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Exclusive: Vertical acquired North American rights to Rosemead, a dramatic thriller inspired by true events that marks the feature directing debut of veteran cinematographer Eric Lin, and a star showcase for Lucy Liu. The film has drawn critical acclaim at its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, and won Best Narrative Feature at the Bentonville Film Festival, Days ago, Rosemead won the Prix du Public Ubs audience award at the Locarno Film Festival, where Liu also accepted its Career Achievement Award. Vertical plans to release the film exclusively in theaters this December.

Rosemead centers on an ailing woman who uncovers a terrifying secret: her teenage son is consumed by violent impulses. As her health rapidly declines, she’s forced into a desperate struggle—how far will she go to stop what she fears he is becoming, and what is she willing to sacrifice to protect him? Set within the quiet...

Adeline Rudolph, star of this fall’s Mortal Kombat 2, and Arden Cho (Partner Track) are set to lead Perfect Girl, a psychological thriller set against the competitive world of K-pop, from director Hong Won-ki (Goedam) and Scott Strauss’s Badlands.

Billed as Scream meets Black Swan, the film is based on a 2023 Black List script by Lynn Q. Yu. We were first to report on director Hong’s attachment last summer when the project was known as Unnie. Upgrade will introduce the project to buyers next week at EFM, with CAA Media Finance handling domestic rights.

Perfect Girl centers on a brand-new K-Pop super group that’s preparing to be launched to the world at a massive concert. A group of girls have trained for years for only four spots, and the final cut is only a week away. The competition is off the charts. But when a talented...

Exclusive: Priyanka Chopra Jonas is set to star in The Bluff, the Agbo Studios and Amazon MGM Studios movie being directed by Frank E. Flowers. Prime Video’s The Boys Karl Urban is in talks to star.

Flowers, who also co-wrote The Bluff, is hot off writing this past two weeks’ No. 1 hit Bob Marley: One Love, which shot past $120 million worldwide.

Set in the 19th century Caribbean, The Bluff follows a former female pirate (Chopra Jonas) who must protect her family when the mysterious sins of her past catch up to her.

The film, which is targeting a spring production start in Australia and will be available to stream on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide, will further solidify the relationships among Amazon MGM Studios, Agbo and Chopra Jonas following last year’s debut of the global franchise Citadel. Following its April 28 release, the spy thriller...

Exclusive: Republic Pictures has snapped up rights to The Image of You, a recently wrapped thriller starring Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars) in dual roles. Pic is set for release via Paramount Global Content Distribution at a date that hasn’t been disclosed.

Parker Young (United States of Al), Nestor Carbonell (The Morning Show), Michele Nordin (Justified) and Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino (Shining Vale) also star in the film from Mpca — an adaptation of the same-name novel from UK-based bestseller Adele Parks MBE, which Jeff Fisher (Killer Movie) directs from a script by Chris Sivertson (Monstrous).

The first project to emerge from a multi-picture deal between Mpca and Parks, The Image of You has Pieterse playing identical twins Anna and Zoe, who share a bond so close that nothing — and no one — can tear them apart. While Anna is romantic and trusting, her sister Zoe is daring and dangerous.

Exclusive: Pretty Little Liars and The Perfectionists alumna Sasha Pieterse has signed with Paradigm for representation in all areas.

Best known for her starring role as Alison Dilaurentis on the hit Freeform series Pretty Little Liars and spinoff The Perfectionists, for which she won two Teen Choice awards, Pieterse will next be seen in the upcoming Netflix feature film Ivy & Bean, based on Annie Barrows’ bestselling book series.

On the film side, Pieterse co-starred as Japonica Fenway in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Martin Short. Additional feature credits include the 2018 Lionsgate pic The Honor List, produced by Zoe Saldana, and her starring role in the Netflix feature Coin Heist. She also starred in the indie comedy G.B.F (Gay Best Friend), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and in Burning Bodhi opposite Kaley Cuoco.

Her cookbook Sasha in Good Taste was published...

The upcoming FX limited series “The Patient” has cast Alex Rich in a recurring role, Variety has learned exclusively.

Rich joins previously announced series leads Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson as well as cast members Linda Emond, Laura Niemi, and Andrew Leeds in the series, which hails from “The Americans” duo Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields.

In the half-hour series, a psychotherapist (Carell) finds himself held prisoner by a serial killer (Gleeson) with an unusual request: curb his homicidal urges. But unwinding the mind of this man while also dealing with the waves of his own repressed troubles creates a journey perhaps as treacherous as his captivity.

Rich previously appeared in the critically-acclaimed Netflix series “Glow” in the role of Florian, the butler and best friend of Sebastian “Bash” Howard. He is also known for playing a young Pablo Picasso in the Nat Geo series “Genius: Picasso,” with Antonio Banderas playing the elder Picasso.

Exclusive: Fictionz, a female-centric narrative podcast subscription app, is launching in mid-October with dramas featuring Judy Greer (Halloween Kills) as a manic Hollywood agent, Jeanine Mason (Roswell: New Mexico), Max Greenfield (The Neighborhood), and Michael Trevino (Roswell: New Mexico).

Also voicing content are Meghan Reinks (The Honor List), Bahni Turpin (The Help), Sierra Swartz (Cheaper by the Dozen), Kylie Sparks (Squaresville), Adam J. Harrington (Bosch), and musicians Kori Withers, Soufia Toufa, and Chester See (Rock of Ages).

Run by former Untitled Entertainment and Relativity Media exec Kendall Rhodes of Paraluman Media and finance partner Greg Lawrance of Ready Go Ventures, the company is adapting short stories and originals into narrative audio stories that put diverse female protagonists at the forefront. The dramas are predominantly written by female authors and directed by women.

Releasing a new series every two weeks, the first seasons of each series will run between three...

Netflix has announced the cast and filmmaking team for its upcoming family friendly movie series “Ivy and Bean.”

Elissa Down is directing the live-action films, based on the best-selling children’s book series. Down has previously worked with the streaming platform on the musical comedy “Feel the Beat” and the drama “The Honor List.”

Young actors Keslee Blalock and Madison Skye Validum will play Ivy and Bean, respectively, while Lidya Jewett is portraying a character named Nancy. Blalock has previously appeared in “Family Camp” and “Pulled From Darkness.” Jewett’s screen credits include “Good Girls,” “Feel the Beat” and “Nightbooks.”

“Ivy and Bean” centers on two girls who never expected to be friends. However, the quiet and thoughtful Ivy and the playful and fearless Bean soon discover that seemingly different people can become the best of pals. The series, written Barrows and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, has 12 books in total.

Amid a spate of anti-Asian hate crimes this past year, the story of Vincent Chin — the 27-year-old Chinese American brutally beaten and killed in 1982 by two former autoworkers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, who blamed him for the economic downturn in Detroit — has become the focus of renewed interest for the entertainment industry. One project that has been in development for some time is a limited series created, written and executive produced by Marilyn Fu, Variety has learned exclusively, from Amazon Studios in association with First Look Media’s Topic Studios. The Topic Studios project came to Amazon in 2020 and writing is underway.

The still-untitled project, based on the true story of Chin’s murder, will take place in Detroit during the devastating recession in the early ’80s, during which American car companies were being outperformed by Japanese automakers, fueling the racially charged atmosphere that led to Chin’s death...

Exclusive: Netflix has locked down the cast to its upcoming feature adaptation of Broadway’s 13: The Musical.

The musical, which ran from October 2008 to January 2009 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre follows Evan Goldman (12) who following a move from NYC to small-town Indiana, grapples with his parents’ divorce, prepares for his impending Bar Mitzvah, and navigates the complicated social circles of a new school.

The Broadway version featured the first and only all-teenage cast and band and served as professional debuts of Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies. The musical has since been a popular production of high school theater groups.

Of the 14 starring in 13: The Musical include Eli Golden (The Wizard of Lies), Gabriella Uhl, Jd McCrary, Frankie McNellis, Lindsey Blackwell (The Change-Up), Jonathan Lengel, Ramon Reed (Disney Channel’s Just Roll With It...

Exclusive: Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter, Winslow Fegley And Lidya Jewett are set to star in the Netflix family pic Night Books with David Yarovesky on board to direct. Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert will produce through Ghost House Pictures along with Mxn Entertainment’s Mason Novick and Michelle Knudsen.

Based on the J.A. White horror-fantasy children’s book, the story follows Alex (Fegley), a boy obsessed with scary stories, who is imprisoned by an evil young witch (Ritter) in her contemporary New York City apartment. He meets Yasmin (Jewett), who is also trapped there, and learns he must tell a new scary story every night in order to stay alive.

Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis will adapt the script. Ghost House Pictures’ Romel Adam will exec produce and Mxn Entertainment’s Tracy Kopulsky will co-produce.

Yarovesky broke on to the scene with his horror pic The Hive in 2014 and...

Exclusive: Emmy-nominated actress Lucy Liu has signed on to star in the upcoming dramatic feature Rosemead directed by Eric Lin. Marilyn Fu wrote the screenplay based on the award-winning Los Angeles Times article “A Dying Mother’s Plan” written by Frank Shyong.

Based on a true story that took place in the San Gabriel Valley, the film follows an immigrant mother (Liu) with terminal cancer who takes desperate measures to help her unstable teenage son as she uncovers his growing obsession with mass shootings.

Rosemead marks the feature directorial debut of Lin, who has worked as a cinematographer on high-profile festival films including The Sound of Silence, Hearts Beat Loud, I Smile Back and Equity.

“This heartbreaking, true story shines a light on how important it is to understand all aspects of mental illness,...

‘Feel the Beat’s’ Wolfgang Novogratz with Elissa Down.

Elissa Down’s teen dance movie Feel the Beat premieres worldwide on Netflix this week. Sofia Carson stars as April, a self-centred dancer who, after blowing a Broadway audition, reluctantly returns home and agrees to coach a squad of young misfits for a big competition.

The director tells If how she landed her first Netflix gig, which was produced by What Women Want’s Susan Cartsonis; collaborating with fellow Aussies, composer Michael Yezerski and editor Jane Moran; and how her career has ebbed and flowed since her debut film The Black Balloon.

Q: How did you get the gig?

A: I met with producer Susan Cartsonis to discuss the project and we connected right away. Susan responded to the vision I had for the movie and she then presented me to Netflix to pitch – which had to be done over Google...

"I'm trying to help them, but it's like a brick wall." Netflix has debuted a trailer for an upbeat dance comedy titled Feel the Beat, from director Elissa Down. Feel the Beat stars actress / dancer Sofia Carson (from "Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists" and Disney Channel shows) as April. After blowing a big Broadway audition, a self-centered dancer reluctantly returns home and ends up coaching a squad of young misfits for a big competition. The full cast includes Enrico Colantoni, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Dennis Andres, Wolfgang Novogratz, Donna Lynne Champlin, Brandon Kyle Goodman, Rex Lee, and Marcia Bennett. This seems a bit like School of Rock but for dance. Have fun. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Elissa Down's Feel the Beat, direc from Netflix's YouTube: After failing to find success on Broadway, April (Sofia Carson) returns to her hometown and reluctantly is recruited to help train a misfit...

Exclusive: Former Untitled Entertainment and Relativity Media exec Kendall Rhodes has launched Paraluman Media, a management and production boutique specializing in digital and entertainment.

Paraluman will be a 360 talent management company, developing and producing content for all platforms while securing brand partnerships, business building and consulting on social media strategy.

Rhodes represents a number of artists and social media influencers including actors, directors, producers and multi-platform creators. Her client roster includes Yousef Erakat, aka Fousey, from Tyler Perry’s Boo (1 and 2)! who counts north of 14M subs on YouTube; actors Stella Hudgens and Sophia Esperanza who respectively count Instagram followers of 1M and 3M+; Lifestyle creator, Meghan Rienks, who produced and starred in the Lionsgate movie The Honor List and has a reach of 5M+ on social media; YouTuber Lily Marston, who starred in YouTube’s BeautyBreak and recently started her own channel and network; filmmaker Caryn Waechter (Deadcon); Tony E.

Exclusive: Rachel Keller (Legion) is set as a series regular and Emily Bergl (Shameless), Lena Georgas (Westworld), Tiera Skovbye (Riverdale) and Chris Mason (Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists) are set to recur opposite Amanda Peet and Christian Slater in Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, the second installment of the anthology series which will air on USA Network.

Like the first installment, which aired on Bravo and starred Connie Britton and Eric Bana, the second will be based on a true crime story featuring an epic tale of love gone wrong. In Season 2, it is the story of convicted murderer Betty Broderick (Peet) and her ex-husband (Slater) that spans the 1960s to the ’80s and chronicles the breakdown of their marriage that Oprah deemed one of “America’s messiest divorces” even before it ended in double homicide.

From creator-writer Alexandra Cunningham and Ucp, Season 2 stars Peet as Betty Broderick, the...

Exclusive: We’ve learned that Netflix is adapting the millennial Broadway musical 13 into a family film with three-time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown to compose new music and Tony winner Robert Horn to adapt the script based on the book he co-wrote with Dan Elish. Tamra Davis is attached to direct.

The musical follows young Evan Goldman as he moves from New York City to small-town Indiana. While grappling with his parents’ divorce, he prepares for his impending Bar Mitzvah, and navigates the complicated social circles of a new school. The Broadway version which ran for a 105 performances between 2008-2009 featured the first and only all-teenager cast and band and marked the professional debuts of Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies. The musical has since been a popular production of high school theater groups. The original production of 13 premiere at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in January 2007.

Brown...

Exclusive: Actor Theo James and producer Andrew D. Corkin are joining forces to produce theatrical and small-screen projects in the UK and U.S. with their new label Untapped.

“While our primary focus is genre and thriller, we are drawn to stories of conflicted humanity that force viewers to question how they would react when faced with real or existential threats,” said James. “These stories are often grounded in truth – literal or allegorical – encouraging us to confront and challenge the assumptions we make about ourselves and the world around us.”

Said Corkin: “We’re excited to solidify our partnership to tell complex, diverse stories across various mediums. Theo and I share a vision for how we want to build stories and worlds that both fit within the current marketplace and look beyond it.”

Already, James and Corkin have several film and TV projects in various stages of development, prep and post.

“The Descendants” star Sofia Carson is taking the lead role in Netflix’s dance movie “Feel the Beat.”

Carson will portray a dancer who, after failing to find success on Broadway, returns to her small hometown and is reluctantly recruited to train a misfit group of young dancers for a big competition. Principal photography began July 25 in Toronto, Canada with Elissa Down (“The Honor List”) directing from a script by “Beautiful Boy” writers Michael Armbruster & Shawn Ku.

Susan Cartsonis, whose credits include “Deidra and Laney Rob a Train” and “The Duff,” is producing for Resonate Entertainment. Clément Bauer is associate producing for Resonate Entertainment. Executive producers are Brent Emery and Suzanne Farwell for Resonate Entertainment and Aaron Barnett.

Cast members includes Wolfgang Novogratz (“Sierra Burgess is a Loser”), Donna Lynne Champlin, Enrico Colantoni, Lidya Jewett, Eva Hauge, Johanna Colón, Sadie Lapidus, Shiloh Nelson, Shaylee Mansfield, Justin Allan, Kai Zen, Carina Battrick,...

Exclusive: Mark R. Harris’ Los Angeles-based production shingle, The Harris Company, has optioned the crime series Darby Holland from veteran tattoo artist and crime novelist Jeff Johnson for six-figures in a bidding war that took place over the holiday.

Harris, whose credits include Gods and Monsters (which won Best Adapted Screenplay for Bill Condon) and the Academy-Award winning Best Picture Crash (2004), is producing. Kate Orsini is on board to pen the script for a planned television series.

The first in the crime series is Lucky Supreme, which was released by Arcade Publishing in April of last year to critical acclaim and was named Best Crime Novel of the year by Medium.

The logline: “in the gritty urban wilds of Old Town, Portland Oregon, the series follows the eponymous fixer Darby Holland, who runs a venerable tattoo parlor and leads his talented crew...

Madison Lawlor and Mia Serafino (Shameless) have been cast as the leads of Juicy Stories, E!’s hourlong dramedy pilot inspired by Juicy Couture founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, from Sex and the City alums Michael Patrick King and Amy B. Harris, Warner Horizon Scripted TV and Universal Cable Productions.

Rounding out the young and predominantly female cast of the pilot are Tanner Stine (Here & Now), Shane Coffey (Pretty Little Liars), Rachel Axelrod, Anne Bedian (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Marisela Zumbado (Banshee), Jenn An and Jade Payton. In total, seventeen of the pilot’s series regulars, recurring and guest stars are female.

Juicy Stories is the story of how two women in their 20s created the iconic “Juicy” tracksuit and turned their $200 investment into a billion-dollar business — and a life-long friendship. Inspired by the lives of Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, Juicy Stories tells the tale of two women who made clothes,...

Sasha Pieterse and Hudson Sheaffer are officially husband and wife! The “Pretty Little Liars” alum tied the knot on Sunday with her longtime boyfriend at a beautiful ceremony at Castle Leslie Estate in County Monaghan, Ireland, according to multiple reports. Pieterse recently sat down with Et’s Katie Krause, while promoting her new film, “The Honor List”, and she dished on her...

A post shared by The Honor List (@honorlistmovie) on Aug 29, 2017 at 1:21pm Pdt

Meghan Rienks is one of the stars of The Honor List, a movie that follows former best friends who reunite when tragedy strikes before their high school graduation. Get The Honor List on iTunes now, and on DVD May 15!

To the women of The Honor List,

Thank you for being my partners in this movie. Thank you for all the work I did and did not see you do. Thank you for the hours you put in when nobody was watching. Thank you for believing in this story as much I did. They say it takes a village and I couldn't be prouder of the one we created.

I still pinch myself trying to wrap my head around how we got here, creating a movie about women and friendship, made by women; a movie we made together.

The fourth annual Bentonville Film Festival, running May 1-6, will continue its overarching quest to increase gender equality and cultural diversity in the entertainment biz, both in front of and behind the camera.

The Arkansas-based event, co-founded by Geena Davis and Inclusion Companies CEO Trevor Drinkwater and sponsored by such companies as Coca-Cola, Walmart and AMC, has been committed to the ideals of pluralism in Hollywood well before the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements emerged on the scene. Davis herself has been at the forefront of instituting positive systemic change in media content since 2004 when she founded the nonprofit Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the first research-based organization of its kind to, per Davis, “engage, educate and influence content creators, marketers and audiences about the importance of eliminating unconscious bias, highlighting gender balance, challenging stereotypes and creating role models and scripting a wide variety of strong female characters in entertainment and media.

"This one isn't just for Honor, it's for you." Lionsgate has debuted an official trailer for indie coming-of-age drama titled The Honor List, from Australian director Elissa Down (Pink Pyjamas, The Black Balloon). The Honor List is about four friends who, before high school, were besties, but by senior year they wouldn't even speak to each other. When tragedy strikes, they bond over a list they have to complete together. It's a bittersweet film that "explores the complexities of friendships, family, love, loss, and high school." It's also a film "made by women for women", with over 60% of the crew being women. This stars Meghan Rienks, Karrueche Tran, Arden Cho, and Sasha Pieterse. It looks like a meaningful, empowering film for all. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Elissa Down's The Honor List, direct from YouTube: The story of four friends and a bucket list. The summer before high school,...

Director Elissa Down’s The Honor List will serve as opening night film at the Bentonville Film Festival, which will be held May 1-5 in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The film, a world premiere from Lionsgate’s Studio L, was written by Marilyn Fu from a story by Fu and Meghan Rienks and stars Rienks, Sasha Pieterse, Karrueche Tran, and Arden Cho in a story about former best friends who reunite when tragedy strikes before their graduation. It was produced by sisters Mariel, Zoe, and Cisely Saldana’s Cinestar Pictures, along with PopSugar Films, and had a crew made up of more than 60 percent women.

The festival also unveiled that Lea Thompson’s...

A few months ago we learned that the team behind the Blair Witch Project were developing a TV series based on the horror film franchise. Co-creator Eduardo Sanchez said at the time:

"I can’t really discuss. I think that the idea of a Blair Witch anthology has always been very – just a really interesting thing. You’re close. You’re in the ballpark. You know, and I think it might be one of those things that might be – you know? The more you think about it, you’re like “That might be the perfect… a TV show. You know?” So, we’ll see what happens, but I think that’s the next big thing for Blair Witch. Probably TV."

Now, Deadline is reporting that Lionsgate is officially developing the series as part of their original digital content for their new Studio L brand. On top of the Blair Witch Project,...

The digital content unit is working with brands and platforms on three upcoming film releases.

Lionsgate has unveiled the first slate of films from Studio L, its recently christened digital content unit targeting millennial audiences.

Studio L is designed to develop, finance, produce and distribute mainstream and targeted films and series in partnership with brands and digital platforms.

Set for release on May 11 is female-driven coming-of-age drama The Honor List, the first release from PopSugar Films, the film unit of media and technology company PopSugar. The film’s cast of social media talent is led by Meghan Rienks, Sasha Pieterse, Karrueche Tran and Arden Cho. Elissa Down directed from a script by Marilyn Fu and Zoe Saldana’s Cinestar Pictures produced.

Set to premiere at next month’s South by Southwest festival is Most Likely To Murder, described as “a home-for-the-holidays noir-comedy” from TV comedy writer-producers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. Gregor also directs...

Lionsgate’s recently-rebranded digital content studio, Studio L, has unveiled its first-ever film and TV slate, comprising three millennial-aimed features set to premiere this spring. Studio L, which develops, finances, produces, and distributes premium projects for digital distribution, is led by Evp Seth Laderman, who in turn reports to Lionsgate Television Group COO Laura Kennedy.

YouTube star Meghan Rienks will topline female high school drama The Honor List, formerly titled Honored, alongside Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars), Arden Cho (Teen Wolf), and Instagram star Karrueche Tran. Arriving May 11, The Honor List is about a group of four former friends who reunite after a tragedy to cross items off their middle school bucket list. It's the first project from PopSugar Films, the digital publisher’s movie division.

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Birthday-boy alert!

Zoë Saldana celebrated her youngest son Zen Anton Hilario‘s first birthday on Tuesday, using Instagram to share a heartfelt message to her baby boy for the occasion.

“Happy Birthday Zen Anton Hilario. You came into our lives in the most ‘zen’ way, and today you still continue to be our little Yogi baby,” Saldana captioned the photo, which featured one of her older sons (she and husband Marco Perego-Saldana are also parents to twin boys Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio, 3) planting a kiss on his little brother.

“Your Joie de Vie keeps all of us wrapped around your little finger.