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Sean Baker’s film took five Academy Awards on Sunday evening. Here’s how it triggered the landslide

• Anora dominates the Oscars – here’s the complete list of winners

Anora is officially film of the year, crowned supreme at the Oscars, just as it was at Cannes when it was anointed with the Palme d’Or last May. That’s a long path to glory, and a fairly untrodden one. Parasite made it five years ago; the previous film to do so was Marty in 1955.

Anyway: a small number. Acquired by Neon for the US before Cannes, Anora opened there last October in an effective rollout. Half of its earnings were made stateside, with the rest predominantly in Europe, and France – which takes Cannes seriously – proving the major market. It has also done brisk trade in Russia ($3m so far), which can’t be said for a lot of the other nominees,...

Hollywood icon Julia Roberts and Ad Astra's James Gray are bringing Kill Your Darlings to the silver screen.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Julia Roberts has officially signed on as the latest star involved in the live-action feature film adaptation of author Peter Swanson's upcoming novel - Kill Your Darlings. The film is slated to be produced by Roberts alongside partners Lisa Gillan and Mirsa Yeres Gill via Red Om Films, Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh via Tribeca Studios, and Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt via United Artists.

RelatedHappy Gilmore 2 Teaser Reveals Behind the Scenes Look at Netflix Sequel

Netflix takes audiences behind-the-scenes of Happy Gilmore 2 for a look at all the action on the set of the hotly-anticipated Adam Sandler sequel.

Per HarperCollins' official synopsis for the novel, Kill Your Darlings follows Thom and Wendy Graves, a married couple of 25 years who spend their time together in...

Mubi has unveiled their first streaming lineup of the new year and they are kicking things off in a major way with the streaming debut of Víctor Erice’s masterpiece Close Your Eyes. Additional highlights include the first digital release of Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias’ Berlinale and NYFF selection Pepe, with the debuts of Luca Guadagnino and James Gray also in the lineup. After releasing the biggest album of 2024, one can get a deeper glimpse into the life and work of Charli Xcx with the documentary Charli Xcx: Alone Together.

Recently naming Close Your Eyes one of the best films of 2024, Z.W. Lewis said, “Eríce’s latest is the ultimate cinephile catnip: the triumphant return of a director known to only make masterpieces, a film filled with in-group references and nods to cinema history (including a lengthy performance of a song from a Howard Hawks film), and...

Ever since his Venice Silver Lion winning first movie Little Odessa way back in 1995, James Gray has time and again proved himself one of America's most introspective, thoughtful filmmakers. From the railroad drama of The Yards, to inner and outer Odyssean epic The Lost City Of Z, to space bound father-son fictive Ad Astra, Gray's movies are always worth paying close attention to. Now, having made perhaps his most personal film yet in the shape of 2022's Armageddon Time, the auteur is reuniting with his leads from that picture and welcoming a new face into the Gray fray for his latest. Per Deadline's reporting, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong are set to star alongside Adam Driver in Paper Tiger, an original crime thriller directed and penned by Gray himself.

According to Deadline, the movie — which is headed for the American Film Market next week — follows two brothers (presumably but not...

Adam Driver, Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway will star for James Gray in the crime drama Paper Tiger, which The Veterans is introducing to buyers at AFM next week.

Leone Film Group will fully finance the project, with Raffaella Leone producing alongside Rodrigo Teixeira under his Rt Features.The Veterans represents international sales and CAA Media Finance handles US rights.

Principal photography is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2025 on the story of two brothers pursuing the American Dream who get involved in a scheme that turns out to be too good to be true.

As they try...

James Gray, the director of “Ad Astra,” has revealed his next film, an original screenplay and crime drama called “Paper Tiger.”

Gray’s latest film, his ninth feature, will star Adam Driver and will reunite him with his stars from 2022’s “Armageddon Time,” Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway.

“Paper Tiger” is described as a tense and gritty story about two brothers pursuing the American Dream, only to become entangled in a scheme that turns out to be too good to be true. As they try to navigate their way through an ever-more dangerous world of corruption and violence, they find themselves and their family brutally terrorized by the Russian “Mafiya.”

The film is being launched to buyers at next week’s AFM, with CAA Media Finance handling U.S. rights and Vincent Maraval and Kim Fox’s The Veterans handling international sales. The worldwide rights to the film are available.

It's a big casting day in Hollywood, but this might be the biggest and juiciest story so far as James Gray has assembled a sensational leading trio for his crime drama thriller, as per an exclusive report by Deadline. The outlet is reporting that Oscar nominee Adam Driver, Emmy and Tony winner Jeremy Strong and Oscar winner Anne Hathaway have all signed on to Gray's next film, Paper Tiger, which is set to go out for sale at next week's American Film Market. The genre is reminiscent of Gray's previous gritty and grounded thrillers Little Odessa and We Own The Night. The movie is set to begin shooting in the first quarter of 2025.

Exclusive: Amid a surfeit of horror projects heading to next week’s American Film Market, here instead comes a legit blue chip crime-drama-thriller in the shape of James Gray’s next movie, Paper Tiger, which will star Oscar nominee Adam Driver, Emmy and Tony winner Jeremy Strong and Oscar winner Anne Hathaway.

This is the type of project buyers we’ve spoken to this week have been crying out for. Something elevated. Five of Gray’s films have competed for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Based on Gray’s original screenplay, the story is set to follow two brothers who pursue the American Dream—only to become entangled in a scheme that turns out to be too good to be true. As they try to navigate their way through an ever-more dangerous world of corruption and violence, they find themselves and their family brutally terrorized by the Russian “Mafiya.

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight continues to deliver on his claims of delivering a high-level cast for Netflix's big-screen adaptation of the titular BBC series. The upcoming film adds a notable Oscar nominee to its ranks.

According to Deadline, the Peaky Blinders movie has added acclaimed actor Tim Roth to an increasingly star-studded cast. The Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction star joins the World War II-set film in an undisclosed role.

Related Everything We Know About Cillian Murphys Peaky Blinders Movie (So Far)

Peaky Blinders was a hit Netflix series that ended on a high note. That said, a new movie is coming that will properly close out the series.

Roth earned Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Golden Globe nods for his portrayal of Archibald Cunningham in the 1995 historical biographical drama, Rob Roy, featuring alongside Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange. He appeared in other notable movies such as Four Rooms,...

French acting legend Isabelle Huppert, who is president of the Venice Film Festival jury this year, was joined by her panelists as artistic director Alberto Barbera hosted the opening press conference for the 81st running of the event this morning. It’s a different look this year, with no one sporting Writers Guild strike T-shirts à la 2023.

This morning’s session was brief but earnest, with many of the jury members speaking about the concerns around the state of contemporary cinema.

“I’m worried about the things everyone is worried about. Making sure that cinema continues to live because it is very weak now,” Huppert said during the session.

“It’s very difficult to make a film. A film is not just an individual effort. It’s really something we deliver to the world. So I am concerned about whether our world will still connect with people. That’s why...

The International Jury for this year’s Venice International Film Festival has been finalized after the previous confirmation of French actress Isabelle Huppert as its chair.

Now, American director and screenwriter James Gray, British director and screenwriter Andrew Haigh, Polish director, screenwriter, and producer Agnieszka Holland, and Brazilian director-screenwriter Kleber Mendonça Filho are the latest additions to the jury. They will join Mauritanian director, screenwriter and producer Abderrahmane Sissako, Italian director-screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore, German director-screenwriter Julia von Heinz and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

The prestigious Golden Lion for best film and other awards will be revealed during the festival’s closing ceremony on Sept. 7.

Gray made his directorial debut in 1994 with Little Odessa, which received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. His other projects include The Yards (2000), starring Joaquin Phoenix, Two Lovers (2008) and The Immigrant (2013). The Lost City of Z had its world premiere at the New York...

Filmmakers James Gray, Andrew Haigh and Agnieszka Holland have joined the main competition jury of the 81st Venice Film Festival (August 28-September 7).

They are joined by Brazilian director and screenwriter Kleber Mendonça Filho; Mauritanian director, screenwriter and producer Abderrahmane Sissako; Italian director and screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore; German director and screenwriter Julia von Heinz; and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

As previously announced, the jury will be chaired by Isabelle Huppert, and award the Golden Lion for best film and the other official awards.

Gray’s Ad Astra screened in competition at Venice in 2019, and his directorial debut Little Odessa received the...

Pluto TV, Paramount’s free streaming service, has revealed its May highlights. The Pluto TV May 2024 schedule includes Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month programming, more anime content, new channels, and new film additions.

Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service, delivering hundreds of live linear channels and thousands of titles on-demand to a global audience.

The Emmy Award-winning service curates a diverse lineup of channels in partnership with hundreds of international media companies. It offers a wide array of genres, languages, and categories featuring movies, television series, sports, news, lifestyle, kids, and much more.

Pluto TV can be easily accessed and streamed across mobile, web, and connected TV devices. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Pluto TV’s growing international footprint extends across three continents and over 35 markets.

Pluto TV May 2024 Programming

Asian American, Native Hawaiian, And Pacific Islander Heritage Month

To pay tribute, Pluto TV...

Miky Lee, vice chair of Korean media giant Cj, is set to give the USC School of Cinematic Arts 2024 commencement address, organizers said Tuesday.

As a pioneer of the Korean movie wave, Lee has championed Korean directors like Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon Ho, and has executive producer credits that include Lady Vengeance, The Host, Snowpiercer, The Handmaiden and Parasite, the latter of which was the first non-English-language film to win the Oscar for best picture.

She will give the commencement address at the graduation ceremony set for May 10 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

“Miky Lee is a true pioneer and ambassador of collaborative global filmmaking, and we are so happy to have her share her insight and expertise with our graduating students,” Elizabeth M. Daley, dean of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, said in a statement.

Organizers also announced that the veteran Hollywood director, writer and...

Metrograph programmer Lydia Ogwang loves the balcony seats in the larger of the theater’s two screens. There’s something about having a visceral sense of the scale of the theater by being perched above the main floor. It’s easy to feel connected to the screening experience — even easier when you’re close enough to the booth that you can peek in and see the projectionist changing reels of the celluloid prints shown at the New York independent movie theater. But now, as part of Metrograph’s latest “Beach Bodied” series combining two great tastes that go great together — the beach and crime dramas — moviegoers now have the chance to see a brand-new 4K restoration of Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 classic “Point Break” up on a big screen, no reel changes needed.

Breaking down the merits of film vs. digital in a single paragraph, or single article, would be like...

January is one of the biggest months of the year for independent film, with hundreds of film critics descending upon the Sundance Film Festival to discover the works of up-and-coming directors. But for those of us who can’t make the trek to Park City, Utah, there are plenty of independent movies to enjoy from the comfort of our homes.

This month, there’s a particularly big selection of independent classics to choose from on streaming, particularly if you’re subscribed to the Criterion Channel. In celebration of the approaching festival, Criterion is hosting a massive selection of past Sundance favorites, including the 1968 experimental documentary “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One.” Other favorites in the selection include “Blood Simple,” “Stranger Than Paradise,” “The Times of Harvey Milk,” “Desert Hearts,” “Working Girls,” “Paris Is Burning,” “Mississippi Masala,” “Slacker,” “Hoop Dreams,” and “The Doom Generation.” Other major indie favorites on the streamer this January include...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson)

A film that feels uprooted from deep beneath the earth, Raven Jackson’s poetic, patient debut is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Tethered around the life of Mack, a Black woman from Mississippi, as we witness glimpses of her childhood, teenage years, and beyond, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt becomes a sensory experience unlike anything else this year. Shot in beautiful 35mm by Jomo Fray and edited by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s collaborator Lee Chatametikool, there’s a reverence for nature and joy for human connection that seems all too rarified in today’s landscape of American filmmaking. – Jordan R.

Where to Stream: VOD...

Catering directly to my interests, the Criterion Channel’s January lineup boasts two of my favorite things: James Gray and cats. In the former case it’s his first five features (itself a terrible reminder he only released five movies in 20 years); the latter shows felines the respect they deserve, from Kuroneko to The Long Goodbye, Tourneur’s Cat People and Mick Garris’ Sleepwalkers. Meanwhile, Ava Gardner, Bertrand Tavernier, Isabel Sandoval, Ken Russell, Juleen Compton, George Harrison’s HandMade Films, and the Sundance Film Festival get retrospectives.

Restorations of Soviet sci-fi trip Ikarie Xb 1, The Unknown, and The Music of Regret stream, as does the recent Plan 75. January’s Criterion Editions are Inside Llewyn Davis, Farewell Amor, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and (most intriguingly) the long-out-of-print The Man Who Fell to Earth, Blu-rays of which go for hundreds of dollars.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

Back By Popular Demand

The Graduate,...

Vanessa Redgrave To Be Feted At European Film Awards

Vanessa Redgrave will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th European Film Awards this December. Across six decades, the actress has ratcheted up more than 150 film and TV credits. Having first achieved fame as Rosalind in a 1961 a televized Royal Shakespeare Company performance of As You Like It, she broke out in cinema in Karel Reisz’s 1966 comedy Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment. Redgrave won Best Actress in Cannes for the role and was also Bafta and Oscar nominated. Other key early credits include Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up, Reisz’s Isadora, Charles Jarrott’s Mary, Queen Of Scots, for which she won a Special David at the Italian David di Donatello Awards; Fred Zinnemann’s Julia, for which she won an Oscar and James Ivory’s The Bostonians and Howards End and James Gray’s Little Odessa.

Award

British actor Vanessa Redgrave will receive the European Lifetime Achievement award for her outstanding body of work at the European Film Awards.

Hailing from an illustrious family of actors, Redgrave’s first lead in “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment” (1966), by Karel Reisz, won her best actress at Cannes and scored BAFTA and Oscar nominations. She returned to Cannes in the following year as Jane, the mysterious woman in the park in “Blow Up” by Michelangelo Antonioni.

More Oscar nominations followed – in 1969 for her performance as Isadora Duncan in “Isadora” by Reisz, which again won her best actress at Cannes, and in 1972 for “Mary, Queen of Scots, by Charles Jarrott – which won her a special David at Italy’s David di Donatello Awards. Her performance in Fred Zinnemann’s “Julia” (1978) won her an Oscar, and she scored further nominations for James Ivory’s “The Bostonians” (1985) and “Howards End” (1993). In...

Award will be presented at European Film Awards in Berlin on December 9.

The European Film Academy is to present Dame Vanessa Redgrave with its European Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th European Film Awards in Berlin on December 9.

Redgrave’s first lead film role was in Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment (1966) by Karel Reisz which won her the best actress award in Cannes saw her nominated both the BAFTAs and the Oscars.

Redgrave returned to Cannes the following year as Jane, the mysterious woman in the park in Blow Up by Michelangelo Antonioni.

She won best actress again at...

Oscar-winning actress and longtime activist Vanessa Redgrave will be honored this year with the European Film Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Redgrave will receive the honor at the 36th European Film Awards in Berlin on Dec. 9.

An acting icon who has deftly straddled theater, film and television in a career that has spanned more than six decades, Redgrave first made her name on the stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before breaking into film work in 1966 with Karel Reisz’ Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment. The role, which won her the best actress prize in Cannes, launched her international career. A multitude of acting prizes have followed since including another best actress prize in Cannes, two Emmys, a Tony, two Golden Globes and two BAFTAs.

She has been nominated for an Academy Award six times — for performances in Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966), Isadora (1968), Mary, Queen of Scots...

Right on the heels of “Armageddon Time,” James Gray is teaming back up with Focus Features. The acclaimed filmmaker will direct “Ezekiel Moss,” a new feature set in the Great Depression, for the distribution company, a source confirmed to IndieWire.

According to the logline, “Ezekiel Moss” will be a ghost story set in the Great Depression and will focus on the friendship between a young boy and a drifter who arrives in his small town that may or may not have the ability to speak with the dead. Gray will direct the film from a screenplay by Keith Bunin, whose other credits include 2020’s “Onward” and Questlove’s upcoming remake of Disney’s “The Aristocats.”

Focus has reportedly been developing the project for several years; Philip Seymour Hoffman was reportedly attached to direct before his unexpected death in 2014. The movie will be produced by Likely Story for Focus, and is currently in pre-production,...

Among Chopard’s many bedazzling moments this awards season, Jodie Turner-Smith wowed in a jaw-dropping sapphire-and-diamond choker from the jeweler at the BAFTAs and Angela Bassett sparkled in more than 100 carats-worth of white diamond jewelry at the Golden Globes, while Emily Blunt, Sofia Carson and Eva Longoria shimmered in high-wattage Chopard creations at the 95th Academy Awards.

Now — having already starred in Chopard’s Happy Sport and Happy Diamonds campaigns since 2021 — Julia Roberts is stepping up as global ambassador for the Swiss jewelry and timepiece brand. In her new multiyear role, the Oscar-winning actress will represent all women’s watch, high jewelry and luxury jewelry collections.

Julia Roberts wearing Chopard Haute Joaillerie earrings in a new campaign image shot by Alasdair McLellan.

“She incorporates all the collections perfectly,” artistic director and co-president Caroline Scheufele told THR over lunch at the Polo Lounge two days before the 2023 Oscars, adding that the partnership developed organically.

Punch is a coming-of-age drama directed by New Zealander Welby Ings and stars Tim Roth, newcomer Jordan Oosterhaf, and former professional surfer Conan Hayes.

Jim is a young but focused professional fighter and at just seventeen years old, wants nothing more than to make his demanding father proud. With his life on track for success, Jim meets Whetu, a gay Maori boy who spends his time in an old shack by the beach. Despite his dedication and self confidence, after meeting Whetu, Jim must confront the truth about his own sexuality and his choices.

The Star: Tim Roth Tim Roth. Depostiphotos

Tim Roth is an English actor, director and producer who has had a long and successful career in Hollywood. He first rose to prominence with his performance as Tim ‘Fool’ Condon in the 1985 film The Hit. Since then Tim has gone on to appear in numerous leading roles in films such as Reservoir Dogs,...

Tim Roth is an English actor, director and producer who has had a long and successful career in Hollywood. He first rose to prominence with his performance as Tim ‘Fool’ Condon in the 1985 film The Hit. Since then Tim has gone on to appear in numerous leading roles in films such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Planet of the Apes and The Incredible Hulk. Tim has also starred in television series such as Lie To Me and Tin Star. He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama for his role as Cal Lightman in Lie To Me. Tim has directed several films including The War Zone, Little Odessa, Restless and Broken. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film for his directing work on The War Zone. Tim is an active philanthropist and serves on the board of directors at Artists For...

Eddie Redmayne To Be Honored With Zurich’s Golden Eye

British actor Eddie Redmayne will be feted with the Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Eye Award for his career achievements at its upcoming edition running from September 22 to October 2. The actor will receive the honor ahead of the European premiere of Tobias Lindholm’s serial killer thriller The Good Nurse on September 25.

Citing Oscar-winning Redmayne’s diverse credits including Fantastic Beasts, Trial Of The Chicago 7 and Theory Of Everything, Zff artistic director Christian Jungen described the actor as one of “contemporary cinema’s most versatile actors” adding, “he furnishes his characters with a rare human depth and captivates us with his extraordinary powers of expression.”

Redmayne was previously at Zurich in 2007 in the that’s opening film Savage Grace, in which he co-starred opposite Julianne Moore. He will also participate in a Zurich Masters session during this trip to the Swiss festival.

Click here to read the full article.

Cinematographer Tom Richmond, whose résumé included work on such films as Stand and Deliver, Killing Zoe, Little Odessa, Slums of Beverly Hills and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, has died. He was 72.

Richmond died Friday in New York City, Anthony Jannelli, head of cinematography at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, told The Hollywood Reporter (Richmond also taught at NYU). The cause of death was not immediately available.

Richmond, who was the director of photography on nearly four dozen features, also shot Keenan Ivory Wayans’ I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Scott Silver’s Johns (1996), Rob Zombie’s House of 1,000 Corpses (2003) and Todd Solondz’s Palindromes (2004).

He won the best cinematography prize at Sundance in 2006 for his work on Right at Your Door, a drama about a terrorist attack involving chemical bombs.

He received Spirit Award nominations for Stand & Deliver...

The following interview with director of photography Tom Richmond appeared in Filmmaker‘s Winter, 1995 issue. Richmond died yesterday in New York at the age of 72, and this interview is now published online for the first time. — Editor “I want to be the Rod Serling of cinematography,” says Tom Richmond, whose distinctive and varied lensing has graced three recent films: the “Tex Avery meets Bonnie and Clyde” Love and a.45; the hyper-realist heist noir Killing Zoe; and Little Odessa, James Gray’s intimate epic about Brighton Beach’s Russian mafia. “The way Serling could get into you…”Richmond continues. “I want [my […]

The post “I Want to Be the Rod Serling of Cinematography”: An Interview with Little Odessa Dp Tom Richmond first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The following interview with director of photography Tom Richmond appeared in Filmmaker‘s Winter, 1995 issue. Richmond died yesterday in New York at the age of 72, and this interview is now published online for the first time. — Editor “I want to be the Rod Serling of cinematography,” says Tom Richmond, whose distinctive and varied lensing has graced three recent films: the “Tex Avery meets Bonnie and Clyde” Love and a.45; the hyper-realist heist noir Killing Zoe; and Little Odessa, James Gray’s intimate epic about Brighton Beach’s Russian mafia. “The way Serling could get into you…”Richmond continues. “I want [my […]

The post “I Want to Be the Rod Serling of Cinematography”: An Interview with Little Odessa Dp Tom Richmond first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Past is present, and nailing those specifics turns James Gray’s heartfelt 1980 Queens family drama into something universal. Gray’s fifth Cannes entry and best film to date, “Armageddon Time” is carried by Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, and Sir Anthony Hopkins as the parents and grandfather, respectively, of sixth-grade rebel Paul Graff as the younger filmmaker.

At a sunset dinner in Antibes ahead of the Thursday night premiere, Focus chairman Peter Kujawski told the “Armageddon Time” team, “This is the last night the movie is yours.” The movie played like gangbusters at the Palais and is generating upbeat reviews. Filmgoers beyond Cannes could embrace this likely Focus fall release (it’s a natural for the New York Film Festival), which like most Universal movies these days, from “The Northman” to “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” will hit PVOD three weeks after theaters, followed by Peacock. With the right handling, it...

There are any number of memorable images from James Gray’s “Ad Astra,” a singularly introspective space adventure in which Brad Pitt journeys to the outer limits of our solar system just to hear Daddy Lee Jones tell him that he doesn’t care, but none have stayed with me quite like the shot of Pitt’s astronaut landing on the Moon — the very first stop on his interstellar voyage into the heart of darkness. Once the ultimate symbol of humanity’s possibility and the nearest proof of our species’ infinite reach, the Moon has since been reduced to a low-gravity version of Newark Airport, complete with American fast food restaurants and the general vibe of an upscale New Jersey outlet mall. The point is clear even before Pitt’s character double-underlines it: There is nothing truly new for man to discover among the vast ocean of stars, because we...

The director hopes to shoot Armageddon Times starring Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Oscar Isaac and Cate Blanchett latet this year.

James Gray has revealed he is setting his sights on an autumn start for his aptly titled project Armageddon Times, set to star Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Oscar Isaac and Cate Blanchett.

The New York-based filmmaker’s everyday existence has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns but he remains confident his cast will be vaccinated and ready to hit the set.

Written and directed by Gray, the feature is produced by his Ad Astra partner,...

James Gray shooting The Immigrant with Joaquin Phoenix

Focus Features has finalized their worldwide deal on James Gray’s Armageddon Time. The coming-of-age film is written and set to be directed by Gray, based upon his childhood experiences set in a pre-Reagan era America. The film lines up an acclaimed ensemble cast including four Academy Award® winners Robert De Niro, Oscar Isaac, Donald Sutherland, Anne Hathaway and Cate Blanchett.

Production is set to begin in 2021 in New York. Rt Features’ Rodrigo Teixeira will produce along with Gray and Anthony Katagas, with Lourenço Sant’Anna and Rodrigo Gutierrez executive producing.

Says Gray, “It’s really a dream come true for me–to do this kind of personal story, and to do it for such a wonderful partner in Focus Features. I could not ask for a better home for this film.”

Gray has previously helmed Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt, as well as Little Odessa,...

Best known for the unexpectedly soul-shattering San Francisco suicide doc “The Bridge,” indie filmmaker Eric Steel came out and came of age in 1980s New York at a moment just before AIDS devastated the city’s gay community. Such timing must have been surreal, to assume something so liberating about one’s own identity, only to watch in fear and uncertainty as this fraternity of newfound freedom collapsed around him. One can feel the traces of that experience — nostalgia for old-school, in-person sexual discovery, tinged with survivor’s guilt — lurking in Steel’s narrative debut, “Minyan,” a movie about an outsider among outsiders: a closeted kid adrift in Brighton Beach’s Russian Jewish community circa 1986.

Steel took a long time to make his narrative debut, and he comes to the project in the wake of other adolescent tales depicting the same era and milieu, such as Dito Montiel’s relatively...

Feted film professionals will each deliver a masterclass at talent development event.

Directors James Gray and Jessica Hausner and Hollywood sound designer Mark Mangini have been confirmed as the first three ‘Masters’ at the 2020 edition of Qumra, Doha Film Institute’s annual talent incubator event, which runs from March 20-25 in Qatar.

The three Masters will each deliver a masterclass and also offer one-on-one advice to assigned participants during their time at Qumra.

Now in its sixth year, the event supports the development of a selection of projects awarded grants by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) as well as their attached directors and producers.

“Russian Doll” Emmy nominee Natasha Lyonne knows what it takes to get a part. Which is how she ended up in James Gray’s outer-space odyssey “Ad Astra,” in a small role as a Martian dweller who, in her usual, unvarnished New Yorker swagger, basically says, “Welcome to Mars!” to Brad Pitt’s sad-faced astronaut with daddy issues.

As revealed during a New York Q&a with James Gray at the Metrograph moderated by IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, Lyonne’s journey to “Ad Astra” started with the smell of the director’s cooking.

“Every Sunday night I make dinner. It’s a tradition we like. It’s a nice thing and we invite people over and have a lot of guests. It’s a wonderful thing,” Gray said. “One day I’m walking down the hall and I see Natasha Lyonne walking towards me, and she says, ‘Honey, I know who you are.

Eight hours before the world premiere of James Gray’s “Ad Astra,” the writer-director was enjoying a quiet catnap on the bed of his Venice hotel room. And yet, for all the jet-lag he felt after flying in from Los Angeles the previous day, Gray sprang into action without missing a step. He popped to his feet, splashed a few drops of cold water in his face, and detailed the ups and downs of a rough night’s sleep with all the gravitas of a Greek tragedy. He’d only been awake for about 30 seconds and he was already hot with the kind of amiable Jewish agita that lets you know that everything is totally fine.

If not for the anxious publicist who was pacing around the hallway outside, you wouldn’t have guessed that Gray was about to unveil the biggest film he’s ever made. An intimate blockbuster...

Note: This interview contains minor spoilers for the film — continue at your own risk, or read on with fresh eyes after seeing the movie for yourself! James Gray brings family into every genre piece, whether it’s his early crime films, a love triangle (Two Lovers), or his two recent period films. And I’m not talking the Fast & Furious sense of “family” being a word to...

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A year after the walls of the Sala Darsena thrummed to Damien Chazelle’s Ryan Gosling-led voyage to the moon, First Man, Venice braced for another space journey. For a festival that’s traditionally allocated the coveted opening slot to big studio productions and grand epics, it felt somewhat surprising to see the 76th official lineup kick off with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth and not what was trumpeted as the year’s biggest epic among its twenty-one Golden Lion contenders, Ad Astra. James Gray’s latest—and largest commercial undertaking to date—found a slot in the second festival day. A Brad Pitt vehicle, it was the sort of blockbuster-to-be that would leave the streets around the Sala Grande’s red carpet swamped with fans fishing for autographs and pictures.Quite a departure from Gray’s previous earthling offerings—if you can attach a leitmotif to a protean...

When James Gray set out on the path that would lead him to Ad Astra, he couldn’t have foreseen the importance his film would take on, with Fox’s first releases under new ownership at Disney facing added scrutiny as observers wonder about the fate of the storied studio.

First, Ad Astra proved a complicated film to get through the post process. Originally set to release in January, the date was pushed to May and a potential Cannes slot, before finally settling on a late-September global rollout after a premiere at Venice Film Festival, which will happen Thursday on the Lido. That was, Gray says, because he was still tinkering with the picture right up until a week ago—“I would still be mixing now if I could”—with the process behind the movie’s effects work proving especially challenging to wrangle.

But Ad Astra also represents a huge...

What’s bigger than space? In a fitting twist on filmmaker James Gray’s special brand of massive, large-scale filmmaking, his long-gestating space epic “Ad Astra” is set for an IMAX release when it rolls out in theaters next month.

The film marks star Brad Pitt’s second buzzy role this year, following his turn in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” which offered him a markedly different leading man role. In Gray’s film, Pitt is cast as something new for the longtime actor: a space explorer, albeit one with a strange mission that doesn’t follow the typical narrative expectations of the genre.

Gray himself has said his intention with “Ad Astra,” which seems to be something of a mix of “Interstellar” and “Gravity” with one heck of a question mark at its heart, was to feature “the most realistic depiction of space travel that...

British actor Tim Roth is to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award in recognition of his “exceptional contribution to the art of film.” The ceremony at the Sarajevo Film Festival will be held on Tuesday. He will hold a masterclass on the same day.

His first screen role was the lead in the controversial Prix Italia award-winning TV movie “Made in Britain.” Roth’s second project came immediately after, starring in Mike Leigh’s critically acclaimed film “Meantime.” As his success continued, Roth starred in more than 15 film and television projects including Stephen Frears’ “The Hit,” for which he won the Standard Award for best newcomer, Peter Greenaway’s “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover,” Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” and Robert Altman’s “Vincent and Theo,” in which he portrayed Vincent Van Gogh.

Roth gained worldwide recognition for his roles in two Quentin Tarantino films,...

Over the past few years, the Venice Film Festival has become a magnet for awards-season hopefuls, having hosted world premieres of three of the past five Best Picture Oscar winners. This year again, there is no shortage of big-ticket titles that we’re likely to be talking about for the next six months. In what’s beginning to look like another recurring theme, fest chief Alberto Barbera has shown he is not one to shy away from controversy.

After becoming the first major fest boss to embrace Netflix back in 2015, he is already facing criticism from European cinema groups for putting three of the streamer’s movies in the lineup that was announced today. The fest also has a pretty lousy track record with female directors. While Barbera did increase the number of women in competition by 100%, that means there are two this year versus one last year. And, sure...

Oscar season is getting a double dose of Brad Pitt thanks to his leading turns in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and James Gray’s “Ad Astra.” Tarantino’s movie arrives this summer, while Gray’s long-awaited space drama hits theaters in September after numerous delays because of the movie’s extensive post-production. “Ad Astra” marks a reunion between Gray and Pitt after “The Lost City of Z,” which the actor produced (but did not star in) under his Plan B banner.

In “Ad Astra” Pitt gets in front of the camera as Roy McBride, an Army Corps engineer who embarks on an ambitious space mission to find out the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of his father. Clifford McBride, played by Tommy Lee Jones, was an astronaut who set out on a journey to Neptune looking for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence but never returned. The supporting cast includes Liv Tyler,...

“It’s a little intimidating to come onto a show that has such a huge following,” admits production designer Judy Rhee, who joined “Better Call Saul” in its fourth season. Because the series “has already been established to some degree in terms of the look and its direction,” the veteran designer was excited to bring her own intepretation “while keeping the visual continuity of the show” intact. Watch our exclusive video interview with Rhee above.

See Giancarlo Esposito interview: ‘Better Call Saul’

Season four, which aired last summer and fall, found the AMC prequel series edging closer and closer to where the story intersects with “Breaking Bad”; down-on-his-luck lawyer Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) is just a few steps away from morphing into Saul Goodman, lawyer for the criminal underworld. “The challenge for me was to keep track of what had already been said and shown and make sure you didn’t disrupt that timeline,...

The answers we seek are just outside our reach.

20th Century Fox has released the official trailer and poster for Ad Astra. Starring Brad Pitt, the film follows an astronaut as he travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his missing father. The mission unravels a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet.

Directed by James Gray, Ad Astra stars Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland.

Ad Astra arrives in theaters everywhere on September 20, 2019 from The Walt Disney Studios.

Watch the official trailer.

I love that this is being released close to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon mission. Gray has previously helmed Little Odessa, The Yards, We Own The Night, Two Lovers, The Immigrant and The Lost City of Z.

The film is co-written by Ethan Gross who worked for three seasons on the Fox science-fiction series Fringe,...

Kirsten Howard Jun 5, 2019

The Lost City Of Z director James Gray tries his hand at sci-fi with this delayed action flick.

Having been caught up slightly in the Fox-Disney merger that saw the Mouse House buy its studio Fox Searchlight (and everything else), James Gray's Ad Astra is now set for an autumn release.

The film stars Brad Pitt as an astronaut called Roy McBride who, in the midst of sudden, strange and dangerous events on Earth, is told that his missing father's old Neptune mission may be the cause of them. Tommy Lee Jones stars as Pitt's estranged dad, and Liv Tyler is his wife.

Gray, the man behind The Lost City Of Z and Little Odessa, has previously spoken about approaching Ad Astra as a genuine challenge for him as a director, as it marks his first foray into the sci-fi genre.

read more: The Must...

James Gray is going back to school for his next feature.

“The Lost City of Z” filmmaker will write and direct “Armageddon Time,” a memoir about growing up in Queens, New York, in the mid-1980s. In a twist, Fred Trump, the Queens-based real estate developer who sired Donald Trump, and the current president will appear as characters, although the events will unfold long before there was ever a Trump in the White House.

The movie reunites Gray with Rt Features, the producer of his upcoming sci-fi epic “Ad Astra.” Rt Features’ Rodrigo Teixeira will produce “Armageddon Time.” Gray pitched Teixeira on the idea while they were shooting “Ad Astra.” It draws on his experiences as a student at the Kew-Forest School in Queens. Fred Trump served on the board of the private school and Donald Trump was an alumnus. The school’s principal will be a central character.

“It...

Brad Pitt’s science-fiction adventure movie “Ad Astra” has quietly vanished from the release schedule, three weeks prior to its previously announced May 24 opening date.

Fox had originally dated “Ad Astra” for Jan. 11, 2019, then decided in late 2018 to move it back four months to the Memorial Day weekend on May 24. Disney closed the deal for the 20th Century Fox film assets in March and has not done any promotion for the movie since then — no trailer or stills have been released. “Ad Astra” was not included in early tracking numbers released Thursday for the Memorial Day period, expected to be dominated by Disney’s live-action “Aladdin.”

Pitt is expected to be at the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” in which he co-stars with Leonardo DiCaprio. The screening will likely be on May 21, the 20th anniversary of “Pulp Fiction.”

The studio had no comment Thursday.