in his film Poor Cow in 1967 and went on to play a violent mobster alongside Mick Jagger in Performance (1970) and...

TollywoodAmong the promising releases from Aha include Tamannaah Bhatia’s ‘11th hour’.Tnm StaffPhoto Courtesy: Shreyas MediaTelugu Over-the-Top platform Aha has announced that it will be producing 52 original releases in 2021, which includes web series, movies, talk shows, and docudramas. Directors Sukumar, Harish Shankar, Surender Reddy, Vamshi Paidipally, Nandini Reddy, Praveen Sattaru, Dr Sailesh, Pawan Kumar, Venu Udugula, Sudheer Varma, Sagar Chandra, Ranga Yali, Vidya Sagar, Uday Gurrala, Pranav Pingle Reddy, Pallavi Gangireddy amongst others have been roped in to create this content, Aha said. According to Aha, its recent talk show Sam Jam hosted by star actor Samantha Akkineni, and releases such as CommitMental, MaaVinthaGaadhaVinuma, and Anaganaga O Athidhi have received a good response so far. Ramu Rao Jupally, promoter, Aha, said, “In a short span of time, Aha has grown to be recognised as a game-changer in the Telugu entertainment industry. Today, the Ott industry is one of the...

Exclusive: Principal photography is underway in the Algarve, Portugal, on writer-director Tim Lewiston’s (The Hot Potato) feature drama There’s Always Hope.

Colm Meaney (Hell On Wheels), Kate Ashfield (Shaun Of The Dead) and newcomer Hannah Chinn star in the feature about a successful author named Jonathan Stack (Meaney), who has been so obsessed with trying to pen his magnum opus that he’s let his marriage to Samantha (Ashfield), who is also his agent and editor, break down to the point where she announces she’s leaving him for her business partner.

Devastated, he abandons the elegant family home in leafy Stratford Upon Avon and drives his ancient Jaguar to the family villa in Portugal where their young daughter Hope (Chinn) and her her half-sister Amelia (Brenda Meaney) try to help sort things out.

Producers are Harriet Hammond, Victor Glynn (Staged) and Alan Latham (Waiting For Anya...

Exclusive: Production quietly began last month in London on pandemic-inspired feature Alone, which marks the directorial debut of Kirsty Bell, CEO of UK financier Goldfinch. The film is one of the first independent movies to get underway in the UK after lockdown.

Starring are Derek Jacobi (Gladiator), Jeff Fahey (Lost), Julie Dray (Avenue 5), Sophie Kennedy Clark (Nymphomaniac Vol 1) , Sadie Frost (Dracula), Morgana Robinson (The Windsors), Camilla Rutherford (Yesterday), Michael Winder (Set The Thames On Fire) and Frances Barber (The Split). Above is a first production still.

Conceived by Bell in the first week of lockdown and written in short order throughout confinement, the black and white film charts six interlinked narratives after the cast and crew of a film are sent home from set.

Set to complete mid-August, the production will shoot at Twickenham Studios and other parts of London this week and then a skeleton crew will travel...

Exclusive: Aneurin Barnard (Dunkirk) has been cast opposite Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) in thriller Hunters In The Dark, which Ddi is selling this week at the Cannes virtual market.

As previously announced, cast also includes Tzi Ma (Mulan), Ellen Wong (Glow) and Elodie Yung (Daredevil).

Veteran theater director Simon Evans is making his feature filmmaking debut on the film, which has revered cinematographer Christopher Doyle (In The Mood For Love) also aboard.

The film tells the story of 28-year-old English school teacher Robert Grieve (Pettyfer), who unexpectedly wins a bag full of cash. Adrift in Cambodia and eager for a way out of his life of quiet desperation, he decides to take a journey deeper into the wilder aspects of the country, coming up against a scheming American, a crooked police officer and a darker side of Cambodia.

Producers are Axel Kuschevatzky (The Secret In Their Eyes) and Phin Glynn...

Production scheduled for first quarter 2021.

Olga Kurylenko will star in the upcoming feature Run, the latest addition to 13 Films’ virtual Cannes market sales roster.

Steven C. Miller will direct the story about a woman who receives a curt message from her high-ranking CIA operative husband telling her to flee and must uncover his dark secrets in order to save her family.

Todd Garner and Sean Robins are producing through Broken Road Productions. Tannaz Anisi and Greg Schenz serve as executive producers through 13 Films, which is arranging financing and packaging the project.

Chris Roach and John W. Richardson, best known...

Writer-director of Academy Award winning “The Secret in Their Eyes,” starring Ricardo Darín, Argentina’s Juan José Campanella is teaming with Viacom International Studios to direct a new drama series, “Los Enviados.”

Unveiled Friday at a Vis press conference, held virtually, the faith-themed thriller marks the first fruit of a first-look deal unveiled last May between Vis and 100 Bares, the Buenos Aires-based production label of Campanella, whose credits include episodes of “House,” the first season of USA Network 2016 cable drama “Colony” and 2001 comedy feature film “Son of the Bride,” nominated for a best international film Oscar, which Campanella won in 2010 with “The Secret in Their Eyes.”

Directed by Campanella, “Los Enviados” tracks two priests on a mission to verify the whereabouts of an alleged healer who mysteriously disappears. The priests’ lives, as well as their faith, are pushed to the limit, however, when they discover the psychiatric community on...

Following Amazon Prime Video’s big hit with “Good Omens,” David Tennant and Michael Sheen will reteam to star in a brand new BBC lockdown comedy “Staged,” produced for BBC One by Infinity Hill and Gcb Films and due to air in June.

“Staged” turns on the cast of a play, described as the cream of British acting talent, who, furloughed when their upcoming West End production comes to a halt, attempt to keep rehearsals on track despite lockdown, BBC announced Friday.

The set up looks set to play with on-stage and off-stage fiction and true-life reality, with a dose of bathetic realism added by self-shooting and video conference technology as well as Tennant and Sheen’s portraying lockdown at the expense of their own dignity. The line-up also includes actor Georgia Tennant (“In the Dark”) and Anna Lundberg, Tennant and Sheen’s partners in real-life, as well as theater actress Lucy Eaton.

Exclusive: UK indie film and TV financier Goldfinch is launching a £500k loan fund for UK film and TV producers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Goldfinch, whose film and TV credits include Noah Schnapp war drama Waiting For Anya, Gary Oldman-Jessica Alba action pic Killers Anonymous, and ITV cookery show Ainsley’s Caribbean Kitchen, is offering short term loans, on an interest free basis, against any receivables due to the production company or its productions, subject to due diligence. These include, but are not limited to, Vat, tax credits claims and distribution/ broadcaster/streamer contracts.

Goldfinch says the loans will require a minimum upfront admin charge of £2k, and will increase on a sliding scale depending on size and complexity of the loan, to cover legal costs, along with the usual due diligence in order to release the funds, but no interest for the term of the loan will be charged.

Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...

Berlin — Teaming two of the most energetic players on the new Spanish-language content scene, El Estudio and Infinity Hill are teaming to produce “Amor es Amor,” Rob Schneider’s Spanish-language movie debut as both an actor and director.

A comedy, “Amor es Amor” turns on Enrique Juarez, an up-and-coming Mexican telenovela actor on the verge of breakthrough as a leading man, who has to hide his true self in order to achieve stardom.

That includes creating a fake relationship with former pop sensation, Sofia. The mastermind behind the whole scheme is Julian Rodin (Schneider), a big TV network honcho, who is secretly having an affair with Sofia.

“Amor es amor” marks the latest turn in a career which saw Schneider debut in 1990 as a writer and soon after cast member on “SNL,” then break out out in movies in “Deuce Bigalow – Male Gigolo” in which he created one of his most famed characters,...

Viacom International Studios (Vis) has signed an exclusive first look development deal with Infinity Hill. The companies will co-develop and co-produce a slate of Spanish-language features, filmed globally and utilizing international talent on both sides of the camera.

Infinity Hill is the new label from longtime Telefonica and Viacom exec Axel Kuschevatzky, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film executives, “Waiting for Anya” producer Phin Glynn and producer Cindy Teperman (“Animal”). With offices in London, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the label already has a multilingual slate of films in production, some of which were unveiled at November’s American Film Market.

The company’s first title, “The Doorman,” recently wrapped and stars Ruby Rose (“Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”) and is directed by Ryûhei Kitamura. A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by Ddi, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, is produced by Glynn,...

Micheal Winterbottom’s Greed stars Steve Coogan as a vulgar super-rich British retail tycoon based loosely on Philip Green.

Michael Winterbottom’s Greed starring Steve Coogan opens in UK cinemas this weekend though Sony, with the director looking to set a new high benchmark for his films.

Greed stars Steve Coogan as Sir Richard ‘Greedy’ McCreadie, a vulgar super-rich British retail tycoon based loosely on Philip Green.

David Mitchell, Isla Fisher, Shirley Henderson and Asa Butterfield round out the main cast; the late TV presenter Caroline Flack makes a brief cameo.

Winterbottom has directed an impressive 29 features for theatrical and television release since his first,...

From writer/director Ben Cookson and adapted from the novel by Michael Morpurgo (War Horse), the dramatic war thriller Waiting for Anya follows 13-year-old shepherd boy Jo Lalande (Noah Schnapp) during World War II. When Jo discovers that a reclusive widow (Anjelica Huston) is helping hide Jewish children from the Nazis before they can be smuggled into Spain, he makes it his own life mission, knowing that the penalty for discovery would be death. During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, French actor Jean Reno talked about what drew him to this story, why he likes …...

Written and directed by Ben Cookson, Waiting for Anya is a WWII set tale about Jo Lalande (Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp), a 13-year-old shepherd boy who discovers that a reclusive widow named Horcada (Anjelica Huston) is helping smuggle Jewish children into Spain. Cookson adapted his script from Michael Morpurgo’s (War Horse) novel of the same [...]

The post Director Ben Cookson And Noah Schnapp Face A Mountainous Challenge With ‘Waiting For Anya’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

We cast a pretty wide net for trailers here at /Film, but there are always a few that seem to evade us. But they can’t hide forever – it’s only a matter of time before they make their way into one of our trailer round-up posts. Continue on to check out the trailers for Once […]

The post Trailer Round-Up: ‘Hunter’s Moon’, ‘Hillary’, ‘Waiting For Anya’, ‘Once Were Brothers’, and More appeared first on /Film.

World War II can be a tough subject for audiences to digest, especially given the emotionally taxing nature of the stories being adapted. Some of these films, however – such as the recent and much-buzzed-about “Jojo Rabbit” – find a way to inject a little hope into the story. If our first look at the upcoming “Waiting for Anya” is any indication, Ben Cookson‘s film appears to be following suit.

Continue reading ‘Waiting For Anya’ Trailer: Wartime Hope Packs An Emotional Punch at The Playlist.

During one of humanity’s darkest times, kindness lighted the way, which is showcased in the newly unveiled official trailer for the upcoming war drama, ‘Waiting for Anya.’ Vertical Entertainment, which will distribute the film in theaters, as well as On Demand and Digital on Friday, February 7, released the trailer for the feature today. The […]

The post Noah Schnapp and Anjelica Huston Protect their Neighbors in Waiting for Anya Official Trailer appeared first on Shockya.com.

"There's always a price to be paid..." Vertical Ent. has unveiled the official Us trailer for a WWII survival thriller titled Waiting for Anya, the latest film from British writer-director Ben Cookson. Adapted from the novel by the author of "War Horse", Waiting for Anya follows Jo Lalande, a thirteen-year-old shepherd boy, and reclusive widow Horcada, who work together in their small village to help smuggle Jewish children into Spain during the harrows of WWII. They come up with a tricky plan to get all the children across the border from southern France into Spain to escape the Nazis. The indie film stars Noah Schnapp as Jo, as well as Jean Reno, Frederick Schmidt, Sadie Frost, Gilles Marini, Thomas Kretschmann, plus Anjelica Huston as Horcada. It seems like an inspiring story to tell, and hopefully they made a good film. Here's the first official Us trailer (+ poster) for Ben Cookson's Waiting for Anya,...

Buenos Aires — For much of this century, Argentina’s Axel Kuschevatzky led a double life.

On one hand, he served as a hugely hard-working movie producer for Telefe, then Telefonica Studios, then Viacom Intl. Media Networks, bringing their much-needed finance and promotion clout to some of the finest South American titles of the last decade: “The Secret in Their Eyes,” “Wild Tales,” “The Clan” and “Neruda.”

On the other, he was a glamorous Academy Awards presenter for TNT, a journalist, radio commentator, occasional screenwriter and even actor, channeling his huge passion and knowledge of film and beyond -Billy Wilder, jazz.

Now he’s cut loose. Kuschevatzky’s launch of independent film production company Infinity Hill, with producers Phin Glynn (“Waiting for Anya”) and Cindy Teperman (“Animal”), was the biggest news at least partially related to Latin America at November’s Afm.

Variety caught Kuschevatzky at Ventana Sur on fire,...

Buenos Aires — In one of the biggest deals clinched at this year’s Ventana Sur, Vicente Canales’ Film Factory Ent. has acquired international sales rights outside Latin America to “El Prófugo” (“The Intruder”).

Described by its makers as a“psycho-sexual fantastic thriller,” “The Intruder” stars two of Argentina’s most internationally-rated actors: Erica Rivas, extraordinary as the cheated-upon bride in “Wild Tales,” and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, who earned international fame and a French Academy Cesar for Cannes critical and sales hit “Bpm (Beats Per Minute).”

The powerful cast also takes in Berlin best actor winner Daniel Hendler (“The Lost Embrace”) and Almodovar regular Cecilia Roth (“Pain and Glory”),

Being brought onto the market at this week’s Ventana Sur in Buenos Aires, “The Intruder” is produced by Benjamín Domenech, Santiago Gallelli and Matías Roveda at Argentina’s Rei Cine, which has built via international co-production into one of the most important producers in Latin America.

Exclusive: Kaleidoscope Entertainment has acquired UK and Irish distribution rights (excluding ships and airlines) to Waiting for Anya, Ben Cookson’s World War II drama based on War Horse author Michael Morpurgo’s novel of the same name.

Stranger Things‘ Noah Schnapp, Oscar winner Anjelica Huston (The Addams Family), Jean Reno (Leon) and Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist) star in the feature about a 13 year-old shepherd (Schnapp), his grandfather (Reno) and a widow (Huston), who help smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain during World War II.

Kaleidoscope says it is planning a wide theatrical release in February 2020, followed by digital and home entertainment releases in the summer. Schnapp is set to attend the film’s London premiere.

The UK deal was brokered by Victor Glynn and Geoff Iles. As we revealed last month, Vertical Entertainment has boarded North American rights from sales firm 13 Films.

Screenplay...

Los Angeles — Longtime Telefonica and Viacom exec Axel Kuschevatzky, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film executives, is teaming with “Waiting for Anya” producer Phin Glynn and Cindy Teperman (“Animal”) to launch L.A, London and Buenos Aires-based Infinity Hill.

A development-production-financing entity, Infinity Hill has unveiled a first film slate, with some some of the titles on offer at the American Film Market.

First up is “The Doorman,” starring Ruby Rose (Warner Bros.’ “Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”). A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by Ddi, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, it is directed by Japan’s Ryûhei Kitamura. “The Doorman” is produced by Glynn, alongside Ddi’s Jason Moring, Immediate Film’s Michael Phillips and Smash Media’s Harry Winer.

Underscoring the film world’s new demands and consumer habits, first slate projects balance English-language projects – adaptations of...

‘Waiting for Anya’ co-producers launch TV company with novel option.

UK producers Harriet Hammond and Daz Spencer Lovesey have launched high-end TV drama company Lunar Park and have acquired the rights to Samantha Shannon’s young adult novel The Bone Season. They are developing it as an eight-part series.

Shannon is adapting her own book which was published in 2013. Set in a dystopian future England, the novels follow a 19-year-old clairvoyant whose job is to steal information by breaking into people’s minds.

Hammond and Spencer Lovesey also run film outfit Bad Penny Productions, which has credits including Waiting For Anya,...

Andy De Emmony (West Is West) directs the adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s novel.

Russell Brand family film Four Kids And It is attracting buyer interest at this year’s Afm for 13 Films.

Screen can reveal the first look image from the film, above.

Andy De Emmony (West Is West) directs the adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s novel, while Julie Baines and Anne Brogan produce. The shoot wrapped in Dublin recently.

Brand’s co-stars incluce Paula Patton, Michael Caine and Matthew Goode.

Simon Lewis has adapted Wilson’s novel for screen, with additional writing by Mark Oswin.

The story follows...

Exclusive: UK outfit Bad Penny Productions has optioned Brit writer Lawrence Osborne’s well-reviewed Cambodia-set thriller Hunters In The Dark.

Osborne and Ben Cookson (Waiting For Anya) will adapt the novel for screen. Producers on the feature will be Bad Penny’s Phin Glynn (Mad To Be Normal) and Daz Spencer Lovesey (Waiting for Anya).

The novel takes place in modern day Cambodia and sees an English teacher, Robert Grieve, win a satchel’s worth of money and decide to take a journey deeper into the wilder side of the country. Coming up against a scheming American, a crooked police officer and a darker side of Cambodia, Grieve follows his journey to a dramatic climax.

The film will be executive-produced by Norman Merry (The Nice Guys) and in association with post-production house Lipsync. Local production in Cambodia will be facilitated by Nicholas Simon (A Prayer Before Dawn) and IndoChina Productions.

Principal photography on the film began on July 16 in Ireland.

Russell Brand (Get Him To The Greek) and Paula Patton (Precious) have joined the cast of Four Kids And It, the adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s novel directed by Andy De Emmony (West Is West).

Brand and Patton join a cast that already includes Michael Caine (Youth) and Matthew Goode (The Crown). Principal photography on the film began on July 16 on location in Ireland.

Simon Lewis has adapted Wilson’s novel for screen, with additional writing by Mark Oswin.

The story follows four children who are horrified to learn that...

Gary Oldman, fresh from his Oscar win, and Jessica Alba, who stars in the forthcoming television series “L.A.’s Finest,” have joined the cast of thriller “Killers Anonymous,” producer Goldfinch Studios said Wednesday.

The cast also includes Tommy Flanagan, Sam Hazeldine (“Mechanic: Resurrection”), Rhyon Nicole Brown MyAnna Buring, Tim McInnerny (“Game of Thrones”), Michael Socha, Elizabeth Morris (“Let’s Be Evil”), Elliot James Langridge (“Northern Soul”) and Isabelle Allen (“Les Misérables”).

The film is shooting on location in London. Martin Owen (“Let’s Be Evil”) directs from a script co-written by Owen, Elizabeth Morris and Seth Johnson. Matt Williams is producing for Goldfinch alongside CEO Kirsty Bell. Executive producers are Doug Urbanski, Jonathan Willis and Phil McKenzie.

The film enters “a world that exists beneath ours, beneath the day-to-day, the restraint and the order,” according to a statement. “For every life there is a death, and for every person...

The Sundance Institute’s London event was celebrated at The May Fair hotel on May 31.

Sundance London, the Sundance Institute’s UK offshoot of their January festival, celebrated its 2018 edition opening night with a party at The May Fair hotel on May 31.

Guests in attendance included Sundance director John Cooper and new director of programming Kim Yutani and joint managing director at Picturehouse Cinemas Clare Binns.

Sundance London takes place at Picturehouse Central in London from May 31 to June 3.

Ryan Reynolds sequel easily tops Avengers: Infinity War in opening weekend.

RankFilm / DistributorWeekend Gross

(Fri-Sun)Running

TotalWeek 1 Deadpool 2 (Fox) £7.7m £12.9m 1 2 Avengers: Infinity War (Disney) £2.05m £64.05m 4 3 Sherlock Gnomes (Paramount) £709,101 £3.48m 2 4 I Feel Pretty (Stx) £407,773 £3.9M 3 5 Life Of The Party (Warner Bros) £226,704 £1.11m 2 20th Century Fox

Deadpool 2 easily topped the UK box office on its first full weekend, plundering a £7.7m Fri-Sun non-final total. The Ryan Reynolds-starring sequel opened on Tuesday and had already made £5.24m in previews, taking its cume to £12.9m.

This is slightly down on the original’s £13.72m opening, which opened one day later on a Wednesday.

Palme d’Or-winner Shoplifters finishes second.

Burning, Lee Chang-dong’s drama based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, has finished top of Screen’s Cannes 2018 jury grid with a record score of 3.8 out of 4.

Described by Screen’s review as ’quietly devastating…a film of wondrous complexity and inscrutability’, the film centres on a lost young man, the woman he falls for, and a stranger with unknown motivations. It received top marks from eight of the ten critics on the grid and 3 from the other two.

The 3.8 average is the highest score in the history of the Screen Cannes jury grid,...

Lee Chang-dong’s drama received top marks from eight of the ten critics.

Burning, Lee Chang-dong’s drama based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, has finished top of Screen’s Cannes 2018 jury grid with a record score of 3.8 out of 4.

Described by Screen’s review as ’quietly devastating…a film of wondrous complexity and inscrutability’, the film centres on a lost young man, the woman he falls for, and a stranger with unknown motivations. It received top marks from eight of the ten critics on the grid and 3 from the other two.

The 3.8 average is the highest score...

Animation feature “Bombay Rose” is the first film to flow from a new partnership between the U.K.’s Goldfinch Entertainment and India’s Cinestaan Film Co.

“Bombay Rose” is directed by Gitanjali Rao and is inspired by the romance of Bollywood. While there are multiple human stories, arguably the biggest star is the seedy underbelly of Mumbai.

The film was previously greenlit by Cinestaan and France’s Les Films d’Ici. Goldfinch is to invest in the production and provide the music through Goldfinch Music. Lilian Kibedi’s new production and finance company, Akoberwa Films, also joins the picture as another financing partner.

Cinestaan, which has bases in Mumbai, London and Los Angeles, bills itself as India’s largest independent producer. It has two production pipelines, one focusing on the Indian domestic and diaspora audiences, the other for international audiences. It is also in production on “The Torch,” a feature documentary co-produced with IFC,...

Goldfinch Studios has inked deals with U.K. indie producer Cowboy Cosmonaut Films and with British writer, director, and producer Tom Paton. Goldfinch has a cluster of operations spanning finance, production, facilities, post-production, and VFX, and will provide Cowboy Cosmonaut and Paton with development and production support.

Cowboy Cosmonaut is run by producers Ashley Holberry and Gavin C. Mehrtens, who were previously at Working Title Films. The initial slate of projects that Goldfinch will support includes Stephen Johnson’s “The Fire Within,” starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin (“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”), Sophie Kennedy Clark (“Philomena”) and James Cosmo (“Highlander”).

“Our partnership allows us to tell the sort of stories that we ourselves want to see on the screen – inspiring, diverse and commercial,” Mehrtens and Holberry said in a statement. “As young and hungry producers, we hope to bring a unique perspective to the U.K. and international production landscapes.