News

The Danish star of the BBC’s Dracula, Ruben Östlund’s The Square and the new historical action-adventure William Tell is here to answer your questions

Claes Bang only became an actor by chance, after he was persuaded to join a production of Hair at high school in Denmark. He was scared to apply to drama school. “I was sure they would say: ‘Thank you very much for coming, but no thanks,’” he says. But he was accepted and the rest – as they say in Denmark – var historie.

After appearing in multiple Danish and German TV shows and films which we won’t pretend we’ve seen (Lærkevej – Til Døden os Skiller; Rettet Raffi!; Überleben an der Scheidungsfront), as well as featuring in Borgen and The Bridge, Bang jumped into the mainstream after starring in Ruben Östlund’s satirical black comedy The Square, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2017 Cannes film festival.

"It looks like it came from Mars and landed down [on Earth]..." Kino Lorbrer has revealed an official US trailer for a Dutch documentary film titled Close to Vermeer, opening in art house US theaters starting in late May. Another fascinating look at the incredible work of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer - there was also the feature The Last Vermeer a few years ago about a missing painting. In this doc, go behind the scenes of the largest Vermeer exhibition ever mounted, now on view at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Capturing the imagination of the art world, with glowing reviews, global press, and tickets sold out through the entirety of its run, the Rijksmuseum's Vermeer retrospective is nothing short of an historic event. This fascinating documentary is a unique opportunity to discover what goes on behind the scenes at exhibitions of this scale, from the latest techniques for determining what makes...

Netflix is on the cusp of taking down a wide selection of movies and TV series.

The streaming service removes numerous titles each month, but without fanfare; unless you happen to select the thing that’s about to leave, you will have no idea there’s a limited amount of time left to watch.

Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of every movie and TV show being removed from Netflix in April 2023.

We’ve aggregated all the impending removals from Netflix in the UK and US, which we’ve signalled below. If there isn’t a territory listed next to the title, then it will be leaving both.

Find a full list of every film and TV show arriving on Netflix this month here.

Nb: We put this list together with help from What’s on Netflix.

Movies

1 April

Akbar Birbal – US

The American Game

The Aviator – US

Bal Ganesh...

Netflix is on the cusp of taking down a wide selection of movies and TV series.

The streaming service removes numerous titles each month, but without fanfare; unless you happen to select the thing that’s about to leave, you will have no idea there’s a limited amount of time left to watch.

Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of every movie and TV show being removed from Netflix in April 2023.

We’ve aggregated all the impending removals from Netflix in the UK and US, which we’ve signalled below. If there isn’t a territory listed next to the title, then it will be leaving both.

Find a full list of every film and TV show arriving on Netflix this month here.

Nb: We put this list together with help from What’s on Netflix.

Movies

1 April

Akbar Birbal – US

The American Game

The Aviator – US

Bal Ganesh...

Netflix is on the cusp of taking down a wide selection of movies and TV series.

The streaming service removes numerous titles each month, but without fanfare; unless you happen to select the thing that’s about to leave, you will have no idea there’s a limited amount of time left to watch.

Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of every movie and TV show being removed from Netflix in April 2023.

We’ve aggregated all the impending removals from Netflix in the UK and US, which we’ve signalled below. If there isn’t a territory listed next to the title, then it will be leaving both.

Find a full list of every film and TV show arriving on Netflix this month here.

Nb: We put this list together with help from What’s on Netflix.

Movies

1 April

Akbar Birbal – US

The American Game

The Aviator – US

Bal Ganesh...

Netflix is on the cusp of taking down a wide selection of movies and TV series.

The streaming service removes numerous titles each month, but without fanfare; unless you happen to select the thing that’s about to leave, you will have no idea there’s a limited amount of time left to watch.

Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of every movie and TV show being removed from Netflix in April 2023.

We’ve aggregated all the impending removals from Netflix in the UK and US, which we’ve signalled below. If there isn’t a territory listed next to the title, then it will be leaving both.

Find a full list of every film and TV show arriving on Netflix this month here.

Nb: We put this list together with help from What’s on Netflix.

Movies

1 April

Akbar Birbal – US

The American Game

The Aviator – US

Bal Ganesh...

Netflix is on the cusp of taking down a wide selection of movies and TV series.

The streaming service removes numerous titles each month, but without fanfare; unless you happen to select the thing that’s about to leave, you will have no idea there’s a limited amount of time left to watch.

Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of every movie and TV show being removed from Netflix in April 2023.

We’ve aggregated all the impending removals from Netflix in the UK and US, which we’ve signalled below. If there isn’t a territory listed next to the title, then it will be leaving both.

Find a full list of every film and TV show arriving on Netflix this month here.

Nb: We put this list together with help from What’s on Netflix.

Movies

1 April

Akbar Birbal – US

The American Game

The Aviator – US

Bal Ganesh...

Netflix is on the cusp of taking down a wide selection of movies and TV series.

The streaming service removes numerous titles each month, but without fanfare; unless you happen to select the thing that’s about to leave, you will have no idea there’s a limited amount of time left to watch.

Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of every movie and TV show being removed from Netflix in April 2023.

We’ve aggregated all the impending removals from Netflix in the UK and US, which we’ve signalled below. If there isn’t a territory listed next to the title, then it will be leaving both.

Nb: We put this list together with help from What’s on Netflix.

Movies

1 April

Akbar Birbal – US

The American Game

The Aviator – US

Bal Ganesh – US

Bee Movie – UK

Big Daddy – US

Bill – UK

Brokeback Mountain – US

The Bye Bye Man...

Guy Pearce just so happened to be living in Amsterdam when the opportunity to play Dutch folk hero Han Van Meegeren came his way. Set in the aftermath of World War II, Dan Friedkin’s The Last Vermeer chronicles the Dutch painter and art forger as he strives to prove his innocence amid charges of aiding and abetting the Nazis. Despite playing a complex historical figure, Pearce felt a great deal of freedom in his portrayal since the majority of today’s audience lacks a frame of reference for Van Meegeren.

“Having been here in Holland for a year or two before ...

Guy Pearce just so happened to be living in Amsterdam when the opportunity to play Dutch folk hero Han Van Meegeren came his way. Set in the aftermath of World War II, Dan Friedkin’s The Last Vermeer chronicles the Dutch painter and art forger as he strives to prove his innocence amid charges of aiding and abetting the Nazis. Despite playing a complex historical figure, Pearce felt a great deal of freedom in his portrayal since the majority of today’s audience lacks a frame of reference for Van Meegeren.

“Having been here in Holland for a year or two before ...

Royalty is in vogue. Amazon Prime reported that its Eddie Murphy sequel “Coming 2 America,” per Screen Engine/Asi, had the most opening-weekend viewings of any original film in the past 12 months. Over the weekend, Prime Video also became the top downloaded Entertainment app on the App Store, and the #2 downloaded app across all free apps. Paramount Pictures initially planned to release the $60 million title in theaters last August, but sold worldwide rights to Amazon for a reported $125 million.

Another Paramount title, “SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run,” finally made its American debut as a Premium VOD for $19.99. It bested all premium titles and took #1 on the revenue-based FandangoNow chart. It’s the latest breakout success among animated films that includes “The Croods: A New Age,” “Soul,” and “Tom & Jerry.”

“Raya and the Last Dragon” also debuted this weekend in theaters and on Disney+ for those subscribers willing to pay...

Claes Bang has terrified audiences across with the world with his spirited portrayal of Count Dracula for the BBC. Now he’s moving closer to the present with his latest film The Burnt Orange Heresy in which he stars with Elizabeth Debicki and Donald Sutherland. Steven Goldman sat down with the actor to talk about his latest film and what’s next.

Claes Bang has got a thing for art – at least as far as the movies go.

The Danish actor first captured the global spotlight as a crisis-juggling museum curator in The Square, taking top honors in Cannes in 2017. Last year he was on the trail of Nazi-looted art in The Last Vermeer, which premiered at TIFF. This year, his focus shifts back to contemporary abstracts with the sexy neo-noir thriller, The Burnt Orange Heresy.

Here, Bang stars as James Figueras, an art critic whose fall from grace has...

There is a curious sense of ownership from forty-somethings over the cast of shows that were big when they were kids. Here in the UK the late ’80s and early ’90s were awash with the antipodean soap suds of Neighbours and Home and Away. After school we cornered the TV and watched on in eager anticipation as our onscreen heroes grew up with us. As our heroes left the soaps, many scored a well worn groove by leaping to Top of the Pops stardom along with the occasional phone in on the Saturday morning shows. For Guy Pearce however, the end of his three year stint on Neighbours pointed to a very different fate for the actor.

In all Pearce appeared in just four shy of 500 episodes, and like many headlining soap stars of the day there was little doubt he’d crop up again somewhere in the future. Thankfully...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday revealed the 366 feature films that are eligible for consideration at the 93rd Oscars, which are set to air April 25 live on ABC.

The total number of films is up from last year’s 344 films in contention.

This year’s list was compiled based on tweaked eligibility rules implemented because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed the ceremony to its latest date ever. For this year, feature films had to open by February 28 in a commercial motion picture theater for a seven-day qualifying run in at least one of six metro areas: Los Angeles County, New York City, the Bay Area, Chicago, Miami and Atlanta. Drive-in theaters open nightly were included as qualifying venues, as were films intended for theatrical release but because of the lockdown made available first via streaming, VOD service or other broadcast.

Today’s news comes...

Guy Pearce in The Last Vermeer is now available on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD

While Joseph Piller (Claes Bang), a Dutch Jew, was fighting in the Resistance during the Second World War, the witty, debonair art connoisseur Han van Meegeren (Guy Pearce) was hosting hedonistic soirees and selling Dutch art treasures to Hermann Göring and other top Nazis. Following the war, Piller becomes an investigator assigned the task of identifying and redistributing stolen art, resulting in the flamboyant van Meegeren being accused of collaboration—a crime punishable by death. But, despite mounting evidence, Piller, with the aid of his assistant (Vicky Krieps), becomes increasingly convinced of Han’s innocence and finds himself in the unlikely position of fighting to save his life.

Directed By: Dan Friedkin

Screenplay By: James McGee and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby

Based on the Book:The Man Who Made Vermeers by Jonathan Lopez

Producers: Ryan Friedkin, Danny Friedkin,...

The number of films available to Oscar voters in a screening room devoted to the Best Picture category hit the 200 mark on Wednesday, which means that $2.5 million has entered the Academy coffers from films paying $12,500 each to be represented in the screening room.

The members-only Academy Screening Room hit the milestone with the addition of more than a dozen movies this week, including Fisher Stevens’ “Palmer,” Lee Daniels’ “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” John Lee Hancock’s “The Little Things,” the Russo brothers’ “Cherry,” Josh Trank’s “Capone,” the documentary “Coup 53,” the Studio Ghibli animated film “Earwig and the Witch,” the international films “Funny Boy” and “Bacarau” (neither eligible in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category) and some off-the-wall selections, including “Snake White – Love Endures” and “Soorarai Pottru.”

Other late additions to the screening room have included “Minari,” “Promising Young Woman,” “The White Tiger” and “Cherry,” which were not added until January.

Universal and Blumhouse’s body-swap horror-comedy Freaky held onto the top spot at North American theaters over the weekend, but its anemic $1.2 million haul is further proof that the box office has become a scary place as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches and Covid-19 cases continue to surge.

As an example of just how fast things are dropping off, last weekend the top 10 movies in North America pulled in a combined $10.3 million. This week, however, that number was just about half of that total: $5.3 million. To put things in even starker relief, at this time last year, Disney’s Frozen II debuted to $130.3 million at the domestic box office.

Still, let’s give credit where it’s due. Freaky managed to attract enough ticket-buyers to remain the box-office champion in its sophomore session. The R-rated film stars Vince Vaughn as a serial killer and Kathryn Newton as a high-school student who...

There aren’t any huge surprises in the specialty box office as we enter what is expected to be a very different Thanksgiving holiday week. Normally, this would be the time of year where people would be participating in post-Thanksgiving dinner moviegoing. But, as we know, theaters are shuttered. As the spike in Covid cases across the country continue, box office numbers won’t be seeing much action, as lockdowns and stay-at-home orders impact numbers.

As Anthony D’Alessandro reported, Sony’s WWII art forgery drama The Last Vermeer, starring Guy Pearce, opened in 912 theaters and is expected to earn an estimated $225,000 for the weekend, with a per-theater average of $247.

The Gravitas action pic Vanguard debuted in 1,375 theaters. The movie marked a reunion between martial arts icon Jackie Chan and director Stanley Tong, and earned an estimated $400,000 in its first weekend out.

Again, these numbers aren’t the greatest. But looking...

The weekend before Thanksgiving is one of the most desired release dates. It’s been home to entries in the Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games franchises; in 2019, “Frozen II” opened to $130 million. This year, weekend grosses won’t pass $7 million and only “Freaky” made more than $1 million.

These numbers cap a week of bad-to-worse news for theaters. Announcements from Universal codifed its Premium VOD plans, which suggest that the new maximum window, likely adapted by other distributors, is five weekends after opening. Warner Bros. placed “Wonder Woman 1984” on HBO Max for 30 days, along with theaters that want to play it.

With elevated government restrictions and Covid-19 cases that seem to hit new highs on a daily basis, 2,800 theaters were open this weekend. That’s down from 3,400 last weekend, and about half of the possible locations.

The average gross per complex, with 60 percent of these having eight or more screens,...

Body-swap horror comedy “Freaky” repeated as the winner of a seriously subdued U.S. box office with $1.2 million at 2,057 locations in North America during the Friday-Sunday weekend.

The Universal and Blumhouse Productions’ movie stars Vince Vaughn as a serial killer and Kathryn Newton as a low-profile high schooler who inadvertently switch bodies on Friday the 13th. “Freaky” has taken in $5.6 million in its first 10 days amid the reluctance of many moviegoers to return to multiplexes until a Covid-19 vaccine is available.

Universal noted Sunday that the theatrical box office continues to be impaired due to a notable reduction in the number of theaters in North America, as the domestic theatrical footprint has shrunk to roughly 2,800 open locations from 3,400 last weekend.

The performance of “Freaky” contrasts sharply with the same weekend a year ago when Disney launched “Frozen II” with $130 million and overall North American business totaled $206 million, according to Comscore.

If last week was a big one for Netflix (what with “Mank” and “Hillbilly Elegy” out in theaters), then this one belongs to Amazon, who have a pair of big projects launching via their Prime Video subscription service. The first is “12 Years a Slave” director Steve McQueen’s anthology “Small Axe,” an epic and altogether unconventional series that doesn’t fit neatly into the “film” or “TV” categories: McQueen has made five features, all set in London’s immigrant West Indian community, dealing with aspects of cultural identify, racism and community. Of the three entries I’ve seen, this week’s entry, “Mangrove,” is the strongest — and a great way to kick off the cycle, with a courtroom drama for those who felt Netflix’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” didn’t give adequate time to Bobby Seale.

Amazon also launches “The Sound of Metal,” a drama about...

Amazon is set to find the beat with the upcoming Sound of Metal starring Riz Ahmed which hits select theaters today before moving to Prime Video on December 4.

The film marks the feature directorial debut of Darius Marder, who co-wrote the movie with Abraham Marder. Sound of Metal follows punk-metal drummer Ruben (Ahmed) who begins to experience intermittent hearing loss. When a specialist tells him his condition will rapidly worsen, he thinks his music career and his life is over.

As Ruben, a recovering heroin addict, navigates his diagnosis he runs the risk of relapsing. Enter his girlfriend and bandmate Lou (Olivia Cooke). She checks him into a secluded sober house for the deaf in hopes it will prevent a relapse and help him learn to adapt to his new situation. After being welcomed into a community that accepts him just as he is, Ruben has to choose between his...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on November 19th, 2020, reviewing the new films “Mank” and “The Last Verneer” (in theaters).

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Mank - Herman Mankiewicz (portrayed by Gary Oldman) was the co-screenwriter on Citizen Kane, and this film is his adventures in Hollywood from the pivotal years of the 1930s (told in flashback) to his struggle with Kane in the story’s present tense … including with Orson Welles (Tom Burke). This essentially becomes the story of Mank, William Randolph Hearst – whose life Kane is based on – and Hearst’s mistress, actress Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried). Davies friendship with Mank becomes the basis for Kane, which depicts him doing the lion’s share of screenplay work, disputed to this day. Directed by David Fincher. 4/5 stars.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The Last Vermeer - Guy Pierce portrays Han Van Meegeren, a real life Dutch artist...

Guy Pearce is brilliantly cunning and whimsical as a Dutch art dealer suspected of being a Nazi collaborator. The Last Vermeer tells the incredible true story of Han van Meegeren. A flamboyant narcissist who made a fortune during World War II, van Meegeren was quickly swept up in the Allied hunt for stolen works of art. Based on the true crime biography by Jonathan Lopez, The Last Vermeer is a well-acted and produced dramatic mystery. It drags somewhat during the second act, but recovers on the strength of its lead performances.

The Last Vermeer opens in the Netherlands several weeks after Hitler's defeat. A train car belonging to the Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring is found with a previously unknown painting by the Dutch Master, "Christ and the Adulteress". Captain Joseph Piller (Claes Bang), a Dutch Jew who fought in the resistance, is assigned to find who sold the painting and bring that person to justice.

The directorial debut of Dan Friedkin, who has produced or exec produced such hits as ‘The Square‘, ‘All the Money in the World’, and ‘The Mule’. ‘The Last Vermeer’ is the true post-WWII story of the notorious art dealer Han van Meegeren whose activities reveal a mastermind of a very special nature. TriStar Pictures is releasing it on screen in over 800 theatres on November 20th. The story of the film as well as the story of the making of the film are both quite engrossing.

Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...

“No Time to Die” was just the first domino to fall. When the 25th James Bond movie moved from its release in November and prompted Cineworld to announce the “temporary suspension” of over 600 locations in the U.S. and the U.K., it begged the question, just which films are still slated to open in theaters in 2020?

Honestly, not a ton, and the goalposts are moving so quickly that TheWrap just reported the sci-fi epic “Dune” from Warner Bros. would also no longer open on December 18 as planned.

Update 11/6: “Death on the Nile,” “Free Guy” and “The Comeback Trail” removed

We’ve already seen plenty of movies jump ship from 2020, with films like “Black Widow,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “West Side Story” and more pushing back by a few more months to summer 2021 or beyond. But we already played this game earlier this year, and already delayed movies like “Wonder Woman 1984...

Sony Pictures saw an 18% drop in second quarter profits to $299M from July-September versus the same period in 2019. However, the figures rep an increase on the first quarter’s $230M which ended June 30 this year. Revenues across the division were off by $615M compared to last year while theatrical sales dropped to $13M versus $715M in Q2 2019, clearly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

A key portion of the domestic market is still closed while there are lingering restrictions on cinemas and the threat of renewed lockdowns in Europe. In 2019, Sony’s Q2 earnings were largely attributable to the summer success of Marvel sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

In this year’s Q2, Sony had just The Broken Hearts Gallery and The Last Shift in domestic theaters. It did however have an overseas hit with Spanish title Padre No Hay Mas Que Uno 2...

Sony is merging its theatrical, home entertainment and TV distribution marketing operations under the co-oversee of Josh Greenstein, the studio’s Motion Picture Group President, and Keith Le Goy, the studio’s Networks and Distribution President.

The move comes at time for the Culver City, CA studio as it responds to viewers’ changing viewing habits during the pandemic, and the need to respond to emerging release patterns by harnessing Sony’s collective expertise in marketing a title through its entire lifecycle, across all platforms.

Due to the combining of departments, we hear that roughly 35 staffers were cut in distribution and marketing. While studio brass have been considering this type of restructuring for some time, the pandemic further hastened that decision.

Stateside, all theatrical, home entertainment and television distribution marketing divisions will be brought together, while there will be a regional model for those businesses abroad.

In the U.S., Sony...

If Claes Bang didn’t exist so suavely before our eyes, you’d say they don’t make movie stars like him any more: debonair, mature but with sparky wit, and possessed of a flexible accent that is at once evasive and distinctly European. Since breaking out aged 50 in Rubin Östlund’s “The Square,” he could have exclusively cashed in his raised profile on the kind of generically “foreign” villain parts and Europudding filler that tend to await such actors these days, yet he seems to be finding throwback vehicles to match his elegantly out-of-time stardom. First came the slippery, well-dressed art-scene noir “The Burnt Orange Heresy” and World War 2 counterfeiting drama “The Last Vermeer”; now, in a comparably neo-Hitchcockian vein, comes “The Bay of Silence,” in which his coolly compelling man-adrift charisma — backed by sturdy support from Olga Kurylenko and Brian Cox — keeps a splintering mystery together.

If the...

Once upon a time, “Tenet” was set to open today, July 17. When Warners dated the film, rivals got out of the way. At this writing, it’s scheduled for August 12 worldwide, and it’s just one of many major releases to see (sometimes multiple) delays — or, rerouting to VOD release. Trying to track, or even remember, all the films that shifted would challenge even the most obsessed film fan.

With that in mind, we’ve recreated the original release calendar for March 20 through July 17 as it stood on March 3 — the day before Bond film “No Time to Die” shifted from April to November, auguring a massive number of changes to come.

The list, which we will continue updating, includes all studio wide release titles to date, and the most significant specialized titles that anticipated a limited release. Of note: A film like “Palm Springs” (Neon) was expected to have a...

The Last Vermeer Sony Pictures Classics Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Dan Friedkin Screenwriter: James McGee, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby based on the book “The Man Who Made Vermeers” by Jonathan Lopez Cast: Guy Pearce, Claes Bang, Vicky Krieps Screened at: Sony, NYC, 3/17/20 Opens: May 22, […]

The post The Last Vermeer Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has rounded up the cast for his upcoming, untitled movie at Universal, according to an individual with knowledge of the project. Shyamalan will write, produce and direct, and Universal will distribute.

Actors Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff and Vicky Krieps are currently in talks to join the top-secret project. Plot details for the project are being kept under wraps.

The release date for the project remains unknown at press time, as the studio is currently trying to figure out its release calendar amid the shutdown of theaters. It is also unknown when cameras will start rolling given stay-at-home measures, but a start by the end of the year is being looked at. Shyamalan will independently finance the project as he did on “Glass,” “Split” and “The Visit” with a combined production budget of $35 million. “Glass,” “Split” and “The Visit” grossed more than $600 million worldwide.

M. Night Shyamalan has rounded out the cast for his next movie. Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff and Vicky Krieps are in negotiations to star in the top-secret project.

Shyamalan will write, produce and direct the untitled film, which will be released by Universal Picture. Like most Shyamalan movies, plot details are shrouded in secrecy and can become interconnected to his other films.

Representatives for Universal and Shyamalan had no comment.

The film currently remains without release date as Universal continues to figure out its calendar as the coronavirus pandemic caused movie theaters to close. It’s also unclear when production will begin given stay-at-home measures, but the hope is to start rolling cameras by the end of the year.

Shyamalan independently financed “Glass,” “Split” and “The Visit” with a combined production budget of $35 million. Those films went on to cumulatively gross more than $600 million worldwide. He...

The upcoming post-wwii thriller “The Last Vermeer” (formerly titled “Lyrebird“) aims to put a different spin on the typical film in this subgenre. Instead of just focusing on the crimes of the Nazis during WWII, the new film instead turns the focus on a piece of art and how the Nazis gained control of it.

Read More: ‘The Painted Bird’ Trailer: Director Vaclav Marhoul Tells A Story Of Hope In The Face Of The Holocaust

“The Last Vermeer,” as the title suggests, follows the true story of a painting discovered by a soldier who is going through the artifacts left by the Nazis.

Continue reading ‘The Last Vermeer’ Trailer: Claes Bang, Vicky Krieps & Guy Pearce Star In This Post-wwii Thriller at The Playlist.

"I need to know where this Vermeer came from." Sony Pictures Classics has debuted the first official trailer for an indie WWII drama titled The Last Vermeer, based on a true story. An artist is suspected of selling a valuable painting to the Nazis, but there is more to the story than meets the eye. The Last Vermeer is about a former Dutch resistance fighter investigating stolen art, who discovers the truth about a painter who sold a Vermeer to the Nazis during the war. Described as a "captivating and surprising dramatic thriller about a forgotten true story set just after World War II in Holland." The film stars Claes Bang (from The Square), Vicky Krieps (from Phantom Thread), Guy Pearce, and August Diehl. I am a sucker for these kind of films, especially when they're about art or something beyond just war, and this looks like a fascinating story.

Blink and you would have missed it.

As the Toronto International Film Festival wrapped Sept. 15, just a few films had landed significant deals: Russell Crowe starrer True History of the Kelly Gang (IFC), Riz Ahmed vehicle Sound of Metal (Amazon), Dan Friedkin’s Lyrebird (Sony Pictures Classics) and Rose Glass' Saint Maud (A24).

Buyers were wary, given that a batch of eight-figure Sundance acquisitions had imploded at the summer box office, but the other reason for inactivity was that most of Tiff’s splashy debuts, like Knives Out and The Personal History of David Copperfield, already had secured distribution.

In fact, Spc had ...

Blink and you would have missed it.

As the Toronto International Film Festival wrapped Sunday, just a few films had landed significant deals: the Russell Crowe starrer True History of the Kelly Gang (IFC), the Riz Ahmed vehicle Sound of Metal (Amazon), Dan Friedkin’s Lyrebird (Sony Pictures Classics) and Rose Glass' Saint Maud (A24).

Buyers were wary, given that a batch of eight-figure Sundance acquisitions had imploded at the summer box office, but the other reason for inactivity was that most of Tiff’s splashy debuts, like Knives Out and The Personal History of David Copperfield, already had secured distribution.

In fact, Spc ...

Sony Pictures Classics has made yet another acquisition out of the Toronto International Film Festival this year with Giuseppe Capotondi’s “The Burnt Orange Heresy,” an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.

The thriller stars Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, Mick Jagger and Donald Sutherland. Scott Smith adapted the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford. David Zander, William Horberg, David Lancaster produced, while Sienna Aquilini, Aeysha Walsh, Dante Ariola, August Zander, Charlie Dombek, Sherborne Media, Rumble Films, Indiana Production Company, The Ingenious Group, and Hanway Films executive produced.

In “The Burnt Orange Heresy,” Bang plays an art dealer who is hired to steal a painting from one of the biggest painters of all time. Soon, however, he is consumed by greed and he loses it.

Also Read: 'Burnt Orange Heresy' Star Claes Bang On Why His Character Isn't a 'Psychopath or Maniac' (Exclusive Video)

The film first...

Challenging Us distribution sector meant buyers were particularly cautious.

A treacherous summer at the independent box office underscored by several misfire acquisitions from Sundance slowed on-site deals to a crawl during Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff), although the days and weeks ahead tend to be when business kicks in.

With the festival now over, the major festival acquisitions were: Netflix for most of the world on Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s high-concept Spanish Midnight Madness breakout The Platform; Amazon Studios for Us rights on Darius Marder’s Platform entry Sound Of Metal, and the world on Andrew Patterson’s Midnight Madness sci-fi...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to “Greed,” a satire about the super-rich from director Michael Winterbottom starring Steve Coogan, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.

The film, which made its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival over the weekend at the Elgin Theater, skewers the world of high fashion, specifically looking at the grotesque inequality between a greedy billionaire (Coogan) and the female garment workers who toil on his fashion line. Winterbottom follows the billionaire as he preps his lavish, 60th birthday party in Mykonos, as overseen by reality TV cameras, all while Syrian refugees have arrived and set up camp on the Greek shores.

David Mitchell, Isla Fisher, Shirley Henderson, Asa Butterfield, Dinita Gohil, Shanina Shaik and Sarah Solemani co-star in the film that Winterbottom wrote and directed, with additional material from Sean Gray.

Also Read: Sony Pictures Classics Acquires...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the film rights, including North American, to Dan Friedkin’s drama “Lyrebird” out of the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film stars Vicky Krieps, Guy Pearce, Roland Moller and Claes Bang. “Lyrebird” follows a former Dutch resistance member (Bang), who investigates the theft of art during World War II. Mark Fergus, James McGee and Hawk Ostby wrote the script for Friedkin’s directorial debut.

30West sold the rights, the deal including Latin American, Eastern European, Scandinavian, Middle East and Asian rights.

Also Read: 'Harriet' Film Review: Kasi Lemmons' Standard-Issue Harriet Tubman Biopic Wastes Big-Screen Opportunity

Imperative Entertainment and Nl Film produced the drama. Ryan Friedkin, Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas produced, and Gino Falsetto, Peter Heslop and Ridley Scott served as the executive producers.

Spc previously acquired the U.S. rights to the Steve Coogan, Isla Fisher satire film “Greed.” Ahead of the festival,...

Bad Education in play with several offers on table.

Another Tiff deal trickled in on Wednesday (Sept 11) as the pace of acquisitions crawled along, with Sony Pictures Classics confirming it had acquired all rights in all media to postwar drama Lyrebird in North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and Asia.

At time of writing, several films remained in play, including Bad Education. Cory Finley’s school embezzlement film starring Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney is understood to have sparked several offers and Endeavor Content and CAA Media Finance are taking their time to settle with the right distributor.

Bad Education remains in play with several offers on table.

Another deal trickled in on Wednesday (11) as the pace of Tiff acquisitions continued to crawl along, with spc confirmed it had acquired all rights in all media to postwar drama Lyrebird in North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Asia.

At time of writing, several films remained in play, including Bad Education. Cory Finley’s school embezzlement film starring Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney is understood to have sparked several offers and Endeavor Content and CAA Media Finance are taking their time to settle with the right distributor.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up rights to “Lyrebird,” the directorial debut of billionaire businessman Dan Friedkin, Variety has confirmed.

The pact is for North American rights and marks one of the only sales at an acquisitions market that could be charitably described as moribund. That could change if, as rumored, a deep-pocketed buyer ponies up for the Hugh Jackman-led school embezzlement drama “Bad Education.”

If that deal happens, it will be a welcome reprieve. The handful of films looking for distribution that have found a studio home include “Military Wives,” which Bleecker Street bought, and “Dads,” a Bryce Dallas Howard documentary that sold to Apple. It’s unclear if the films on offer have been lackluster or if companies are growing concerned about the financial viability of the indie space in the wake of box office flops such as “Late Night” and “Blinded by the Light.”

“Lyrebird” centers...

Exclusive: Sony Pictures Classics is closing its second Toronto Film Festival deal, this one for Lyrebird, the Dan Friedkin-directed drama that stars Vicky Krieps, Guy Pearce, Roland Moller and Claes Bang. Deal being wrapped up is for North America, Latin American, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Asia. FilmNation has made a deal for the rest of the world.

It’s Spc’s second festival deal after it secured U.S. rights to the Michael Winterbottom-directed satire Greed, starring Steve Coogan and Isla Fisher.

In Lyrebird, Bang plays Joseph Piller, a soldier and member of the Dutch resistance who is tasked with investigating stolen art in the wake of World War II. His focus is on the flamboyant painter Han van Meegeren (Pearce), who allegedly sold a Vermeer to Hermann Goring. Selling stolen art to the Nazis is a crime punishable by death. After fighting in the Dutch Resistance,...

The Toronto Film Festival opens on Thursday amid hopes for a strong film market, but don’t get your hopes up. Tiff is always packed with hungry buyers from all over the world checking out a range of hot new projects on the market (from the post-World War II drama “Lyrebird” to the buzzy “Bad Education”) as well as footage of future movies like Reinaldo Marcus Green’s suicide drama “Good Joe Bell,” written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana and starring Mark Walhberg.

While there’s a long list of movies for sale at Tiff, buyers are disappointed that many are waiting to screen in 2020 at Sundance and Berlin. Nobody knows which companies will be willing to plunk down solid money this year. Sellers are praying that new streaming players will buoy the market at a time when jittery theatrical distributors are afraid to overpay. “I would expect buyers...

The Toronto Film Festival opens on Thursday amid hopes for a strong film market, but don’t get your hopes up. Tiff is always packed with hungry buyers from all over the world checking out a range of hot new projects on the market (from the post-World War II drama “Lyrebird” to the buzzy “Bad Education”) as well as footage of future movies like Reinaldo Marcus Green’s suicide drama “Good Joe Bell,” written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana and starring Mark Walhberg.

While there’s a long list of movies for sale at Tiff, buyers are disappointed that many are waiting to screen in 2020 at Sundance and Berlin. Nobody knows which companies will be willing to plunk down solid money this year. Sellers are praying that new streaming players will buoy the market at a time when jittery theatrical distributors are afraid to overpay. “I would expect buyers...

FilmNation Entertainment said Tuesday that it will handle international sales for Lyrebird, Dan Friedkin’s directorial debut that had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this past weekend. FilmNation will now launch the pic at the Toronto Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday. 30West is already aboard handling domestic sales.

Guy Pearce stars in Lyrebird as Han van Meegeren, an eccentric Dutch painter being investigated for selling art to high-ranking Nazi officials at the end of World War II. Claes Bang (The Square) plays the soldier and resistance member leading the investigation. Roland Moller and Vicky Krieps also star.

James McGee and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby wrote the script, and Friedkin’s Imperative Entertainment is producing.

The pic is a Special Presentation at Toronto, where it will make its international debut September 11 at the Ryerson Theatre.

Tiff runs through September 15.

What will the moviegoing public make of a film called “Lyrebird”? Oblique but apt, that title refers to an ostentatious Australian bird capable of mimicking the calls of countless other species — the relevance of which may not be immediately apparent to those intrigued by the true, post-World War II story of a notorious Dutch art dealer accused of selling a priceless cultural treasure to Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Göring.

After being arrested and tried for collaborating with the enemy, Han van Meegeren mounted a most unconventional defense: He claimed that the artwork in question, “The Supper at Emmaus,” was not in fact a Johannes Vermeer masterpiece but a masterful forgery, painted by none other than himself. While the truth is considerably more complicated, van Meegeren’s story reduces neatly to the kind of handsome, upscale night-out offering that still draws sophisticated older audiences to art houses — catnip for those who...

Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival, part of the late-summer trifecta of such cinematic binges — including those in Venice and Toronto– that officially kick off awards season each year, has revealed its slate of titles. The festival’s 46th year officially starts on Friday Aug. 20 and ends Monday Sept. 2.

Among the the must-see movies is “Marriage Story,” filmmaker Noah Baumbach‘s portrait of a broken marriage and the bitter and twisted process of dissolving such a union. The film already premiered at the Venice International Film Festival to passionate raves for both its writer/director as well as stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson.

The much-anticipated high-altitude world premieres include director Rupert Goold‘s “Judy,” with Renee Zellweger (see above) bringing to life Judy Garland in the last few weeks of her life while doing a run of sold-out concerts in London in 1969 — the year of her death from an accidental...