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A new play starring Insecure’s Jay Ellis and Stephanie Nur will premiere Off-Broadway this summer.

The play, Duke & Roya, is written by Charles Randolph-Wright, the playwright behind Blue, with Get Lifted Film Co.’s John Legend, Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorius attached as producers. Warren Adams, who recently directed Superhero Off-Broadway, will direct.

Duke & Roya is slated to run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre starting June 10, with an opening night on June 24. The play is set for an 11-week run at the theater.

Duke & Roya follows a love story between Duke, an American hip-hop star and Roya, an Afghan interpreter, who meet in Kabul and work to navigate their burgeoning relationship through the realities of their two different worlds.

In addition to Ellis and Nur, Duke & Roya will star Olivier Award winner and Tony nominee Noma Dumezweni, who appeared onstage in the original Broadway cast of Harry Potter and...

Happy New Year! As the Deadline team gears up for another busy and discovery-filled 12 months on the global film festival circuit, here is our annual (non-exhaustive) list of U.S. and international movies we expect to see on the way. While we scored better than an 80% strike rate for 2024, this year’s list features a few returnees we still hope to see at a festival soon. As in our previous prediction lists, we’ve focused on titles that have already started filming or are in post-production and which haven’t yet been announced for a festival.

A few notes on some big and exciting projects not listed below. Apple’s Brad Pitt Formula One pic F1 has a June release date leading to some question marks over a potential Cannes pit stop, but we get the impression a Croisette launch is unlikely for this one. Meanwhile, A24 and Timothée Chalamet...

Adam Siegel, currently Managing Director of Lincoln Center Theater, has been named the new Executive Director of New York’s Second Stage Theater, taking over from Interim Executive Director Lisa Lawer Post on April 1, 2025.

The announcement, made today by Second Stage’s Board of Trustees, puts Siegel in place to partner with Evan Cabnet, the recently announced Artistic Director of the nonprofit theater company who officially launches his first season of programming in Fall 2025.

Siegel joins the organization full-time April 1, 2025, following a month-long transition period.

“I am thrilled and honored to be joining Second Stage Theater,” said Siegel, “an organization whose mission, artistic integrity, and commitment to excellence and continued growth have made it one of the premiere theaters in the country. Plus, this opportunity to join forces with my good friend and colleague, Artistic Director Evan Cabnet – with whom I have worked for over 20 years, including the last eight...

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Anora is a romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Sean Baker. The 2024 film follows the story of Anora Mikheeva, a young stripper who falls in love with and marries Vanya, the son of a Russian oligarch, and finally gets her Cinderella story but once the news reaches Vanya’s parents they come to New York to get their marriage annulled by any means necessary. Anora stars Mikey Madison in the lead role with Mark Eidelstein, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Aleksei Serebryakov starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the intensely dramatic story, tragic romance, and compelling characters in Anora here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Pretty Woman (Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Touchstone Pictures

Pretty Woman is a romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall from a screenplay written by J.F. Lawton.

Lear deBessonet will be the new artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater, succeeding André Bishop after his 33-year tenure.

DeBessonet is currently the artistic director of Encores! at New York City Center, which produces revivals of musicals and has seen a number of its productions, including the recent revivals of Into the Woods and Once Upon a Mattress, move to Broadway. She will work with Bartlett Sher, a well-known Broadway director and Lincoln Center Theater’s resident director, who will assume the new role of executive producer.

As previously announced, Bishop will end his tenure in June 2025, and will oversee this season which includes Robert Downey Jr. in McNeal, opening this month, and the revival of Floyd Collins this spring. Bishop first joined Lct as artistic director in January 1992, and was appointed producing artistic director in July 2013. Under his leadership, Lct, which is known for its large-scale revivals of musicals...

Exclusive: A strong cast of actors, financiers and producers has come together for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, the follow-up to his critical and commercial hit The Worst Person in the World, which was Oscar nominated and took more than $12 million at the global box office.

That film’s breakout star Renate Reinsve is back to play the lead in Sentimental Value, as previously reported, and we can reveal that she will be joined by Stellan Skarsgård (Dune), Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (A Beautiful Life) and Elle Fanning (The Great).

Production has begun in Oslo on Trier’s anticipated sixth feature. It will film in Norway’s capital through November, with additional shoots in France, before launching in 2025. Refreshingly, the comedy-drama keeps Trier in his native Norwegian language.

The film will be fully expected by many to launch in Cannes competition in 2025. The Worst Person in the World had its world premiere in 2021 at Cannes,...

Sandra Oh and Awkwafina proved to be a terrific duo this year in their hit Hulu telefilm “Quiz Lady.” The flick follows the pair as estranged sisters who must reunite and work together in order to pay for their mother’s gambling debts via the game show that one of them is obsessed with.

Oh and Awkwafina subvert expectations with their performances here with Oh playing the zany, wild sister and Awkwafina turning in a subdued performance as the awkward, restrained, quieter one. These dual performances have become the foundation of overwhelmingly positive notices for “Quiz Lady.”

Charles Bramesco (Indie Wire) opined: “The odd couple… shares a sensational chemistry, building on the base amusement of seeing Oh let her extension-laden hair down and Awkwafina crimp the straight-man character into weird new shapes.”

Emma Simmonds (Radio Times) observed: “Awkwafina and Sandra Oh prove a match made in comedy heaven in this...

The San Quentin Film Festival — the first-ever film festival held inside a prison — has named its inaugural industry jury, which includes Jeffrey Wright, Billy Crudup, Mary-Louise Parker and more.

The festival, taking place Oct. 10 and 11 at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in northern California, will highlight short films and pitches from current and formerly incarcerated filmmakers in front of a jury made up of entertainment industry artists and executives. Separately, an “inside jury” made up of currently incarcerated people will judge narrative and documentary feature films about the prison experience made by filmmakers who have never served prison time.

Actors on the industry jury include Wright, Crudup, Parker and Kathy Najimy.

Directors on the jury include Elegance Bratton, Taylor Hackford, Lynn Novick, Greg Kwedar, Jeff Stanzler and Joe Talbot.

Writer-producers on the jury include Sam Catlin, Lawrence O’Donnell, Piper Kerman (“Orange Is the New Black”) and J.T. Rogers.

The jury also includes Len Amato,...

Exclusive: Bartlett Sher, nine-time Tony Award directing nominee and winner for 2008’s South Pacific, will direct the recently announced Dolly Parton musical Hello, I’m Dolly, set for Broadway in 2026.

“How lucky I am to have the great Bartlett Sher direct my Hello, I’m Dolly musical,” Parton said in a statement. “When you decide to put your whole life up on stage, you hope and pray to find the right director with the right creativity and sensitivity to present all the blood, sweat, tears, light, love, and laughter that I’ve experienced over seven decades of living. My heart tells me that Bartlett is the man and the director for the job.”

Said Sher, “Dolly is one of the great songwriters in the American canon, and being entrusted with the opportunity to help her translate that glorious talent into the American musical theater is not only an honor, but absolutely a thrill.

Out of all the winners (and also-rans) in the 26 competitive categories at the 2024 Tony Awards, 23 results stand out as particularly noteworthy when considered in the context of history. So what were this year’s most interesting facts, records, and milestones? Check out the complete list of winners here.

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1. The productions that received multiple Tony nominations, but went home empty-handed were “Back to the Future,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Doubt,” “Grey House,” “Here Lies Love,” “Lempicka,” “Mary Jane,” “Mother Play,” “The Notebook,” “Prayer for the French Republic” and “Water for Elephants.”

2. The individuals who had multiple nominations this year, but went home empty-handed were songwriter/orchestrator Will Butler (“Stereophonic”), lighting designer Isabella Byrd (“Cabaret” and “An Enemy of the People”), scenic designer dots (“Appropriate” and “An Enemy of the People”), songwriters/orchestrators Jamestown Revival (“The Outsiders”), lighting designer Natasha Katz...

Dune: Awakening looks to capitalize on the success of the Timothée Chalamet-led films and comes at the right time. Announced more than a year and a half ago, the survival Mmo set in Frank Herbert’s universe has already amassed over a million wishlists on Steam. The story-focused trailer of the game was released at Summer Game Fest recently, and it appears that the gameplay takes place in a universe where Paul Atreides was never born.

The official image from Dune: Awakening | Funcom Oslo

The gaming fans have been highly anticipating its release on social media. However, many movie fans did not find the news of ‘No Paul’ so exciting as they believed it to be an update for the third Dune film.

Dune: Awakening Will Not Include The Fan-Favorite Protagonist From The Books & Films

A still from Dune: Awakening gameplay | Funcom Oslo

Funcom’s Dune: Awakening is fast...

Exclusive: Jon Oakes has joined Alex Lebovici’s Hammerstone Studios as President of Production and Development, Deadline can exclusively reveal.

Oakes joins from Bold Films, where he worked for more than a decade, most recently serving as EVP of Development and Productions. During his time at the studio, he played an instrumental role in the development and production of such acclaimed films as The Guilty, Oslo, Colette, Whiplash, Nightcrawler, Drive, Stronger and Vox Lux.

Prior to his time at Bold Films, Oakes was at Andrew Lazar’s Mad Chance Productions, working as a VP on titles like Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. Prior to that, he held in development at Original Film and Phoenix Pictures, having begun his career as an executive assistant at WME after graduating from UCLA.

A genre-focused production and financing entity founded in 2018, Hammerstone has thus far worked on nearly 20 films, including 2020’s Bill & Ted Face the Music,...

Are you a fan of the gripping crime series Tokyo Vice? If so, you are probably wondering if there will be a third installment following the shocking finale of the second season. Well, you’re in luck because the creator of the Max series has, at last, opened up on the matter.

Note: Spoilers for Tokyo Vice’s Season 2 finale can be found below.

As followers of this crime drama series may recall, Shinzo Tozawa (Ayumi Tanida) aspired to be the sole supreme oyabun (leader) of the Japanese crime syndicate. However, he met his violent end at the hands of himself in the Tokyo Vice season two finale, capping off his dreams.

A still from Tokyo Vice

Following the terrifying cliffhanger finale of season 2, many viewers were left wondering if the story would continue. The good news is that a third season is officially in the works, as confirmed by the creator.

Max has released the trailer for Season 2 of its original crime drama series “Tokyo Vice,” which will premiere on the streamer on Feb. 8 with the release of two episodes. Subsequently, one episode will debut every week for eight weeks.

Written and created by J.T. Rogers, Ansel Elgort stars as an American journalist from Missouri living in Tokyo.

The series’ synopsis reads, “Loosely inspired by American journalist Jake Adelstein’s first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat, Season 2 of the series, filmed on location in Tokyo, takes us deeper into the city’s criminal underworld, as Adelstein (Elgort) comes to realize that his life, and the lives of those close to him, are in terrible danger.”

In addition to Elgort, “Tokyo Vice” stars Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu, Ayumi Ito, and new series regulars Yosuke Kubozuka and Miki Maya.

Watanabe stars as Hiroto Katagiri, a detective investigating...

Corruption, a new play by Oslo playwright J.T. Rogers about the phone hacking scandal that engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in 2011, will be produced by Lincoln Center Theater this winter in a production that will reunite Rogers with his Oslo director Bartlett Sher.

Based on the book Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and The Corruption of Britain by former British Labour Party MP Tom Watson and Martin Hickman, Corruption begins previews Thursday, February 15, 2024, at Lct’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Opening night is Monday, March 11.

Casting will be announced at a later date.

According to the official synopsis, Corruption “tells the story behind the story of the phone hacking scandal that engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in 2011, stunning the world and upending British politics. When Parliament member Tom Watson is maliciously smeared by the newspapers of Murdoch’s News International, he decides to fight back – taking on its larger-than-life leader Rebekah Brooks.

Exclusive: Capelight Pictures said Tuesday that it is partnering with Blue Fox Entertainment to present Fantefilm’s Norwegian family Christmas feature Teddy’s Christmas in U.S. theaters nationwide on December 1, 2023.

The film stars Zachary Levi (Shazam!) as the voice of the animated title character, Teddy, in the English-dubbed version of Andrea Eckerbom’s hit Norwegian CGI-live action hybrid. Marte Klerck-Nilssen, Jan Gunnar Røise (The Thing), Nader Khademi (Countrymen) and Mariann Hole (Made in Oslo) also are in the voice cast.

The holiday story, which centers on an 8-year-old girl who pursues an adventurous living teddy bear, mixes live-action and CGI animation. While visiting a Christmas market, Mariann suddenly sees an unbelievable sight: on the top shelf of a carnival game booth, the most adorable stuffed teddy bear has just moved his head and sneezed. Feeling an instant connection, Mariann can’t think of any better Christmas wish than to win him as a prize.

André Bishop will conclude his 33-year leadership tenure at Lincoln Center Theater in June 2025 at the conclusion of the non-profit theater company’s 40th anniversary 2024-25 season.

Bishop, whose celebrated tenure as Lct’s Artistic Director and more recently Producing Artistic Director included the premieres of such acclaimed new works as Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia and Arcadia, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig, and The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel, to name a very few, announced his intended departure today.

“My years at Lincoln Center Theater have been happy ones,” he said in a statement, “and I will miss working with all my friends and colleagues. But the time has come, as it inevitably does, for the next generation to step in and step up. I look forward to that. Lct has...

André Bishop will step down from his role as producing artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater next year, after having worked at the nonprofit theater company for 33 years.

Bishop will depart at the end of the theater’s 2024-2025 season and the board of Lincoln Center Theater will launch a search for his successor “in due course.” The move from Bishop, who has held the position of producing artistic director at the Lincoln Center theater since July 2013, after serving as artistic director since January 1992, marks the latest shake-up in Broadway’s nonprofit realm, which consists of four theater companies.

On Wednesday, Second Stage founder Carole Rothman announced she would leave the company after 45 years. Longtime Roundabout Theatre Company CEO and Artistic Director Todd Haimes died in April, and Manhattan Theatre Club Executive Producer Barry Grove announced his departure in January after 48 years with the organization.

Chris Jennings, who had previously...

One person’s “Worst Person in the World” is another filmmaker’s new favorite collaborator.

Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier, director of the cult-favorite coming-of-age romance “The Worst Person in the World,” is reteaming with that film’s star, Renate Reinsve, for “Sentimental Value.” The show-business drama will be their second film together after she won the Best Actress award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for portraying a restless, mercurial spirit Julie. “The Worst Person in the World” was nominated for Best Original Screenplay (Trier with Eskel Vogt) and Best International Feature at the 94th Academy Awards.

As first reported by Variety, “Sentimental Value” follows an actor named Nora (played by Reinsve) and her sister Agnes (yet to be cast), both grieving the death of their mother. Meanwhile, their estranged father, a formerly successful filmmaker named Gustav, re-enters their lives with a comeback script, offering the leading role to Nora. She refuses.

Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier will next direct “Sentimental Value” (working title), a family drama with Renate Reinsve, who won best actress in Cannes for her role in Trier’s Oscar-nominated 2021 film “The Worst Person of the World,” attached to star in.

“Sentimental Value” will follow Nora (Reinsve), an actor, and her sister Agnes, who are grieving the loss of their mother while their father Gustav reappears in their lives after a long absence. Gustav, a once-celebrated filmmaker, has written a script for a comeback movie and offered the main part to his daughter Nora, but she categorically refuses the role. During a career retrospective in France, Gustav meets an adoring Hollywood star and offers her the part intended for Nora. When the film starts shooting back home in Norway, Gustav seizes the opportunity to repair his bond with Nora and her sister.

Represented in international markets by MK2 Films, “Sentimental...

Gangs of Oslo is a captivating drama that keeps you hooked, even though some crucial pieces of the puzzle are missing. At its core, you have Moaz and Rami, childhood friends turned arch-enemies, and you can’t help but wonder about their past. What caused Rami to become a notorious gangster, and how did Moaz move on from their shared history? Rami, the enigmatic gang leader, commands both fear and admiration. Some see him as a godlike figure, while others see him as a ruthless menace. Moaz, on the other hand, is just trying to find some peace amid the chaos of his life, which is riddled with problems. What makes Gangs of Oslo so fascinating, is the interconnectedness of the characters.

The central theme of the show is the interconnectedness of their lives, how choices made in their youth continue to shape their destinies, and the blurred line between good and evil.

Ash have shared a brand-new single from their forthcoming album Race The Night. ‘Like A God’ is the follow-up to last month’s lead single and album title-track ‘Race The Night’, which heralded anticipation for a record that promises to be super-charged, widescreen and with melodies to spare. It won instant support across BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2 and Absolute Radio, bringing with it what lead singer and guitarist Tim Wheeler described as “the sound of the band revelling in the sheer joy of being a band after being separated by time and distance through the insanity of the early 2020s.”

‘Like A God’ comes on fast as muscular riffing beats a path to its wild and raucous end. Wheeler comments: “Like A God pushes the rock aspect of the album to its furtherest limits. An ode to sexual apotheosis it revels in a carnal riff played with mantra like...

Ash has announced their first new album together in more than five years, and sharing a new single alongside news of an upcoming UK / EU tour. Race The Night, the band’s eighth studio album, will be released on 15th September 2023 via one of their earliest label homes Fierce Panda. With 29 years, 18 hit singles, seven studio albums and an unfathomable number of tour dates since their appearance on the label’s 1994 Crazed And Confused compilation, Race The Night is both a party with old friends and a message to leap into the present with arms wide open.

Fitting then that the lead single should be the album’s title-track, with its super-charged and widescreen anthemia being the perfect primer for a record that has melodies to spare. “Before the shadows let us go, and it’s too late, to race the night” sings lead vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler as...

Out of all the winners (and also-rans) in the 26 competitive categories at the 2023 Tony Awards, 34 results stand out as particularly noteworthy when considered in the context of history. So what were this year’s most interesting facts, records, and milestones? Check out the complete list of winners here.

1. The productions that received multiple Tony nominations, but went home empty-handed were “& Juliet,” “Ain’t No Mo’,” “Between Riverside and Crazy” “Camelot,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Cost of Living,” “Death of a Salesman,” “A Doll’s House,” “Fat Ham,” “Into the Woods,” “Kpop,” and “The Piano Lesson.”

2. This year marked the first time a Broadway production of “Into the Woods” didn’t win a single Tony. The original won three awards in 1987 for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason), Best Book of a Musical (James Lapine), and Best Original Score (Stephen Sondheim). The 2002 remounting won two for Best Revival of a Musical...

Exclusive: American Beauty and The Walking Dead actress Thora Birch is to make her feature directorial debut on an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s 2004 crime novel Mr. Paradise.

Former Bold CEO Gary Michael Walters, producer on Jake Gyllenhaal starrer The Guilty and Emmy nominee Oslo, is producing under new banner Walters Media Group, and is in Cannes putting the project together.

Leonard, one of the masters of the hard-boiled crime novel, is the inspiration for movies including Jackie Brown, Get Shorty, Out of Sight, 3:10 to Yuma and TV series Justified.

The story for Mr. Paradise centers on Kelly, an aspiring model, who witnesses a murder and gets caught in a web of intrigue. Michael Benton Adler and Justin Ross will also produce.

“I grew up loving so many blockbuster adaptations of Leonard’s work such as Get Shorty and Jackie Brown,” said BAFTA and Golden Globe nominee Birch about the late author.

Mk2 Films is set to reunite with Joachim Trier following “The Worst Person in the World,” the Norwegian helmer’s Cannes prize-winning and Oscar-nominated romantic comedy which was also a worldwide box-office hit.

The Paris-based company will handle international sales and co-produce alongside Juliette Schrameck at Agat Films, who was also a co-producer on “The Worst Person in the World,” alongside Nathanaël Karmitz and Elisha Karmitz for Mk Production. Mk2 films, Schrameck and the Karmitz brothers join producers Maria Ekerhovd at Mer Film and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar at Eye Eye Pictures.

Trier is writing his untitled sixth feature with his long-term collaborator Eskil Vogt, with whom he shared an Oscar nomination for best screenplay. “It is an ambitious yet playful family drama. An intimate, moving, and often funny film about family, memory, and how we need to rewrite the stories we tell about ourselves in order to survive,” said the pair.

Just two weeks ago, Gold Derby’s odds did not predict “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas” would receive an Emmy nomination for Best TV Movie. But now, NBC and Peacock’s warm-hearted holiday telefilm has jumped up to the fourth-place position to win the category, behind likely challengers “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” “Prey” and “Fire Island” (see chart below). Just how much farther will producer/actress Dolly Parton climb in our racetrack odds before the Emmy nominations are announced on July 12?

See ‘Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas’: The music legend’s new NBC special and where to find her holiday classics

Never count out Dolly! In 2021, another one of her holiday specials, “Christmas On the Square,” surprised pundits when it took home the Emmy Award for Best TV Movie. At the time it was in fourth place in Gold Derby’s winner odds, behind “Sylvie’s Love,” “Uncle Frank...

If Lars von Trier hadn’t grown top-heavy with the mythology of his self-importance, he might have tossed off a movie like “Sick of Myself” — a social satire in the form of a queasy drama of body horror, and a movie whose disturbing bad-boy tastelessness recalls Von Trier’s “The Idiots,” with a touch of David Cronenberg. This is the second feature by Kristoffer Borgli, the Norwegian writer-director whose first film, “Drib” (2017), was a send-up of the marketing industry, and in a way the new movie is about marketing too. This one, though, takes a viscerally upsetting look at just how far an individual will go to gain attention in the new era of social-media addiction.

The movie, which premiered at Cannes last year, arrives from the same production team that backed “The Worst Person in the World,” and part of the offbeat way the film gets its hooks in...

Bold Films has tapped studio executive-turned-producer, screenwriter and showrunner Jeff Kleeman as its new chief executive officer.

Kleeman, who has served has the president of Ellen DeGeneres’ A Very Good Production since 2012, replaces Gary Michael Walters, who is exiting to launch his own venture after nearly 20 years with the company.

In his new role, Kleeman will oversee Bold’s current operations and expansion plans. Some of his areas of focus will be building strategic partnerships, with a particular focus on international, and leveraging Bold’s existing IP as well as new IP to generate multiple revenue streams. He will report to Bold Films chairman David Litvak.

“It’s an honor to join David and his team to further expand the company’s diverse library with elevated films, scripted and non-scripted television, animation, and franchises that deliver unforgettable emotional experiences to audiences worldwide,” Kleeman said in a statement.

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Regal Cinemas...

Executive will report to Bold chairman David Litvak.

Producer, screenwriter and showrunner Jeff Kleeman has been named Bold Films CEO in the wake of Gary Michael Walters’ depature.

Kleeman most recently served as president of Ellen DeGeneres’s A Very Good Production which he joined in 2012.

The new CEO will report to Bold chairman David Litvak and oversee the company’s operations and expansion plans, building strategic partnerships with a particular focus on international.

He will also leverage Bold’s existing IP and new IP to generate multiple revenue streams working alongside EVP of development and productions Jon Oakes and creative executive Sophia Kalin.

Jeff Kleeman has stepped in as CEO for Bold Films, taking over for Gary Michael Walters, whose March departure from the company after nearly 20 years was just announced.

The studio executive-turned-producer, screenwriter and showrunner comes to the company from Ellen DeGeneres’ A Very Good Production, where he’s served as President since 2012, overseeing work on 26 series, specials and movies amounting to over 1,615 hours of live-action and animated content.

Kleeman will report to Bold Chairman David Litvak, overseeing the company’s current operations, as well as its plans for expansion. He’ll now focus on building strategic partnerships, with a particular eye on international, while looking to leverage both existing Bold IP and new IP to generate multiple revenue streams.

Kleeman’s appointment comes at a time when Bold Films is looking to take on a more global footprint in development and production, as it continues to develop feature-length projects for both theatrical and streaming,...

Bold Film’s longtime CEO Gary Michael Walters has stepped down to launch his own venture, Walters Media Group.

Walters Media Group will focus on the development of studio-caliber film and television projects, independent film financing and production, and strategic consultancy to high-net-worth investors and media companies, Walters announced Thursday.

“I am deeply appreciative of all the support Bold Films have given me over the past two decades,” Walters said in a statement. “I will miss my Bold family, but I have been yearning to create my own company for some time, and I am very excited to announce my upcoming slate shortly.”

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Cannes Film Festival Lineup Includes New Films From Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, Jonathan Glazer

Walters, who has been with Bold Film since its founding in 2004, has produced as well as executive produced all of the company’s film and television projects, including “Whiplash” starring Miles Teller and Jk Simmons,...

Bold Film’s longtime CEO Gary Michael Walters has stepped down to form Walters Media Group.

Walters has been with Bold Film since its founding in 2004 and served as producer and executive producer on all of the company’s film and television projects, including Damien Chazelle’s “Whiplash” starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons; Dan Gilroy’s “Nightcrawler” with Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed; and “Drive” starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Oscar Isaac.

Other notable projects that Walter worked on at Bold Films include the action thriller “No Escape,” featuring Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan, and the apocalyptic thriller “Legion,” with Paul Bettany and Dennis Quaid. More recently, Walters was Emmy-nominated for HBO’s “Oslo” and produced Netflix’s “The Guilty” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Antoine Fuqua.

“I am deeply appreciative of all the support Bold Films have given me over the past two decades,...

Last year, four out of the five nominees for the Best TV Movie Emmy had their only nomination in that one category including the eventual winner, “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.” The only nominee to get recognized in another category was “Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas,” which scored a bid for Best Choreography for a Scripted Series. Hulu’s raunchy gay rom-com “Fire Island” will be looking to see if it can get into more than one category this year and there’s a solid chance it will nab multiple Emmy nominations.

A promising sign the film could get into the Best TV Movie category was its recent nomination at the Producer’s Guild of America Awards for Best Streamed or Televised Movie. There is much overlap between the voting memberships of the PGA and the TV academy, with two of last year’s guild nominees — “Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia” and “Oslo...

“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” could end up being a strong contender at this year’s Emmy Awards. It may sound, dare we say, weird, but The Roku Channel’s satirical biopic has been a consistent presence at the recent guild awards we saw handed out in the lead-up to the Oscars. Most of those guild awards were also recognizing work on television alongside features, and “Weird” not only managed to get in those categories but it also won several.

Most notably, “Weird” was able to pull out a victory at the Producer’s Guild of America Award for Best Streamed or Televised Movie. Notably, several films that were nominated in this category over the past couple of years would later get into the Best TV Movie category at the Emmys, including “Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia,” “Oslo,” “Bad Education” and “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square.” The latter two took...

Amblin Partners has secured the film rights to “Confessions in B-Flat,” with Academy Award-winning actor and producer Octavia Spencer, four-time Oscar-nominated producer Kristie Macosko Krieger and Aimee Carpenter set to produce.

The 2020 novel, from Essence bestselling author Donna Hill, tells an emotional love story set amid the Civil Rights Movement, following two young people, Anita and Jason, who meet and fall in love despite their clashing political beliefs.

Maya Dunbar is adapting the book for the screen.

Spencer is producing the adaptation via her Orit Entertainment production company, with Carpenter producing under her Marcy Place Productions banner. Executive producers are Brian Clisham and Tara Taylor, with Liz Pelletier serving as co-producer. Jeb Brody, Amblin Partners’ president of production, and Mia Maniscalco, SVP of creative affairs, will oversee the project for the studio.

Hill is an American author of romance, mystery and women’s fiction, who has over 90 titles in print...

Ambassador Theatre Group has announced an exclusive three-year partnership with the newly formed Bad Robot Live, the theatre division of J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot Productions. As creative collaborators and co-producers, Atg will help bring to the stage Abrams’s “unique producorial vision.”

The joint development arrangement will provide Atg, a prominent player on both Broadway and London’s West End, with partnership opportunities on Bad Robot Live’s current and future theatre projects, and give Bad Robot Live the opportunity to collaborate on those projects with Atg Productions, one of the world’s leading producers of theatrical events including recent productions of Cabaret, Cyrano, Plaza Suite, David Byrne’s American Utopia, (and the previewing Broadway versions of A Doll’s House and Parade).

The first joint project under the new Atg and Bad Robot Live agreement is Liz Kingsman’s critically acclaimed solo show, One Woman Show, which recently enjoyed...

Exclusive: Netflix has added four to its action-comedy Back in Action, with Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz. The newest actors to sign on are BAFTA winners Andrew Scott (Catherine Called Birdy) and Jamie Demetriou (Cruella), McKenna Roberts (Euphoria) and Rylan Jackson (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves).

Details as to the storyline and characters of Diaz’s first feature since 2014’s Annie are under wraps. But Kyle Chandler and Glenn Close are also aboard for roles, as previously announced.

Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) is directing from his script written with Neighbors‘ Brendan O’Brien. Producers are Jenno Topping, Peter Chernin and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett for Chernin Entertainment, Beau Bauman (Central Intelligence) for Good One Productions, and Gordon for Exhibit A. Foxx, Datari Turner, O’Brien and Tim Lewis are serving as exec producers.

Scott won his BAFTA for his work as the villainous Jim Moriarty in...

Israel’s newly appointed Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar has lashed out against Israeli filmmaker David Wachsmann’s award-winning documentary Two Kids A Day, probing the country’s detention of Palestinian children in the West Bank, and is threatening to take back its state funding.

The minister, who took up office in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new hard-right government at the end of December, has criticized the work for presenting Israeli Defence Forces (Idf) soldiers “as those who harm children, while terrorists are presented as innocent victims”.

Zohar said he had requested Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to investigate whether it would be possible to retroactively take back state money given to the film for its production.

“The Ministry of Culture and Sports under my leadership will not finance works that harm the good name of the State of Israel, both in Israel and in the world,” he was...

The makers of the hit Netflix series ‘The Crown’ have revealed who is set to play Prince William and Kate Middleton in Season 6, reports ‘Variety’.

Two actors have been cast as the young prince: 16-year-old Rufus Kampa and 21-year-old Ed McVey. Meg Bellamy will play Kate Middleton.

Season 5 of ‘The Crown’ is scheduled to hit screens this November. It features an all-new cast, including Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth, Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Dominic West as Prince Charles, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana, and Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles. Jonny Lee Miller will also appear as Prime Minister John Major.

It will also feature West’s son, Senan West, as a young Prince William (aged around 11). Teddy Hawley and Will Powell will both play a young Prince Harry at different ages.

The producers, according to ‘Variety’, remain as tight-lipped as ever regarding which...

HBO has extended Francesca Orsi’s contract through 2026, with the executive taking on a new role as executive vice president of HBO programming and head of HBO drama series and films. The position’s name reflects a change from two years’ prior, when Orsi’s oversight was extended to include the movie division following Len Amato’s departure.

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Orsi has been with HBO since 2003, when she began as an executive assistant. She eventually rose through the ranks to co-run the drama series development and programming department in 2016 with David Levine, who ran point on “Westworld” and “True Detective.” The role was president of HBO programming Casey Bloys’ first appointment. In 2019, she became the sole overseer of the division following his exit. A year later, her position was consolidated with the head of drama films programming; her new title more...

Exclusive: As she is getting ready to mark her 20th anniversary at HBO next year, Francesca Orsi has officially extended her contract at the premium network through 2026. Her new title is EVP, HBO Programming, Head of HBO Drama Series and Films.

Orsi is homegrown HBO talent. She joined the network in 2003 as an executive assistant to the head of drama and rose through the ranks to herself be named HBO head of drama a decade and a half later. For the past six years, since then-head of comedy Casey Bloys was elevated to President of Programming in 2016, Orsi has been a linchpin in his creative team.

In his first appointment as President of HBO Programming in 2016, Casey named then-svp Orsi co-head of drama. Three years later, as EVP, Orsi became HBO’s sole head of drama, a position she has held since then. In 2020, Orsi’s role was expanded to...

To mark the release of The Oslo Trilogy, out now, we’ve been given a bundle including a box set of the Trilogy, as well as a The Worst Person In The World mug, A3 poster and art cards to give away.

Playful yet melancholy, intricately observed yet bracingly deft, and centring on three exhilarating performances from actor Anders Danielsen Lie, the films that comprise Joachim Trier’s newly christened Oslo Trilogy – Reprise (2006), Oslo, August 31st (2011) and The Worst Person In The World (2021) – deliver lyrical, unflinching meditations on memory, self-knowledge, and the mutability of identity in today’s Europe.

Reprise

Erik (Espen Klouman Høiner) and Philip (Anders Danielsen Lie) have been best friends since childhood and both want to become writers. While Erik’s manuscript is refused by the publishers as lacking in talent, Philip is eagerly welcomed and overnight becomes a young star in Norway’s literary scene. Soon,...

Since the 1960s, Emmy voters have honored telefilms with the Best TV Movie award. Unlike the continuing program categories, this one is not bound by genre restrictions. This typically leads to diverse lineups of films, and it appears this year’s will be no different. Scroll down to see our 2022 Emmy predictions for Best TV Movie.

HBO is the most prolific network in the category’s history, having produced 22 winners from 76 nominations. The most recent of these victories came in 2020 for “Bad Education.” After losing with “Oslo” last year, they are back in the hunt again with the HBO Max films “The Fallout” and “The Survivor.”

Since the academy gave the 2021 prize to “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square,” they may feel compelled to award “Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas,” “Christmas in Tune,” or “The Waltons: Homecoming” this time. The first is a continuation of NBC’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,...

Acquittal

The Berlin International Film Festival has called for the acquittal of Zimbabwean author and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga (“I Want a Wedding Dress”) who served on the international jury of the festival earlier this year. Dangarembga was arrested in July 2020 at a protest in Harare along with journalist Julie Barnes, where both were calling for the release of journalists and for institutional reforms.

They are being charged with inciting public violence, disturbing the peace and bigotry, and with violations of Covid regulations. The women have since been released on bail, but they have also been subpoenaed 26 times. In the trial, now taking place before the anti-corruption Court in Harare, a decision will be made whether to drop the case or seek a verdict.

“As an institution that stands up for freedom of speech and freedom of artistic expression worldwide, we ask the government of Zimbabwe to clear Tsitsi Dangarembga and Julie Barnes of all charges,...

Netflix’s “The Crown” continues to build out its new cast for Season 5, tapping Amir El-Masry to portray a young Mohamed al-Fayed, TheWrap has learned.

The Egyptian billionaire and former Harrods owner is the father of Princess Diana’s former partner Dodi, who died in the same 1997 car crash that claimed the life of the Princess of Wales. In 2008, al-Fayed described Prince Philip as a “Nazi” and a “racist” when accusing him of conspiring to murder Princess Diana.

Salim Daw (“Oslo”) has previously been cast as an older al-Fayed, suggesting that Season 5 will toggle back and forth in time and provide a more complete picture of those caught in the web of this tragic incident. Dodi will be portrayed by Khalid Abdalla (“The Kite Runner”) this season while Elizabeth Debicki (“Tenet”) will tackle the role of Diana.

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Rising Egyptian star Amir El-Masry (“Limbo”) has been cast as the young Egyptian billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, the former Harrods owner and father of Princess Diana’s lover Dodi, in the upcoming fifth season of Netflix’s “The Crown,” Variety can reveal.

Netflix confirmed the casting but declined to provide further details.

As previously reported by Variety, Salim Daw (“Oslo”) has been cast as the older incarnation of Mohamed al-Fayed.

Born in Cairo and raised in London, Amir El Masry broke out internationally in 2016 with a small standout role as a hotel chef opposite Tom Hiddleston in Susanne Bier-directed mini-series “The Night Manager.” He more recently garnered critical praise for his role as Syrian asylum-seeker living on a small Scottish island in Ben Sharrock’s drama “Limbo” for which El Masry won a BAFTA Scotland acting award. El Masry also scored a role as a military chief in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Arrow Strikes For UK & U.S. Rights To Horror Pic ‘The Leech’

Exclusive: Arrow Films has acquired rights in the UK, Ireland, U.S. and Canada to Eric Pennycoff’s Christmas horror comedy The Leech, which is set to have its world premiere at Chattanooga Film Festival tomorrow (June 23). A December 2022 release is planned. In the movie, a devout priest welcomes a struggling couple into his house at Christmas time. What begins as a simple act of kindness quickly becomes the ultimate test of faith once the sanctity of his home is jeopardized. Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper and Taylor Gardner lead cast. Writer-director Eric Pennycoff commented: “Working with Arrow Films has been a total dream come true. Having been a fan of theirs since the beginning of my filmmaking career, I cannot think of a better home for The Leech to live on in all its holiday madness. Between the...

As the race for limited series has become more competitive over the last decade, the art of the TV movie has seen an inversely proportional decline in popularity and visibility. The two formats have competed in separate categories at the Emmys since 2014 (the most recent separation), but Best TV Movie has been relegated to the Creative Arts ceremony the past two years, and it’s likely been even longer since it has been truly relevant. But the Disney+ film “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” has the power to change that.

A hybrid live-action/CG animated film based on the late 1980s cartoon about the adorable anthropomorphic chipmunks first created by The Walt Disney Company in the early 1940s, the movie features comedians John Mulaney and Andy Samberg as the voices of Chip and Dale, respectively. Best friends since childhood, the two go on to become co-stars on the late ‘80s...

Thanks to a Tony Award win for “Take Me Out” in the Best Revival of a Play category, Second Stage Theater can finally join the ranks of the other nonprofit theater organizations on Broadway. The re-staging of Richard Greenberg’s baseball drama is their first Tony win in one of the production categories since Second Stage found a permanent home on Broadway.

Second Stage was founded in 1979 and has been a haven for exciting Off-Broadway ventures for years. While some of those productions have transferred to Broadway houses and even won Tonys (including Best Musical champion “Dear Evan Hansen” which was produced “in association with” the nonprofit), a Second Stage produced play has never won a top Tony category until now. Not bad considering they’ve only been on Broadway for four years.

The non-profit purchased The Hayes Theater (named after the legendary Helen Hayes) in 2015. This theater is the...