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If you are a '90s kid, you probably remember actor Tom Welling as an incredibly attractive Clark Kent in the CW’s hit series, Smallville. But, the heartthrob has a variety of other projects – including some hidden gems – that are worth the watch for fans of his most recognizable effort.

Welling’s first credited role was as “Boy” in the “Picture Perfect” music video in 2000, and he has a total of 17 credits to his name. As he currently has no new projects in production, it is time to look at 10 of the best movies and TV shows from his 25-year-long career.

Mafia Wars Is a Hot Mess, With Some Fun to Offer

Mafia Wars, sometimes known as Deep Six, is an action film that does not entirely know what it is trying to accomplish. In this film, Welling plays an ex-con, Terry, and stars alongside Cam Gigandet – also known as James from Twilight.

Jeremy Strong is set to lead a series adaptation of the Ira Levin novel “The Boys From Brazil” at Netflix, Variety has confirmed.

The project hails from Peter Morgan, the creator of the critically-acclaimed Netflix series “The Crown.” Morgan is writing the adaptation and will executive produce along with Suzanne Mackie of Orchid Pictures.

Reps for Netflix declined to comment.

Morgan revealed he was working on a series take on “The Boys From Brazil” in an interview with Variety in 2024. The novel was originally published in 1976 and was subsequently turned into a film starring Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier in 1978.

In the novel, Nazi hunter Yakov Liebermann receives a tip that the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele is alive and living under an assumed name in Brazil. Liebermann travels to the South American country to track down the so called “Angel of Death,” only to discover a sinister conspiracy at work.

Tom Welling, best known for playing Clark Kent on all 10 seasons of Wbtv’s Smallville, was arrested early Sunday in Yreka, CA, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Deadline.

Welling was taken into custody by Yreka police in an Arby’s parking lot just after midnight Jan. 26 in the northern California city. He was booked for driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level at or above 0.08%, according to TMZ, which first reported his arrest. He was released from custody a couple hours later, according to sheriff’s department records.

No further details are known at this time.

Welling also is known for his portrayal of L.A.P.D. Lieutenant Marcus Pierce in Lucifer. His other series credits include Professionals, Batwoman and Judging Amy, and films including Draft Day, Parkland, Cheaper by the Dozen and Cheaper by the Dozen 2, and The Fog. He most recently recurred...

Screenis listing the 2024 release dates for films in the UK and Ireland in the calendar below.

For distributors who wish to add/amend a date on the calendar, please get in touch withScreenhere.Screenis also running a calendar for festival and market dates throughout 2025here.

January

Wednesday, January 1

Nosferatu(Universal),2073(Altitude),Vanangaan(DJ Tech),Game Changer(Dreamz),We Live In Time(Studiocanal)

Friday, January 3

Nickel Boys(Curzon),Rocco And His Brothers(BFI),Diabel(Magnetes)

Wednesday, January 8

A Real Pain(Disney)

Friday, January 10

Babygirl(Efd),The Girl With The Needle(Mubi),Maria(Studiocanal),The Damned(Vertical/Miracle),It’s Raining Men...

It’s been 23 years since Smallville first hit TV screens, introducing audiences to a new take on Superman’s origin story. Premiering in 2001, the show followed a young Clark Kent as he navigated the challenges of growing up in the small town of Smallville while slowly uncovering his destiny as one of the most iconic superheroes in the DC Universe. With its mix of teen drama and superhero elements, Smallville quickly became a fan favorite, running for an impressive ten seasons.

Tom Welling as Clark Kent in the series Smallville | Credit: Warner Bros.

The series was more than just another superhero show, it was a coming-of-age story. It focused on Clark’s struggles with adolescence, relationships, and learning to control his emerging powers. This was all done while encountering classic characters from the Superman lore. Though it wasn’t part of the official Dceu timeline, the show left a lasting legacy.

Playing Donald Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn in Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice is not the first time Jeremy Strong has tackled recent American history. Before the actor became synonymous with Kendall Roy in Succession, he played parts in The Big Short, Selma and Parkland. While the actor feels a slight discomfort discussing acting choices for a film whose main subject “poses such a clear and present danger to you and I,” Strong is no less proud of the work. “I am happy with how it turned out and happy that I went for it,” he says. “I almost didn’t.”

Deadline: What made you run toward this role and this film?

Jeremy Strong: You run toward it, because it’s so dangerous. Because it’s been done before brilliantly. It was done by Al Pacino [in Angels in America] in a really definitive way, that had such an impact on me.

The Apprentice film explores Trump's real estate beginnings and relationship with mentor Roy Cohn in a corrupt world. Sebastian Stan portrays a young Trump, with Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn. Maria Bakalova and Martin Donovan also star. The movie, premiering at Cannes, reveals Trump's rise before The Apprentice.

An early glimpse of Ali Abbasi's The Apprentice reveals Sebastian Stan portraying a young Donald Trump, with Jeremy Strong playing Roy Cohn, in an intriguing first-look image (via Vanity Fair). The upcoming film, which will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month, is described as an exploration of power and ambition set in a world of corruption and deceit. The film examines Trump's efforts to build his real estate business in New York in the '70s and '80s, also digging into his relationship with infamous attorney Cohn. Alongside Stan and Strong, Maria Bakalova and Martin Donovan also star,...

New to Prime Video on March 7, 2024, Ricky Stanicky is a throwback R-rated buddy comedy by director Peter Farrelly. The story involves a trio of friends who pull a childhood prank that backfires, prompting them to blame an imaginary culprit named Ricky Stanicky. Years later, the friends continue to use the made-up alias to avoid workplace trouble and cover up their sophomoric shenanigans.

Although Ricky Stanicky has drawn mediocre reviews for its crude raunchiness and overlong running time, the old-school buddy comedy boasts a tremendous cast of recognizable actors that elevates the material. For those wondering if the movie is worth a watch, perhaps the superb cast of characters will sway a decision one way or the other. As such, it's time to meet the characters featured in Ricky Stanicky.

Ricky Stanicky RComedyFantasy 2.5/5 Release DateMarch 7, 2024DirectorPeter FarrellyCastAnja Savcic, Zac Efron, John Cena, William H. Macy, Andrew Santino

Read our review

Zac...

Bookmark this page for the latest updates in the territory.

Screen is listing the 2023 release dates for films in the UK and Ireland in the calendar below.

For distributors who wish to add/amend a date on the calendar, please get in touch with Screen here. Screen is also running a calendar for festival and market dates throughout 2023 here.

December

December 31

Berliner Philharmoniker Live: New Year’s Eve Concert 2023 (Trafalgar - event cinema)

Previous releases January

January 6

Piggy (Vertigo), The Enforcer (Vertigo), Alcarràs (Mubi), A Man Called Otto (Sony), Rashomon (BFI), Till (Universal)

January 7

Andre Rieu In Dublin 2023 (Piece of...

Zac Efron's first sports biopic, The Iron Claw, fulfills its promise with a moving portrayal of the Von Erich family's tragic story. After a brief detour into comedies, Efron's return to dark and dramatic roles in The Iron Claw is paying off with rave reviews. While Efron has future comedy projects, The Iron Claw's success solidifies his talent and potential in the world of dramas.

Zac Efron's big 2023 movie, The Iron Claw, is finally giving audiences a fulfilling project first teased with a role in 2019. The Iron Claw is a true story based on the Von Erich family of professional wrestlers and the tragedies that plagued them in the '80s and '90s. Efron has a starring role as Kevin Von Erich alongside other notable actors, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson, playing his brothers, Kerry and David, respectively. In addition to being Efron's first sports biopic,...

Zac Efron's upcoming 2024 comedy seems like a worrying step back after his success in The Iron Claw. Efron's previous roles as the goofy leading man in raunchy comedies and rom-coms have typecast him for almost a decade. Despite concerns, 2024 could still be a successful year for Efron as he excels at performing in comedy movies and has highly anticipated projects lined up.

After the success of Zac Efron’s film The Iron Claw, his upcoming 2024 comedy seems like a worrying step back. When Zac Efron first broke out after High School Musical, he took on roles as the goofy leading man in raunchy comedies and rom-coms. This became the typecast that followed him around for almost a decade. While he took on roles in great projects different from his typecast, like Parkland and The Disaster Artist, they haven’t gained as much attention or appreciation.

This started to shift...

Sebastian Stan is set to portray a young Donald Trump in the film The Apprentice. The film will delve into Trump's relationship with attorney Roy Cohn and chart the origins of a major American dynasty, presenting a mentor-protege story. The screenplay for The Apprentice is written by Gabriel Sherman, known for his novel and TV series "The Loudest Voice in the Room."

Sebastian Stan is Donald Trump in the first set of images from the upcoming movie, The Apprentice. The Pam & Tommy star is set to portray the real estate mogul turned American President for Ali Abassi's The Apprentice.The film also stars Jeremy Strong as attorney and Trump mentor Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova as Trump's first wife, Ivana Trump. According to Deadline, who first reported the casting news, Stan will star as a young Donald Trump as he endeavors to build his real estate business, and Page...

Sebastian Stan is set to portray a young Donald Trump in the film "The Apprentice." The film will delve into Trump's relationship with attorney Roy Cohn and chart the origins of a major American dynasty, presenting a mentor-protege story. The screenplay for "The Apprentice" is written by Gabriel Sherman, known for his novel and TV series "The Loudest Voice in the Room."

From Winter Soldier to Tommy Lee to Donald Trump: Sebastian Stan is showing range. The Pam & Tommy star is set to portray the real estate mogul turned American President for Ali Abassi's The Apprentice. The film also stars Jeremy Strong as attorney and Trump mentor Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova as Trump's first wife, Ivana Trump. According to Deadline, who first reported the casting news, Stan will star as a young Donald Trump as he endeavors to build his real estate business. Check out what the report...

Bookmark this page for the latest updates in the territory.

Screen is listing the 2024 release dates for films in the UK and Ireland in the calendar below.

For distributors who wish to add/amend a date on the calendar, please get in touch with Screen here. Screen is also running a calendar for festival and market dates throughout 2024 here.

January

January 5

Priscilla (Mubi), One Life (Warner Bros), Scala! (BFI), Night Swim (Universal), Blank (Sparky)

January 6

Nabucco - Met Opera 23/24 (Trafalgar)

January 12

Poor Things (Disney), The Boys In The Boat (Warner Bros), Freaks Vs The Reich (Miracle/Dazzler), The Beekeeper (Studiocanal...

Exclusive: Abramorama founder Richard Abramowitz has elevated longtime business partner Karol Martesko-Fenster to CEO and Co-Chairman of the indie distribution company. Evan Saxon has been promoted to President, Head of International Distribution, in a move meant to double down on their continued emphasis on social impact and music-driven content for theatrical and event releases globally.

Abramowitz continues as Co-Chairman atop the company he founded in 2002.

“Karol, Evan and I have worked closely together for years, with their partnership driving unparalleled results in the event-cinema world,” Abramowitz said. “Their decades-long experience in the music and social impact film genres makes me confident that they will take the company to the next level and continue to dominate, innovate and lead the way as the industry continues to evolve.”

Martesko-Fenster will lead the company in expanding its footprint and partnerships in the filmed entertainment sector while bolstering the strategic services to filmmakers and IP owners across all platforms.

Zylberstein unveils ambitious new slate of female-driven titles.

Isabel Coixet is in talks to direct Happy People Read And Drink Coffee, an adaptation of Agnes Martin-Lugand’s best-selling novel of the same name for Elsa Zylberstein’s fast-growing production company Sonia Films.

Mediawan Pictures is in advanced talks to co-produce the English and French-language film set between Paris and Ireland and is about a woman grieving her husband and daughter when a new love affair blossoms.

Zylberstein is also set to star in what is the latest project to be added to her female-focused film and TV slate.

The renowned French actress,...

Zylberstein unveils ambitious new slate of female-driven titles.

Isabel Coixet has signed to direct Happy People Read And Drink Coffee, an adaptation of Agnes Martin-Lugand’s best-selling novel of the same name for Elsa Zylberstein’s fast-growing production company Sonia Films.

Mediawan Pictures is in advanced talks to co-produce the English and French-language film set between Paris and Ireland and is about a woman grieving her husband and daughter when a new love affair blossoms.

Zylberstein is also set to star in what is the latest project to be added to her female-focused film and TV slate.

The renowned French actress,...

Talking to Heléne Yorke really doesn’t feel like an interview. Sure, during a Friday afternoon Zoom we mostly focus on The Other Two, the criminally underrated Max comedy she stars in, but there’s enough bantering about life and mom things that it quickly shifts into chatting. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that she’s funny and relatable, not entirely unlike her on-screen persona.

One half of the titular Two, Brooke Dubek is a former professional dancer who’s searching for her purpose and examining her identity after her youngest brother becomes a pop sensation overnight. At this point in the series’ third season, she’s managing the careers of ChaseDreams (Case Walker) and her mother-turned-media mogul Pat Dubek (Molly Shannon) after temporarily leaving the industry because the pandemic made her feel guilty about not being a professional do-gooder, and middle child Carey (Drew Tarver) is on the...

A John Krasinski-produced movie about a fugitive billionaire has found its director in Peter Landesman.

Sources tell Variety that the “Concussion” writer-helmer is on board to direct the long-gestating movie, which is based on Daniel Ammann’s biography “The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich.” The film tells the story of the international commodities trader and founder of Glencore, who was indicted in the U.S. on 65 criminal counts that included tax evasion, wire fraud, racketeering and striking deals for oil with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis.

Rich had already fled the U.S. for Switzerland and never returned, but famously received a pardon in 2001 from then President Bill Clinton on his last day in office. Rich lived in Switzerland until his death at age 78 in 2013. Matt Damon has been attached to play Rich, though his involvement is not currently known. The film was under Universal,...

Exclusive: Tom Welling has signed on to star in Deep Six, an action-thriller from writer-director Scott Windhauser (Death in Texas).

In the film, which will begin shooting in Rome in April, Terry (Welling) is released early from prison only to be forced to go undercover to take down the Cosa Nostra in Italy. On his first day, his fellow six-man undercover unit is taken out. Terry must then ride shotgun all day with a psychopath killer who may know he is working for the police.

Cam Gigandet (Without Remorse), Sidhartha Mallya (Brahman Naman), Cher Cosenza (Death in Texas), Al Linea (The Irishman) and Alessia Alciati will also star, with Emanuele Moretti producing for The Motus Studios.

“I really lucked out to get to work with such a great actor like Tom. I think he is really going to open a lot of eyes with his role,” said Windhauser.

Exclusive: Concussion filmmaker Peter Landesman will adapt and direct Scout Comics’ comic series The Recount into a feature film for Don Handfield’s Motor Content and Jonathan Kadin’s KadinCreative. Nick Jones Jr. will co-write with Landesman.

The fictional political thriller written by U.S. army veteran Jonathan Hedrick, was published by Scout Comics in November last year and is set in an unsettling, yet recognizable American political climate. The material is described as having the political intrigue of House of Cards blended with the horror of The Purge.

In the series, the U.S. President is assassinated by one of his own security detail. A Secret Service agent must then protect the Vice President at all costs from a vast, dangerous conspiracy. With nowhere to turn and no one to trust, these two women with completely opposing beliefs are forced to work together to fight back and preserve what’s left of American democracy.

In 2017, Ann Dowd was nominated for both “The Leftovers” and “Handmaid’s Tale,” which she won. It changed her life. After decades of working under the radar, she didn’t have to audition anymore. In an interview, she described the experience of entering into “that kind of arena where there’s visibility.”

It took 30 years for the veteran New York stage actress to break out in movies with her role as a rule-following manager in Craig Zobel’s Sundance hit “Compliance.” She’s all for the slow burn of her career. “Age is underrated,” Dowd said. “What you get as you grow older, if you’re willing to listen: ‘Let’s keep the focus on the work.'”

Now Dowd is back in the film spotlight again for her exemplary work in first-time writer-director Fran Kranz’s Parkland-inspired Sundance four-hander “Mass.” Working with three theater actors in an intense...

In 2017, Ann Dowd was nominated for both “The Leftovers” and “Handmaid’s Tale,” which she won. It changed her life. After decades of working under the radar, she didn’t have to audition anymore. In an interview, she described the experience of entering into “that kind of arena where there’s visibility.”

It took 30 years for the veteran New York stage actress to break out in movies with her role as a rule-following manager in Craig Zobel’s Sundance hit “Compliance.” She’s all for the slow burn of her career. “Age is underrated,” Dowd said. “What you get as you grow older, if you’re willing to listen: ‘Let’s keep the focus on the work.'”

Now Dowd is back in the film spotlight again for her exemplary work in first-time writer-director Fran Kranz’s Parkland-inspired Sundance four-hander “Mass.” Working with three theater actors in an intense...

The fact-based story about former U.S. Army sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins’ four decades of living in North Korea is to be produced as an English-language limited TV series.

Peter Landesman will direct the series for South Korean financing and production company Moving Pictures Company.

Writer Nick Osborne, who most recently adapted the “Last of the Mohicans” series for HBO Max, is adapting the non-fiction book “The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea,” co-written by Jenkins and Time journalist Jim Frederick.

Events began in 1965, some 13 years after the end of the inter-Korean war, when Jenkins abandoned his post in South Korea and walked across the militarized border into North Korea. He believed his action would get him back to the U.S. and earn him a short jail sentence. Instead, he found himself in another sort of prison, living for 40 years under a repressive Communist autocracy.

Emmanuel Van der Auwera's The Sky is On Fire is exclusively showing starting February 24, 2021 in Mubi's Brief Encounters series.Ever since I was a child I have been enthralled with the notion of America. I had a large picture of New York in my bedroom, and this image of a city unlike any I had seen in Europe intrigued me. As I got older, it became easier to be in touch with America: through media, images, and the internet. I started working with material I came across via online communities early on in my artistic practice. There seemed to be a desire to leave one’s mark, to show our existence; who we were at a given point in time. My interest for online cultures was developed alongside research into the consumption of images, and how the media shows images of disasters - never showing the actual event,...

Emmanuel Van der Auwera's The Sky is On Fire is exclusively showing starting February 24, 2021 in Mubi's Brief Encounters series.Ever since I was a child I have been enthralled with the notion of America. I had a large picture of New York in my bedroom, and this image of a city unlike any I had seen in Europe intrigued me. As I got older, it became easier to be in touch with America: through media, images, and the internet. I started working with material I came across via online communities early on in my artistic practice. There seemed to be a desire to leave one’s mark, to show our existence; who we were at a given point in time. My interest for online cultures was developed alongside research into the consumption of images, and how the media shows images of disasters - never showing the actual event,...

After building a career as an actor, first-time director Fran Kranz found his passion in the form of Mass. Framed as a conversation between two sets of parents, the drama sees incredible work from Ann Dowd and Jason Isaacs, with performances from Martha Plimpton and Reed Birney accomplishing more than just providing backup. Consisting of a single conversation in a single room for over 100 minutes, these couples sort through their grief and anger in hopes of healing after a fatal school shooting incident between their children years prior. A wrecking ball full of powerful emotion, Mass represents a step-up in Kranz’s career, with its story likely growing in resonance as time goes on, an unfortunate truth that consumed the director.

Kranz sat down with The Film Stage to chat about his inspiration for the film, his own dreams of directing, his changing perspective with the birth of his daughter,...

The high-seas World War II drama “Greyhound” clocks in with a svelte running time of 91 minutes, including end credits. But an extremely tightly wound and unrelenting 91 minutes it is. Starring and written by Tom Hanks, the plot is densely concentrated on about five days in February 1942, as Hanks’ Commander Krause is leading a convoy of destroyers through the so-called Black Pit.

That’s a stretch of the North Atlantic Ocean too far from land for the Air Force to provide assistance, leaving the 37 ships vulnerable to lethal German U-boats swarming below the surface.

In the film (streaming now on AppleTV+), every moment, day and night, in the Black Pit in fraught with peril. And instrumental to that gripping tension was the work of film editors Sidney Wolinsky and Mark Czyzewski who combined to spend nearly a year and a half piecing the movie together.

Foremost in the mind of both men was narrative coherence,...

Teen horror ‘Shortcut’ proved a box office hit in the US.

Parkland Entertainment has secured UK and Ireland rights to a hat-trick of AFM titles.

The deals are led by teen horror Shortcut, sold by Italian genre specialist Minerva Pictures. The creature feature was released on nearly 700 US screens via by Gravitas Ventures in September and proved the distributor’s biggest box office success to date, ranking seventh on its opening weekend with $305,000.

Directed by Alessio Liguori, the film follows five teenagers who become trapped in their school bus on a deserted road, which has been blocked by a mysterious creature.

Exclusive: WME has inked Emmy and Tony nominated actor David Harbour for representation in all areas. The Stranger Things Chief Jim Hopper actor was previously with ICM Partners.

The White Plains, NY native is going four seasons strong on the Duffer Brothers-created Netflix series, which has earned him a Golden Globe nom, two Primetime Emmy noms, a SAG ensemble win and Critics’ Choice supporting actor drama series award.

Next up on November 6, Harbour stars as Red Guardian in Marvel’s Black Widow opposite Scarlett Johansson, Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh.

His previous feature film credits include starring in Liongate’s Hellboy, action thriller Sleepless and David Ayer’s DC blockbuster Suicide Squad, Scott Cooper’s Black Mass opposite Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington’s The Equalizer, A Walk Among Tombstones, Parkland, End of Watch, Revolutionary Road, Thin Ice, Brokeback Mountain, The Green Hornet, Quantum of Solace, W.E. and Between Us.

Harbour...

"Oh, I fell in love with the place..." Parkland Ent. in the UK has released an official trailer for an indie drama titled Provenance, a romantic thriller marking the feature directorial debut of the cinematographer Ben Hecking. This originally premiered at the East End Film Festival in the UK in 2017, but hasn't had a release yet for the last three years. John Finch has fled to his holiday home in the south of France to start a new way of life. Whilst waiting for his younger lover Sophia to join him, a seemingly chance encounter with a man called Peter will threaten to destroy everything. "A tangled web of passion, trauma, memory and love builds towards a tragic climax. With riveting central performances, Provenance is a devastating reminder that we can never escape our past." Ain't that the truth. Starring Christian McKay, Charlotte Vega, and Harry Macqueen. This looks like a very emotional,...

Enough is enough. Abramorama has unveiled an official, full-length trailer for the documentary Parkland Rising, which is launching with a live stream event in early June in just a few weeks. Directed by two-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker Cheryl Horner McDonough, Parkland Rising is an inspiring look at the students of Parkland, who have started an international movement to call attention to the need for better gun safety laws. The film encourages everyone to stand up and get involved. From executive producers Katie Couric and will.i.am, the film features Jaclyn Corin, Matt & Ryan Deitsch, Emma Gonzalez, Fred Guttenberg (Father of Jaime Guttenberg), Lauren and David Hogg; with music by Ajr, Black Eyed Peas, Sammy Brue, Bob Dylan, Michael Franti, and Pearl Jam. This is different than the doc film After Parkland, which focuses more on emotions. This ones focuses on change - and how we can make that change happen with solidarity.

It is also putting three planned theatrical releases on hold until later in 2020.

UK distributor Parkland Entertainment has revealed plans to release a raft of new titles onto digital platforms early, including three new acquisitions, as cinemas remain closed nationwide due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Astronaut, starring Richard Dreyfuss, was set to be released on 65 screens on March 20 – three days before theatres shut their doors – but will now be available to rent and own from digital platforms on April 27.

Documentary Camino Skies will be released as a premium VOD title on Curzon Home Cinema from May 8, the original theatrical release date,...

Feb. 14 will mark two years since one of the most tragic school shootings in U.S. history, the day when a 19-year-old former student opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 and injuring 17 more.

That day and its aftermath have delivered a recent crush of content: Four feature-length documentaries are now in the unique position of competing for eyeballs and attention amid a nationwide gun-violence epidemic. The list is actually longer if you count previously released projects like HBO’s short film Song of Parkland; Charlie Minn’s Parkland: ...

Feb. 14 will mark two years since one of the most tragic school shootings in U.S. history, the day when a 19-year-old former student opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 and injuring 17 more.

That day and its aftermath have delivered a recent crush of content: Four feature-length documentaries are now in the unique position of competing for eyeballs and attention amid a nationwide gun-violence epidemic. The list is actually longer if you count previously released projects like HBO’s short film Song of Parkland; Charlie Minn’s Parkland: ...

After a 2018 mass shooting at a South Florida high school left 17 people dead and 17 more injured, Parkland students Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg and Jackie Corin found themselves at the forefront of a national conversation about gun control reform before they were even old enough to vote.

Two years after the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the survivors are again grappling with the legacy of that terrible day, this time in “Us Kids,” a documentary by Kim A. Snyder (“Newtown”) that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Through the eyes of the young activists, “Us Kids” chronicles the global impact of their efforts over the 18 months that followed, including the March for Our Lives movement and the Road to Change tour to mobilize the youth vote during midterm elections.

“We’re looking forward to using this film as a tool to facilitate more conversations about gun violence prevention around...

Sam Mendes’ World War I epic 1917 scored its second major guild victory of the awards season Saturday at the 72nd annual DGA Awards, cementing his spot as an Oscar Best Picture frontrunner in Director and Best Picture by winning the marquee feature film award.

The victory in a category that included four of this year’s five Oscar Directing nominees — Bong Joon-Ho for Neon’s Parasite, Quentin Tarantino for Sony’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Martin Scorsese for Netflix’s The Irishman — came after the Universal film produced and financed by Amblin Partners and New Republic scored the top prize at the PGA Awards a week ago.

‘I want to tell a quick story I’ve never told before,” Mendes, who won this award in 1999 for American Beauty, said onstage at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. “My grandfather inspired this film, and he made me...

At this year’s Sundance Film Festival four documentaries spotlight adolescents who inspire change while also holding a mirror up to a society that provoked their pain and path to resistance.

In Kim Snyder’s “Us Kids” the director focuses her lens on a handful of teenagers who survived the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. which claimed 17 lives. The docu examines the lasting trauma of gun violence while also chronicling determined young survivors who speak out against the national gun-violence epidemic and develop the March For Our Lives movement.

Snyder, who directed the 2016 doc “Newtown” about Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as the 2018 nonfiction short “Notes from Dunblane: Lesson from a School Shooting,” had no intention of making another film about gun violence.

“I was very weirdly and karmically in Florida the week of the (Parkland) shooting,” recalls Snyder. “Within days...

In today’s film news roundup, a Mickey Rourke crime drama will premiere in Portugal, a film about the Purdue Pharma scandal is in the works and the documentary “After Parkland” will be shown at 100 locations on the second anniversary of the Parkland shootings.

Festival Opener

The world premiere of Mickey Rourke’s crime drama “Adverse” will take place on Feb. 28 as the opening film of the 40th Fantasporto Oporto Film Festival in Portugal — the country’s largest film festival.

Rourke stars as an underworld boss who hires a rideshare driver, porotrayed by Thomas Nicholas, whose younger sister is in debt to a dangerous crime syndicate. “Adverse” also stars Penelope Ann Miller, Lou Diamond Phillips, Sean Astin and Kelly Arjen.

“Adverse” is directed by Brian A. Metcalf from his own script. The film is produced by Metcalf, Nicholas, Arjen and executive produced by Scott Katzman, Lise Romanoff, Sergio Rizzuto and Ben Chan.

Emily Taguchi and Jake Lefferman were already well versed in covering mass shootings around the country by the time they made it to Parkland, Florida. But in talking with the students and the families who had lived through the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting, they could tell the members of this community were ready to speak out about something more.

Taguchi and Lefferman are both producers on ABC’s “Nightline,” but for their documentary “After Parkland,” they go beyond the breaking news heartbreak and got intimate access to families at the center of the tragedy who were still there long after the other news crews had left.

“We’ve gone to these communities in those awful moments and maybe felt some guilt, as many in the media do, that you descend on a community, and you’re there, and then the story moves on, and the nation sort of forgets.

Nightline producers Jake Lefferman and Emily Taguchi keep a bag packed at all times, ready to respond to breaking news. This being the United States, where mass shootings occur with alarming frequency, their destination is often a major crime scene. Like Pittsburgh in October 2018, site of a shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue that left 11 dead, or El Paso, Texas earlier this year where a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart.

“In all of these situations we have that really difficult job of having to go into a community in one of their hardest, darkest moments,” Lefferman tells Deadline. “And then…the news cycle moves on. People forget, but for that community the wounds of what happened really stay forever.”

On Valentine’s Day 2018 news broke of a devastating shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Once on the ground, Lefferman and Taguchi met with teenagers...

School shootings happen with such regularity in America now that they barely get reported, or if they are reported, they are swiftly forgotten.

That has not been the case with the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which happened on Valentine’s Day of 2018, because some of the survivors — notably David Hogg and Emma González — led protests and put themselves forward to the media as the faces of a new generation who were not going to settle for “thoughts and prayers” for a day.

“After Parkland” is a documentary that follows several of the survivors of the shooting. Filmmakers Jake Lefferman and Emily Taguchi were given access to Hogg and his family, but González is only seen at a rally in Washington, D.C. where she reads out all 17 of the victim’s names. She says something personal about all of them before stopping and remaining silent for six minutes,...

“It was certainly a story that wasn’t going away and the community wasn’t letting the nation forget what happened,” explains Jake Lefferman about the heartbreaking new documentary “After Parkland.” The ABC Documentaries film, co-directed by Emily Taguchi, explores the immediate aftermath of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School which killed seventeen people and became the deadliest school shooting in American history. In our exclusive interview (watch the video above), Lefferman and Taguchi explain the film’s impact as well as their approach to capturing the devastating impact of the tragedy on the survivors and the victims’ families.

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The film focuses on the grief of the victims’ families, particularly the parents of several murdered students. Taguchi says that her goal was to be as respectful as possible to the families as they mourned the loss of their children. “I...

Every year, Variety seeks to identify the next generation of leaders in the entertainment business, looking for representatives in the creative community, film, TV, music and digital. This year’s group has a heavy New York focus: We selected executives from forward thinking companies such as Spotify, Group Nine and Endeavor Audio, as well as writers and producers in late night comedy, plus agents and managers who help put the deals together that keep the entertainment business humming.

Steven Baker

Ep, “Nightline,” 37

Baker joined ABC’s “Nightline” as a production assistant in 2005, moving up through the ranks before being named the news program’s youngest executive producer in 2017, producing all of Barbara Walters’ “Nightline” specials along the way. Last year he exec-produced the doc special “For Our Lives: Parkland,” as well as ABC’s first Disney Pride speaker series. “After Parkland,” which he also produced, premiered at Tribeca in April. “I...

Will Smith has signed on to star in and produce Netflix’s upcoming film “The Council,” the fact-based story of of Nicky Barnes, who led a New York City crime syndicate that ruled Harlem in the ’70s and ’80s. While Barnes has been a secondary character in films before, the new film will be the first to focus squarely on the man and his criminal enterprise. The screenplay was written by journalist and veteran of the biopic genre Peter Landesman. He wrote and directed 2015’s “Concussion,” which stars Smith as a doctor who fights against the NFL over his research on traumatic brain injury, the 2013 post-Kennedy-assassination tale “Parkland,” and Watergate drama “Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House.”

Per the film’s official synopsis, “‘The Council’ is the never-before told story of a crime syndicate consisting of seven African-American men who ruled Harlem in the 1970s and early 80s.

Will Smith is trading in his family-friendly aura and big blockbuster stardom to portray American crime boss Nicky Barnes in a biopic for Netflix called “The Council.”

Peter Landesman is writing the script for the film, which tells the untold story of a crime syndicate consisting of the seven black men who ruled Harlem in the 1970s and early ’80s.

This crime syndicate, as spelled out in the film’s logline, was made up of men who dreamed of a self-sufficient and self-policing African American city-state, funded by revolutionizing the drug game.

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“The Council” will center on the syndicate’s head, Nicky Barnes, who was dubbed by the New York Times as “Mr. Untouchable.” The film will focus on the Shakespearean court intrigue between Barnes and all...

Here’s a shocker: Duff McKagan’s new solo album Tenderness, out today, is more country sounding than some mainstream Nashville releases joining it on record-store shelves. The Guns N’ Roses bassist embraced that rootsy, even twangy, vibe wholeheartedly when he kicked off his solo tour at Philadelphia’s Theatre of Living Arts on Thursday night.

Backed by Shooter Jennings, who produced Tenderness, and Jennings’ four-piece band, including fiddle player Aubrey Richmond, McKagan recreated the woke 11-song LP in its entirety and rewarded Gnr diehards with Use Your Illusion I deep cuts.

Duff McKagan, Guns N’ Roses’ second-best singer (or is it third-best? where’s Izzy?), gets woke on his mellow new solo album. Amid twanging steel guitars, gospel backup singers and fiddle filigrees, he variously addresses America’s opioid epidemic, school shootings, sexual assault, homelessness and his own transgressions, but it never feels too corny or cloying since there’s always sincerity in his voice. It’s music of conscience, heavy songs with a light touch.

His secret weapon here is producer Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon), who helped him assemble...

With the Writers Guild of America locked in a bitter standoff with Hollywood agents, three high-profile screenwriters have slammed the severity of the WGA’s tactics.

The letter, addressed to WGA leaders, was written by Brandon Camp, Peter Landesman and Phyllis Nagy. The WGA and the Association of Talent Agents saw talks crater on April 12 over efforts to revamp the 43-year-old rules governing how agents represent WGA members. No new talks are scheduled.

“We are writing to you because we are torn,” Camp, Landesman and Nagy said. “On the one hand, we agree TV packaging has gotten out of hand. On the other, we have serious qualms about the Guild’s tactics in righting this situation. Its methodology has seemed belligerent at times. Meanwhile, leadership’s tone toward its own members has seemed outright threatening, especially toward those who have chosen to dissent from the path you are on.”

The...

Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan blasts clickbait and media sensationalism on his folky new song “Chip Away.” “Talking heads are making dollars/It’s like doing crack day after day,” he sings over acoustic strums and back-porch violin, later throwing out a reference to the Flat Earth movement (“I hear it often nowadays/The Earth is flat or so they say”).

“‘Chip Away’ is somewhat of a rail against cable news and divisive agendas…all for the almighty dollar,” McKagan said in a statement. “The song also highlights the...