News

The Jodie Foster-ssance is officially upon us, folks, and we couldn't be more pleased. It's certainly been a long road to get here. Arguably, the acclaimed actor's most high-profile project in decades came back in 2013, with her villainous turn in Neill Blomkamp's sci-fi movie "Elysium." (Disclaimer: We cannot emphasize enough how much heavy-lifting the word "arguably" is doing in that last sentence.) Other than that, it'd be the understatement of the century to say that Foster has been rather picky about her roles since bursting onto the scene in "Taxi Driver," before going on to redefine the very idea of horror protagonists in "The Silence of the Lambs." That's finally changed in a big way during the last several months, as Foster starred in the awards-hopeful (but somewhat controversial) "Nyad" and also came right out of the gate swinging in 2024 with "True Detective: Night Country."

But as we all know,...

Spooky season is upon us and Max is getting in on the action.

New to the streamer in September are “Annabelle” (2014), “Annabelle: Creation” (2017) and “Annabelle Comes Home” (2019), as well as “The Curse of La Llorona” (2019) — all spin-offs from “The Conjuring” universe.

Other horror entries include “It” (2017), “It: Chapter Two” (2019), eight “Friday the 13th” films (from the 1980 cult classic to 1989’s “Jason Takes Manhattan”) and six “Children of the Corn” sequels.

As previously reported, over 200 episodes of AMC Networks’ television series are coming to Max in September at no additional cost to subscribers, spreading their availability beyond AMC+. Shows that are part of the partnership include “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” Season 1; ”Dark Winds” Season 1; “Gangs of London” Seasons 1 and 2; “Fear the Walking Dead” Seasons 1-7; “Killing Eve” Seasons 1-4; “A Discovery of Witches” Seasons 1-3; and “Ride with Norman Reedus” Seasons 1-5.

If fright flicks aren’t your thing,...

There’s an interesting experiment going on over at Max in September, as from the first of the month you’ll be able to find seven AMC+ series streaming for 60 days on the service. If you’ve been dying to check out some of their best shows but just haven’t had access to them, now’s your chance! Max will be streaming Fear the Walking Dead seasons 1-7, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire season one, Dark Winds season one, Gangs of London seasons 1-2, Ride with Norman Reedus seasons 1-5, A Discovery of Witches seasons 1-3, and Killing Eve seasons 1-4.

Also on Max this September is the original animated series Young Love, a Matthew A. Cherry project which seeks to expand on the critically acclaimed short film, Hair Love. Sam Jay has a new stand-up special on HBO, too. Sam Jay: Salute or Shoot Me will...

Elle Fanning, like her equally talented sister Dakota, have been two huge Hollywood stars since a very young age. The current protagonist of The Great has managed to make her own name for many years now, starring in big blockbusters like Maleficent, more independent projects like The Neon Demon, and even on the small screen with series like The Girl from Plainville or the already mentioned Hulu’s hit.

However, despite the myriad of titles and awards she's garnered throughout her career, and being recognized as one of the best young actresses in the industry, she may still have trouble landing some roles, especially if it’s in big franchises.

Speaking with Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Fanning confessed that she lost a role in something big a while back because of her social media numbers:

"I didn't get a part once for something big – and it...

Italy’s Kino Produzioni, the indie shingle that co-produced 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” is ramping up production with new films by emerging Italian filmmakers Carlo Sironi, Laura Luchetti and Irene Dionisio, as well as also Dutch director Michiel Van Erp and Argentine filmmakers María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat.

“We reached a turning point last year that started out well with the ‘Alcarràs’ victory,” said Kino chief Giovanni Pompili, speaking at the EFM. He noted that in 2022, the Rome-based outfit shot four films, “which for us was pretty challenging, but worked out well.”

Meanwhile, the Kino team has grown. Producer Lara Costa-Calzado, who has been working for a decade between the U.S. and Europe on films such as Eliza Hittman’s Silver Bear winner “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” Sally Potter’s “The Roads Not Taken” and Halina Rejin’s “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” has joined Kino as head of production.

In February 2023, Netflix will remove a bunch of movie and TV series from its library,

Netflix UK and Netflix US takes down numerous titles each month without fanfare, meaning that many things on your watchlist could suddenly disappear.

These removals are due to licencing deals coming to an end. Often, the titles make their way back to Netflix in the following year, but sometimes they leave to go to other platforms.

This month sees a selection of Netflix Originals being taken down, also.

To minimise surprise, we have put together a comprehensive list of everything being removed in both Netflix UK and US.

Find a full list of every movie and TV series being added to Netflix this month here.

Nb: The Independent compiled this list with help from What’s on Netflix.

UK

Movies

1 February

Amélie

Biking Borders

Christmas Under Wraps

The Cider House Rules

Collateral (2004)

Equilibrium

Event Horizon...

In February 2023, Netflix will remove a bunch of movie and TV series from its library,

Netflix UK and Netflix US takes down numerous titles each month without fanfare, meaning that many things on your watchlist could suddenly disappear.

These removals are due to licencing deals coming to an end. Often, the titles make their way back to Netflix in the following year, but sometimes they leave to go to other platforms.

This month sees a selection of Netflix Originals being taken down, also.

To minimise surprise, we have put together a comprehensive list of everything being removed in both Netflix UK and US.

Find a full list of every movie and TV series being added to Netflix this month here.

Nb: The Independent compiled this list with help from What’s on Netflix.

UK

Movies

1 February

Amélie

Biking Borders

Christmas Under Wraps

The Cider House Rules

Collateral (2004)

Equilibrium

Event Horizon...

In February 2023, Netflix will remove a bunch of movie and TV series from its library,

Netflix UK and Netflix US takes down numerous titles each month without fanfare, meaning that many things on your watchlist could suddenly disappear.

These removals are due to licencing deals coming to an end. Often, the titles make their way back to Netflix in the following year, but sometimes they leave to go to other platforms.

This month sees a selection of Netflix Originals being taken down, also.

To minimise surprise, we have put together a comprehensive list of everything being removed in both Netflix UK and US.

Find a full list of every movie and TV series being added to Netflix this month here.

Nb: The Independent compiled this list with help from What’s on Netflix.

UK

Movies

1 February

Amélie

Biking Borders

Christmas Under Wraps

The Cider House Rules

Collateral (2004)

Equilibrium

Event Horizon...

In February 2023, Netflix will remove a bunch of movie and TV series from its library,

Netflix UK and Netflix US takes down numerous titles each month without fanfare, meaning that many things on your watchlist could suddenly disappear.

These removals are due to licencing deals coming to an end. Often, the titles make their way back to Netflix in the following year, but sometimes they leave to go to other platforms.

This month sees a selection of Netflix Originals being taken down, also.

To minimise surprise, we have put together a comprehensive list of everything being removed in both Netflix UK and US.

Nb: The Independent compiled this list with help from What’s on Netflix.

UK

Movies

1 February

Amélie

Biking Borders

Christmas Under Wraps

The Cider House Rules

Collateral (2004)

Equilibrium

Event Horizon

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Guest House

Holmes & Watson

Hostel

The King’s Speech

Letters to Juliet

Love Happens...

Chris Rock makes a stop at the 2022 Venice Film Festival thanks to Sally Potter’s short film, “Look at Me.”

The 16-minute film stars Rock as a gala organizer who tries to rein in a stubborn drummer (Javier Bardem) ahead of the on-stage performance. Tap dancer Savion Glover also stars. “Look at Me” premieres Out of Competition at Venice.

Director Potter originally conceived the concept of the film as a short story to be featured in her 2020 film “The Roads Not Taken,” starring Bardem as a writer in the early stages of dementia. “Look at Me” was filmed in 2019 over the course of five days in London and New York. The short film is produced by Christopher Sheppard.

“When I got into the cutting room, I saw how dynamic these titans of the entertainment world are together, their volatile, fiery on-screen relationship offset by the rhythms of the brilliant tap dancer Savion Glover,...

As we inch closer into film festival season, there are a ton of promising new feature films that will surely warrant a lot of interest and attention. But one of the most notable films to premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival doesn't pass the 20-minute mark. Look at Me, the latest film from Sally Potter, is a 16-minute short film starring Chris Rock and Javier Bardem, while also featuring the accompaniment of actor/dancer Savion Glover. Previously part of Potter's most recent film, The Roads Not Taken, which is centered around a writer in the early stages of dementia, the Orlando director opted to make this sequence its own thing, and audiences can get a glimpse at the festival short below.

A new short film brings together an unlikely pairing.

This week, a teaser debuted for director Sally Potter’s new short “Look at Me”, which will have its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and stars Chris Rock and Javier Bardem, along with dancer-actor Savion Glover.

Read More: Chris Rock Reveals He Turned Down Offer To Host 2023 Oscars

“Rehearsals for a fundraising gala become the arena for a struggle between two men; one, the gala director and the other, a richly talented but unstable rock drummer,” the official synopsis reads. “As their battle for expression and control escalates against a relentless rhythmic backdrop, their public and private selves explosively collide.”

The teaser features a scene of intense confrontation between Rock and Bardem, giving a taste of the 16-minute short’s tone.

According to a statement from the director, the film was “originally conceived as a self-contained short story within a...

InterviewRevathi is right now busy with editing work of her new film, 'Salaam Venky'.CrisRevathiBarely 17, Asha walked into the house of a happy family next door and into Malayalam cinema more than 38 years ago. Bharathan, a legend among the 80s filmmakers, cast her to be the possessive young woman acting vengefully against an older woman in Kaattathe Kilikkoodu. Asha had become Revathi when she began acting, and it is as Revathi that Malaylis knew her and admired her through all these decades. Two days ago, when Revathi was announced the winner of the state award for best female actor, it became a moment of quiet pride for cinema lovers. It’s her first from the state, though she has won national awards for her role in Thevar Magan and as a director for Mitr, My Friend and Red Building Where The Sun Sets. She’s been active in Tamil and Hindi,...

Molly Shannon is sharing her memories of an upsetting encounter with the late child star Gary Coleman.   The actress appeared on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show where she was asked about meeting the Diff'rent Strokes star. She wrote about the alleged incident in her new memoir, Hello, Molly!   According to Shannon, Coleman invited her to his hotel's presidential suite where things got uncomfortable.   "I think he was like, 'Sit down [on the bed].' It was very sweet," she told Howard Stern on April 12. "And then he's, like, tickling me a little. This and that."   "I...

During the early 1990s, long before “SNL,” Molly Shannon conned her way into a small part on “Twin Peaks.”

When starting out in Hollywood, the “Saturday Night Live” alum used a fake name (Liz Stockwell) and pretended to work for playwright David Mamet. Shannon’s pal Eugene Pack co-ran the “Mamet Scam,” which ultimately led to Shannon appearing on David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks.”

“We were trying to figure out how we were going to get in the door as actors,” Shannon wrote in her memoir, “Hello Molly!,” available from HarperCollins on April 12. “How were we gonna bust in? It was too hard to just slip your picture under an agent’s door. A random headshot? No one was ever gonna call. Then we hit on an idea. Eugene had studied with David Mamet. He was (and is) this giant, hugely successful guy, very respected — a big-time playwright and screenwriter...

“Barons,” a surf and business drama series that plays this week at Series Mania, is a calling card for the newly re-structured Australian operations of TV giant Fremantle.

In recent weeks, leadership of the unscripted side of the business has been put in the hands of Eureka, a company in which it bought an increased shareholding last year. That leaves the remainder, under the management of Greg Woods, focused on high end drama and documentaries.

Insiders have called the new emphasis on premium drama and big factual pieces a new chapter for the company.

Other upcoming shows include the recently wrapped “Heartbreak High” for Netflix, “Significant Others” for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and “Jump” for local streamer Stan.

“These guys with very humble origins, in this tin pot town in Australia, become like Cain and Abel. They’re kind of friends and rivals. That works as a kind of ceiling.

Alba

Alba was being mounted back in September of 2019 and yet with no other developments we thought this was still in development so you can imagine our surprise to see the project listed as in post. Dating back to 1992’s Orlando with Tilda Swinton, Sally Potter‘s has pretty much checked off all the boxes in her lengthy career premiering at every major film fest and working with acting royalty. Berlin has been a home base for several of her most recent features including The Roads Not Taken and apparently Javier Bardem and Elle Fanning would have possibly been attached to a project which went into production with an Austin, Texas based Brexit-inspired comedy with cinematographer Robbie Ryan and production designer Carlos Conti on board.…...

Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Luke Grimes (Yellowstone), Nico Santos (Crazy Rich Asians) and Blythe Danner (I’ll See You in My Dreams) have signed on to star in Happiness for Beginners, a Netflix romantic comedy from writer-director Vicky Wight.

The film is based on Katherine Center’s novel of the same name and centers on Helen (Kemper), who signs up for a wilderness survival course a year after getting divorced. She discovers through this experience that in getting she has found herself.

Wight is producing the film with Geoff Linville and Berry Meyerowitz. Jeff Sackman and Larry Greenburg are its executive producers. Information on the roles to be played by Grimes, Santos and Danner has not yet been disclosed.

Kemper is a two-time Emmy nominee perhaps best known for her starring turn in Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and for her portrayal of Erin Hannon...

Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, Justin Kurzel’s Nitram, anthology feature drama Here Out West, and Jennifer Peedom’s River will each compete for CinefestOZ’s $100,000 Film Prize.

A jury of industry guests will award the honour at the festival, due to run August 25-29 in Western Australia’s South West hubs of Busselton, Augusta-Margaret River and Bunbury.

CinefestOZ chair Helen Shervington said this year’s finalists reflected the diversity and complexity of storytelling set for this year’s festival.

“I continue to be impressed by the calibre and originality of film submissions to the festival each year, and I’m proud to say the 2021 Film Prize finalists are fantastic,” she said.

“We can’t wait for our audiences to be back at the cinema watching these films – all of which will have their Wa premieres at CinefestOZ.

“The range and creativity shown across...

Exclusive: This just in: former STX co-president of marketing Alissa Grayson is heading to Warner Bros. as their new EVP of Global Publicity.

Prior to STXfilms, Grayson was at Universal for 22-years as EVP of publicity, working on campaigns for Despicable Me, Fast & Furious, Pitch Perfect, Bourne, Les Miserables, Trainwreck, Ted, Bridesmaids, and Neighbors. She joined STX in May 2017. Grayson was at STX for their Jennifer Lopez’s biggest live-action hit Hustlers ($105M domestic), as well as the studio’s licensed feature The Upside starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston ($108.2M WW). Other titles she worked on include The Upside, Bad Moms Christmas ($130.5M WW), Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game and Guy Ritche’s The Gentlemen, which was STX and Miramax’s last big release before Covid with $115.1M. Grayson previously worked with current Warner Bros. Worldwide Marketing President Josh Goldstine when he was at Universal. She will report to him,...

NFL legend, Super Bowl champion and Fox Sports and ESPN football analyst Reggie Bush has signed with A3 Artists Agency.

Bush retired from the NFL after 11 seasons in 2017 and away from the game has appeared on TV shows like the Mike and Molly comedy and in national TV commercials. Bush’s face has appeared on the covers of national magazines like Sports Illustrated, Essence and Men’s Fitness.

After making a name playing college football at USC, Bush was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the 2006 NFL draft and played with that team for five years. He went on to ...

NFL legend, Super Bowl champion and Fox Sports and ESPN football analyst Reggie Bush has signed with A3 Artists Agency.

Bush retired from the NFL after 11 seasons in 2017 and away from the game has appeared on TV shows like the Mike and Molly comedy and in national TV commercials. Bush’s face has appeared on the covers of national magazines like Sports Illustrated, Essence and Men’s Fitness.

After making a name playing college football at USC, Bush was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the 2006 NFL draft and played with that team for five years. He went on to ...

After working as a writer for nearly two decades across projects like Please Like Me, Ready For This, Dance Academy, Molly and The Secret Life of Us, Liz Doran had been curious about producing.

Yet she regards her first producing credit, Sbs short-form drama The Tailings, as almost accidental.

Set in Tasmania, the 6 x 10 minute series, which premiered on Sbs On Demand this weekend, follows a troubled teen, Jas (Tegan Stimson), who launches an investigation into her dad’s death. Her accusations put her into conflict with her new teacher Ruby (Mabel Li), who is trying to make an impression during her first posting.

The script is penned by first-time writer Caitlin Richardson, from Tasmania, to whom Doran was script editor and mentor from the project’s early stages.

During that early development, Doran and then Sbs head of scripted drama Sue Masters struck up a conversation about who should produce the project.

Golden Globe nominated actress Elle Fanning has joined the cast of Barry Levinson’s film about the making of Paramount’s classic film, The Godfather.

Fanning will play actress Ali MacGraw, who was married to Paramount’s head of production Robert Evans.

Just after winning the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer, MacGraw starred in Paramount’s blockbuster hit Love Story, for which she was nominated for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe for Best Actress. She would later meet Steve McQueen on the set of The Getaway and the two would fall in love and eventually marry. Deadline’s Peter Bart was the VP of Production during the Evans’ regime at Paramount when The Godfather was being made.

The feature is based on The Blacklist screenplay by Andrew Farotte that has been re-developed with Levinson, who will direct. Fanning joins previously announced actors Oscar Isaac (Francis Coppola), Jake Gyllenhaal...

Elle Fanning has joined the cast of Barry Levinson’s “Francis and the Godfather” about the making of “The Godfather.” She will portray actress Ali MacGraw in the film.

Fanning joins a cast that includes Oscar Isaac as Francis Ford Coppola and Jake Gyllenhaal as Paramount executive Robert Evans. MacGraw, who is known for her role in “Love Story,” was married to Evans at the time of the production and had just won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer. MacGraw would later meet Steve McQueen on the set of “The Getaway,” fall in love and eventually marry.

Elisabeth Moss also stars in the film as Eleanor Coppola, the wife of Francis.

“Francis and the Godfather” is directed by Levinson and is based on a Blacklist screenplay by Andrew Farotte, with re-developments by Levinson. The film depicts the chaotic behind-the-scenes drama it took to make one of the greatest movies...

Dakota and Elle Fanning have formed their own production company, Lewellen Pictures. In addition, the sisters have signed a first look TV deal with Civic Center Media in affiliation with MRC Television.

The deal furthers Elle’s relationship with Civic Center and MRC, as she currently stars in and executive produces the Hulu series “The Great,” which the companies produce.

Lewellen Pictures will develop both feature film and television projects, as well as other media including podcasts. Their first project under the first look deal will be a series adaptation of the Megan Miranda novel “The Last House.” Sarah Walker is attached to write and executive produce the show, which is described as a crime thriller about an intimate friendship between two girls who fall violently in love with each other’s differences, which, in the end, create doubt, betrayal and tragedy. The Fannings will executive produce alongside Brittany Kahan...

Elle Fanning, star and executive producer of Civic Center Media/MRC Television’s Hulu series The Great, is expanding her relationship with the indie studio partnership. She and her sister Dakota Fanning have teamed to launch Lewellen Pictures production company and have entered a first-look television deal with the studio, a joint venture between UTA and MRC. The Fanning sisters plan to develop feature film and television projects, as well as other forms of media, including podcasts.

Their first project under the pact is an adaptation of Megan Miranda’s bestselling novel The Last House Guest, which is being developed as a crime thriller series. Sarah Walker will write and executive produce the series. It centers on an intimate friendship between two girls who fall violently in love with each other’s differences, which, in the end, create doubt, betrayal and tragedy. The Fannings will...

Michael Gudinski, founder and chairman of the Mushroom Group, died overnight at home in Melbourne. He was 68.

One of the key figures in the Australian music industry, Gudinski started Mushroom Records in 1972 at just 20 years old.

Over the decades, the label worked with some the biggest names in Australian music, such as Jimmy Barnes, Kylie Minogue, Archie Roach, Hunters & Collectors, Paul Kelly, The Angels and Yothu Yindi.

The Mushroom Group also grew to become an entertainment empire, with brands across touring, record labels, publishing, merchandising, booking agencies, film and television production and creative services.

Mushroom Pictures, its production and distribution arm, was formed in 1993.

Gudinski was the executive producer on feature films such as Chopper, Horseplay, Gettin’ Square, Wolf Creek, Macbeth, Storm Warning, Cedar Boys, Mad Bastards, Killing Ground and Boys in the Trees, as well as Seven miniseries Molly.

His most recent project was Stan’s eight-part series The Gloaming,...

Starz has acquired the US and Canadian rights to The Gloaming, with the eight-episode drama to premiere across each of the cable network’s platforms next month.

Filmed in Tasmania, The Gloaming stars Emma Booth and Ewen Leslie as two detectives with a tragic past that investigate a brutal murder.

In a journey to find the truth, their fate is coerced by the ghosts of the unsettled dead that linger in the liminal space between life and death — known as “The Gloaming.”

The series also features Martin Henderson (Grey’s Anatomy), Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road), Rena Owen (The Orville), Josephine Blazier (True History of the Kelly Gang), and Matt Testro (Nowhere Boys).

Written and created by Victoria Madden, who also serves as showrunner, The Gloaming is a co-production between Sweet Potato Films and John Molloy’s 2 Johns Productions and ABC Signature, a division of Disney Television Studios.

There are directorial contributions from including Greg McLean,...

Hollywood stars Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are in talks to play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in an upcoming film directed by Aaron Sorkin.

If the deal is sealed, Kidman and Bardem will be seen as television titans Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the creatives and stars behind series "I Love Lucy", reports hollywoodreporter.com.

Titled "Being The Ricardos", the film will take place during a production week on the set of "I Love Lucy". The couple will face challenges that could end their careers and their marriage.

Sorkin wrote the film, which is being backed by Amazon Studios.

It is not clear when the production will start as the Covid-19 pandemic has shut down most projects filming in the US.

On the work front, Kidman was most recently seen in drama series "The Undoing" alongside Hugh Grant. She also featured in Ryan Murphy's musical "The Prom". She...

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are in negotiations to play the iconic Hollywood couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, respectively, in the upcoming film “Being the Ricardos,” directed by Aaron Sorkin.

The movie will take place during a production week on the set of “I Love Lucy,” starting with a Monday table read through an audience shoot on Friday. Ball and Arnaz will face challenges that could end their careers and their marriage.

Sorkin has written the screenplay and will direct the film for Amazon Studios and Escape Artists. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch of Escape Artists will produce. Escape Artists’ Jenna Block and David Bloomfield will serve as executive producers, alongside Stuart Besser, Lucie Arnaz, Desi Arnaz Jr., and Lauren Lohman.

A production start date isn’t clear as the Covid-19 pandemic has shut down most projects filming in the U.S.

Kidman most recently starred in...

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are set to star as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in a new film being set up at Amazon Studios, “Being the Ricardos,” from director Aaron Sorkin. The Academy Award-winning scribe also wrote the film. The news was first reported by Deadline. An Amazon rep confirmed the project to IndieWire, though deals for the actors are still closing.

Sorkin was reportedly originally only going to write the film, but decided to stay on to direct after his experience helming “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” a major Oscar contender this year at rival streaming giant Netflix. Originally, Cate Blanchett was circling the script to play the leading role of Lucille Ball, according to reports, but has now been replaced by Kidman. Fellow Aussie actress Blanchett was in talks to take on the role as early as 2017, when it was first bought by Amazon.

“Being the Ricardos...

Exclusive: Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are in negotiations to play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Amazon and Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos, the film about the relationship between the I Love Lucy stars. Having penned the screenplay, Academy Award winner Sorkin also will direct the film from Amazon Studios and Escape Artists.

The film is set during one production week of I Love Lucy — Monday table read through Friday audience filmin g— when Lucy and Desi face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage.

Escape Artists’ Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch will produce. Executive producers are Jenna Block, David Bloomfield of Escape Artists, Stuart Besser, Lucie Arnaz, Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Lauren Lohman.

Sorkin originally was going to pen the script only, when Cate Blanchett was circling, but after enjoying himself on the drama The Trial of the Chicago 7,...

Like many of its counterparts worldwide, the Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (Ficg), Mexico’s largest film festival, faced the quandary of whether to go online, reschedule or cancel altogether because of the pandemic.

It opted for a rescheduled hybrid 35th edition which would serve those either unable or afraid to travel and those without an internet connection in Mexico.

“We struck a deal with Canal 44 to have them air some of our films,” said festival director Estrella Araiza, who is adamant that despite the challenges and complications, the film community will prevail in the end. “We have to believe in cinema,” she declared. Outdoor screenings and restricted indoor cinema screenings are on the schedule while most of the master classes and conferences are online.

Ficg was pushed from its traditional March dates to the fall, where it’s now been running over Nov. 20-27.

Its inauguration on Friday Nov.

Good grief! Charlie Brown’s famous “Peanuts” holiday specials, once available in broad fashion each year via ABC and CBS, are now caught up in some of the complexities of the streaming era.

Apple, which in October unveiled its new rights to classic properties like “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” as well as “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” for its streaming-video Apple TV service, said it would make the specials available on PBS and its PBS Kids outlet, adopting a “windowing” model for a classic kids property that has begun to take root in a new era for the TV business.

Apple in 2018 established ties to Charles Schulz’ time-honored “Peanuts” empire, which has its origins in a daily comic strip about characters like Lucy, Linus and Peppermint Patty. The pact intially called for Apple to develop original series, specials and shorts, including one featuring...

As the American Film Market ended Friday, cautious theatrical buyers eyed two kinds of projects — very big, or very small, with A-list casts either way — while AFM’s home-entertainment regulars stocked up on pandemic-friendly VOD titles.

With 562 exhibitors from 48 countries, organizers say that online presence was more than could have attended AFM in Santa Monica. In a repeat of their effort at Cannes, sales agencies organized a parallel market, this time with coalition of 30 independent film sales agents, production companies, and financiers.

“There is so much activity because it has been a very changed marketplace over the last six months,” Deb McIntosh, SVP, Advisory, Film Group, Endeavor Content, told IndieWire. “People have adapted to PVOD pricing, shortened windows, and are taking advantage of the open theater space.”

While many buyers found ways to make the current environment work for them, the harsh realities of the pandemic continue to make buyers...

Sometimes during a competitive Oscar season, a trend emerges around a shared topic. Remember the 71st Academy Awards rewarding the best films of 1998 when three out of the five Best Picture candidates revolved around World War II: “Life Is Beautiful,” “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Thin Red Line.” One of the recurring themes of 2020 is dementia, an insidious disease if ever there was one as it affects not only the patient, but also their relationships with loved ones. There are at least six movies, including one documentary, that revolve around such memory loss this year:

“The Father” (Sony Pictures Classics) – This Sundance Film Festival stand-out pits two Oscar-winning actors, Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, against one another as a senile parent and the daughter who moves in with him. French director Florian Zeller co-wrote the screenplay based on his own play. Critic Todd McCarthy (Hollywood Reporter) declared it “the best...

Veteran Australian talent agent Mark Morrissey is capitalizing on the global demand for content and is launching production company First Option Pictures.

TV drama series, “Radicals” is the first project to emerge from a slate intended to span film, television internet, social media and podcasts.

“Radicals” is an anthology series with the pilot script by Los Angeles-based screenwriter and producer Jonathan Shapiro. The story follows Harry Bridges, a little-known yet historic figure who became the champion of the U.S. labor movement in San Francisco in the 1930s and for decades thereafter was the target of anti-unionist politics, prosecution and deportation for his efforts.

“Bridges was born in Melbourne, Australia and never lost his accent,” Morrissey notes. “Discovering and bringing to life these kinds of stories – at once intimate and global – is at the heart of First Option Pictures.”

The company is also developing an Audibles Original 10-part drama series audiobook,...

Mark Morrissey.

Morrissey Management’s First Option Pictures expects to announce its first three projects – all TV series – in the next few weeks.

Two are international series and the other is local but all have Australian elements, Mark Morrissey told Screen Producers Australia CEO Matt Deaner in a webinar on Monday.

Morrissey said he launched the film and TV production company – his second following a joint venture with Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Pictures – 18 months ago with a Melbourne-based partner, whom he did not name.

One series is based on a book about a Melbourne-born trade unionist who went to San Francisco in the 1930s and was the target of five court cases. “He changed the face of unionism but no one in Australia knows about this man,” he said.

Morrissey commissioned a pilot script from an international writer who in turn introduced him to his CAA agent, who is packaging the project.

Christopher Nolan’s thriller stays top for 4th weekend.

Rank Film (Distributor) Three-day gross (Sep 18-20) Total gross to date Week 1 Tenet (Warner Bros) £780,000 £13.9m 4 2 After We Collided (Shear Entertainment) £597,979 £1.7m 3 3 Bill And Ted Face The Music (Warner Bros) £319,000 £460,000 1 4 André Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music (Piece Of Magic) £124,455 £124,455 1 5 The New Mutants (Disney) £106,209 £1.3m 2

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.29

The romantic drama After We Collided recorded the best per-location average at the UK & Ireland box office this weekend, bringing in £1,359 for each cinema it played in.

The film scored a second successive weekend increase, going up 35% on its previous...

"For me, my longevity will be opening the door for others." Issa Rae has built her ever growing entertainment empire on taking a chance on emerging talent—much like Pharrell Williams did when he helped bring her web series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, to the mainstream. In fact, it's what brought Issa and Yvonne Orji together long before their onscreen friendship in Insecure took a turn for the worse during season 4 of the hit HBO series. Before Insecure's 2016 premiere, Issa convinced HBO execs to cast Yvonne—who at that point in her career had never...

The Television Critics Association said Monday that HBO’s limited series Watchmen led the way with six wins at the group’s annual TCA Awards. The series, which also leads with 26 Emmy nominations this year, picked up honors including Outstanding Movie, Miniseries, Or Special; Outstanding New Program; Individual Achievement In Drama for Regina King and the group’s leading Program Of The Year award.

HBO also fared well with Succession, which won Outstanding Achievement In Drama, and A Black Lady Sketch Show, which earned Outstanding Achievement In Sketch/Variety Show.

Pop TV’s Schitt’s Creek was named won for Outstanding Achievement In Comedy, with Catherine O’Hara taking the Individual Achievement In Comedy award.

Here’s the full winners list:

Individual Achievement In Drama

Regina King

Individual Achievement In Comedy

Catherine O’Hara

Outstanding Achievement In News and Information

The Last Dance (ESPN)

Outstanding Achievement...

Bust out the brooms because “Watchmen” made it a clean sweep at the Television Critics Association Awards, winning all four of the categories for which it was nominated on Monday, including Program of the Year.

The seminal HBO series also bagged Outstanding Achievement in Movie, Miniseries or Special, Outstanding New Program and Individual Achievement in Drama for Regina King. “Watchmen” bested “Better Call Saul,” “Mrs. America,” “Schitt’s Creek,” “Succession” and “Unbelievable” for the top program honor. This is the third year in a row that one show has won at least three awards after “The Americans” in 2018 and “Fleabag” last year.

Because the TCA summer press tour, during which the TCA Awards ceremony takes place, was canceled due to Covid-19, the winners sent in acceptance speeches (which won’t be released publicly).

In his speech, “Watchmen” creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof shared that his favorite parts of the TCA...

K-pop event cinema title ‘Break The Silence’ performed well.

RankFilm (Distributor)Three-day gross (Sep 11-13)Total gross to date Week 1 Tenet (Warner Bros) £1.2m £12.5m 3 2 After We Collided (Shear Entertainment) £443,328 £763,330 2 3 Break The Silence (Trafalgar Releasing) £249,997 £374,060 1 4 The New Mutants (Disney) £200,502 £1.1m 2 5 The Broken Hearts Gallery (Sony) £80,000 £80,000 1

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.29

Young adult sequel After We Collided scored an enormous 152% increase on its previous weekend total, as blockbuster Tenet stayed top for a third consecutive session.

Released in the UK and Ireland through Shear Entertainment, the second in the After series grossed £443,328 from Friday to Sunday, up from £174,645 last weekend.

Despite...

In Sally Potter’s sad drama, Javier Bardem gives a fervent performance as an author plagued by the past after he suffers a stroke

Sally Potter’s The Roads Not Taken is a sad, painful, self-conscious vignette of a film with forthright performances; it’s a chamber piece in many ways, but with bold flashback excursions that come close to causing its emotional engine to overheat.

Javier Bardem plays Leo, a writer in New York who has suffered a stroke and now lives, by choice, in a grim single room, attended by a carer, Xenia (Branka Katic). The only person who still appears to love him is his daughter, Molly (Elle Fanning), who one chaotic day has to take him to the dentist and optician, while dealing (via her cellphone) with a stressful work situation.

To coincide with the release this week of The Roads Not Taken, the stirring new drama from acclaimed writer/director Sally Potter, we sat down with the filmmaker to chat about this deeply personal film.

The film tells the story of Leo (Javier Bardem), who lives in New York City and is suffering from dementia. His daughter, Molly (Elle Fanning), comes to see him to take him to the dentist and the optometrist. While Molly struggles to help Leo with these appointments, Leo is reliving parallel versions of his life in his mind, including a life with his ex-wife Dolores in Mexico, and a time spent in Greece.

In our interview, Potter talks to us about bringing such a personal film to the screen, telling a story that goes somewhy to decipher the side effects of dementia on the mind and body and why casting Javier Bardem and Elle Fanning...

Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” suffered a precipitous 60% decline, but stayed on top of the U.K. and Ireland box-office in its second week.

The Warner Bros. release collected £2,151,490 from 613 locations and has now amassed £10,006,540 in the territory, according to final numbers released by Comscore.

Disney’s “X-Men” universe film “The New Mutants” collected £686,407 from 538 sites on debut.

Disney holdover “Onward” declined 27%, collecting £135,669 from 456 locations, and now has a total of £6,942,823.

Altitude Film Distribution’s “Unhinged,” starring Russell Crowe, declined 14% to collect £97,221 from 351 sites and has now grossed £1,436,244 in six weeks of release.

Rounding off the top five is Vertigo U.K.’s “100% Wolf,” which declined 31% to record £96,970 from 455 locations in its sixth week of release. The film has now collected £1,026,699.

Shear Entertainment’s young adult romance “After We Collided” debuted at sixth position with £65,797 from a limited 22 site release.

Ladj Ly’s Oscar-nominee and Cannes-winner “Les Miserables,” from Altitude,...

Through a bout of coronavirus and re-edits that saw Chris Rock cut entirely, it has been a bumpy road for the director’s new film

Sally Potter fell ill as soon as she reached France. It was March and, by now, people knew the implications of a fever. The director could have caught coronavirus in any number of ways. In February, her latest film, The Roads Not Taken, premiered at the Berlin film festival. Then she flew to New York, promoting the US release as the city lurched into panic. She re-crossed the Atlantic to London, before leaving again for the remote Auvergne, west of Lyon. Her temperature rocketed. “I spent a lot of time future-gazing. You lie there wondering where you’re going to end up.”

Potter is still in France. Her sickness was the kind they call mild – grim weeks, a slow recovery. Someone close to her died...

Indie titles hoping to capitalise on blockbuster absence.

UK-Ireland, opening Friday August 14

Picturehouse Entertainment heads the new titles this weekend with Shannon Murphy’s Australian comedy-drama Babyteeth in 140 locations.

The debut feature of theatre and TV drama director Murphy played in Competition at Venice last year, where Toby Wallace won the Marcello Mastroianni award for emerging actor/actress. It most recently won the top prize at the 19th Transylvania International Film Festival last weekend.

Adapted by Rita Kalnejais from her stage play of the same name, the film centres on Milla (Eliza Scanlen), a seriously ill teenager, who falls in...

Netflix has dropped the first trailer for Antonio Campos’ ‘The Devil All The Time’ featuring an all-star cast including Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson.

Based on the novel by Donald Ray Pollock, the film is set In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighbouring backwoods, sinister characters — an unholy preacher (Robert Pattinson), twisted couple (Jason Clarke and Riley Keough), and a crooked sheriff (Sebastian Stan) — converge around young Arvin Russell (Tom Holland) as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.

Directed by Antonio Campos, the film stars Tom Holland, Bill Skarsgård, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke, Sebastian Stan, Haley Bennett, Harry Melling, Eliza Scanlen with Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson.

Also in trailers – Javier Bardem struggles with a mental break in trailer for ‘The Roads Not Taken’

The film premieres on Netflix September 16th.

The post Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson star in first trailer for ‘The Devil All The Time...