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Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson has enjoyed success on the big and small screens throughout his five decades. Take a tour of our photo gallery ranking his 12 greatest feature films from worst to best.

Levinson began his career as a comedy writer on various variety shows in the 1970s ultimately landing a steady job writing for 72 episodes of “The Carol Burnett Show,” for which he won Emmys in 1974 and 1975, competing again in 1976. When that show ended he began writing screenplays and had a remarkably successful run co-writing two Mel Brooks movies -- “Silent Movie” and “High Anxiety” -- as well as two acclaimed dramas “Inside Moves” and “and Justice for All.” He would receive his first Oscar nomination for the screenplay of “And Justice for All.”

That success led Levinson to a feature film directing career. His semi-autobiographical film “Diner,” about a group of young men hanging out in his native Baltimore,...

Sofia Carson in The Life List – Picture: Netflix

In March 2024, Netflix confirmed The Life List, a new romantic comedy starring Sofia Carson. The movie is due out on Netflix soon, so we’re here with everything known about it, including the full cast, production updates, plot details, and more on its release date, which is now set for March 28th.

Adam Brooks is on board to both write and direct the project. The Canadian screenwriter and director is no stranger to the romantic comedy space, having written or directed (or both) titles like Definitely, Maybe, and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, plus the Netflix Original movie Nappily Ever After, released in 2018.

This isn’t the first time The Lift List has been attempted to be brought to the big screen. Ahead of the book’s release in 2013, Fox 2000 optioned the film rights for the novel, with Hutch Parker set to produce.

Veteran screenwriter Chris Collins (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum) has partnered with producer and film executive Kelly McKee, and entertainment attorney Ken Browning to launch Generator Entertainment, a new entertainment company that will develop, produce, and finance projects across film, TV, and other areas.

Primarily focusing on action, sci-fi, and elevated horror in the budget range of $5 million to $20 million, Generator launches in partnership with Hill Country Studios, a $250M studio development outside Austin, Texas, which will be the first purpose-built production facility of its kind in the state, offering access to 12 sound stages, four workshops, dedicated production offices, and 1,500 acres of backlot space. Under the partnership, Hill Country will back Generator’s ongoing development and contribute to the financing of upcoming productions, two of which are set to shoot at the studio in late 2025, and two of which are planned for the following year.

Ahead of launch,...

John Wick 3 screenwriter Chris Collins has partnered with film producer Kelly McKee (Paterno, The Crow) and veteran entertainment attorney Ken Browning to launch a genre media production banner, Generator Entertainment.

Also behind the new production and finance company is Hill Country Studios, a film studio outside Austin, Texas that will help finance upcoming productions set to shoot on its soundstages. The venture aims to develop, produce and finance film, TV and entertainment content around action, sci-fi, and horror projects in the $5 million to $20 million budget range.

Collins’ credits include FX’s Sons of Anarchy, Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Starz’s Crash. McKee was head of production at Pressman Film and co-executive produced Lionsgate’s The Crow, Mary Harron’s DaliLand, and co-produced HBO Film’s Paterno by director Barry Levinson.

There’s no word on specific projects in the Generator pipeline,...

Exclusive: Jessica Chastain, Brendan Fraser and Bryan Cranston have joined Al Pacino in the mystery thriller Assassination. The film will be directed by Barry Levinson from a script by David Mamet, Levinson and Sam Bromell.

The film offers up a new take on the JFK conspiracy, centering around Kilgallen (Chastain), one of the most famous voices in media at the time. When she suspects that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone, she uses her fame and influence to find President John F. Kennedy’s real killer. Part murder mystery, part film noir, Kilgallen’s journey will put her up against the CIA, mafia bosses and the FBI, all who would love nothing more than to make her and this story disappear.

“Dorothy Kilgallen was the first female crime reporter in America. She was the only woman to ever cover the JFK case. The only reporter to speak with Jack Ruby.

Legendary film director Barry Levinson has given us such movies as Diner, Rain Man and Sleepers, while legendary screenwriter David Mamet penned such classics as The Untouchables, Glengarry Glen Ross and Ronin. The two are reportedly set to team up for a new film about the JFK assassination, which will star another cinema legend, Al Pacino. The film, Assassination, was first reported out of Cannes and is set to feature a cast including Viggo Mortensen, John Travolta, Shia Labeouf, Rebecca Pidgeon and Courtney Love.

Back when the film was revealed at Cannes, Mamet was set to direct his screenplay, which he co-wrote with Nicholas Celozzi. Now, Deadline is reporting that Barry Levinson is stepping in as the director for the film. According to Deadline, the plot of Assassination “tells the story of how infamous Chicago mobster Sam Giancana arranged the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as payback for trying...

Back in May, we brought you :a[news that Al Pacino is set to lead the starry ensemble]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/al-pacino-john-travolta-shia-labeouf-and-more-leading-the-cast-for-david-mamet-thriller-assassination/' } of David Mamet’s latest project, JFK thriller Assassination. Originally, two-time Oscar nominee and Pulitzer Prize winner Mamet planned to direct the film, too. However, per :a[Deadline]{href='https://deadline.com/2023/10/barry-levinson-assassination-al-pacino-1235576261/' }’s reporting, a switcheroo up top has landed the project a new helmsman in the form of Oscar-winner Barry Levinson

Co-written by Mamet and Nicholas Celozzi, Assassination offers a speculative retelling of the assassination of 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy from the perspective of the mob. In this version of the tale, Kennedy’s death – long-since one of the most conspiracy-laden events in American history – is reimagined as a pre-meditated hit orchestrated by Chicago mob lynchpin Sam Giancana, an act of revenge for JFK’s undermining of the same mob...

Exclusive: Oscar winning filmmaker Barry Levinson is stepping in to direct the David Mamet-scripted drama Assassination, we hear, and is putting his own stamp on the project. Deadline first reported about the movie out of Cannes.

Two-time Oscar nominee and Pulitzer Prize winner Mamet originally was set to direct the movie, which tells the story of how infamous Chicago mobster Sam Giancana arranged the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as payback for trying to bring down organized crime after the mob helped put JFK in the White House.

BAFTA winner Shia Labeouf and Oscar winner Al Pacino remain attached to the film, the latter playing Tony Accardo, a senior mob boss.

The pic is being produced by Corey Large (It Follows), Jason Sosnoff (Wise Guys) and Giancana’s grandnephew Nicholas Celozzi (The Class). Executive producer are John Burnham (Atlas Artists) and Jordan Nott. Finance comes from 308 Enterprises.

HBO movies showcase a wide range of genres, from intense dramas like The Normal Heart to hilarious comedies like 7 Days in Hell. The talented cast in HBO movies, including Al Pacino and Julianne Moore, bring real-life and controversial figures to life on screen. HBO movies tackle important and relevant topics, such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic in The Normal Heart and the scandal surrounding Clarence Thomas in Game Change.

HBO is certainly best known for its ground-breaking television shows like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones, but the best HBO movies showcase their talent for feature-length storytelling as well. From the early days of the premium cable channel to the more recent offerings, the HBO movies have told a wide range of movies that have earned acclaim, brought in big-name talent, and further cemented HBO as a television brand above most others.

Audiences can look back at the wonderful...

Adapted from the 2015 novel by Katherine Center, Netflix’s “Happiness for Beginners” largely takes place in the wilderness, where different kinds of people are forced to bond while braving the elements as they hike the Appalachian Trail. Led by “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “The Office” alum Ellie Kemper, the gaggle of goofballs provides laughs of all kinds as well as some heartfelt moments.

Zealous camp guide Bennett (Ben Cook) keeps everything interesting, especially when he scolds Helen (Kemper) for her careless mistakes on the hike and praises Jake (Luke Grimes) for all of his perfect moves in setting up and taking down camp. Nico Santos and Gus Birney even more humor to this romantic comedy story.

Here’s who plays who in “Happiness for Beginners”:

Helen (Ellie Kemper)

Ellie Kemper portrays Helen, who wants to start over after she divorces her husband. She experienced infidelity and a miscarriage during their marriage.

It’s pretty common for limited series to be Emmy-nominated for both writing and directing, as demonstrated by current dual contenders “Beef” and “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” plus “The White Lotus” and the four 2022 shows it knocked out twice. The same cannot be said, however, for TV movies, which compete directly against non-continuing series in the composite Best Movie/Limited Writing and Directing categories. Prior to this year, no telefilm had achieved this nomination combo since 2014, but Hulu’s “Prey” just closed the gap, signaling a return to form for the genre.

“Prey,” which premiered in August 2022, is also gunning for the Best TV Movie Emmy and picked up bids for its sound editing, picture editing and music composition. Set in 18th century North America and featuring a primarily Indigenous cast, it serves as a prequel to the 1987 theatrical horror film “Predator,” which is now the nexus of a seven-part franchise.

If you’re on the hunt for a political thriller with a strong female lead, you will want to find out where to watch The Diplomat and add it to your watch list.

The Diplomat stars Keri Russell alongside a perfect cast chosen by creator Debora Cahn, with Russell of course being well-known for her starring role in Felicity and Waitress. In this new political thriller series, she portrays a U.S. ambassador to the U.K. named Kate Wyler. Wyler finds that she is not entirely prepared for this role, especially as she is in the midst of trying to keep her marriage to fellow diplomat Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) afloat.

The Diplomat

The Diplomat is a Netflix drama/thriller series that tells the story of a career diplomat named Laura Simmonds as she wrestles with the complexities of her new job as ambassador to the U.K. As...

With Super Bowl Lvii upon us, we wanted to know what Football (or Football related) movie was your favorite. We compiled a list of scripted movies, so you won’t see the Oscar Winning Documentary Undefeated on the list, but if that is your favorite, please click the other button and let us know why you loved it so much in the comments section.

Favorite Football Film80 For Brady (2023)American Underdog (2021)Paterno (2018)Woodlawn (2015)My All American (2015)Concussion (2015)Balls Out (2014)When The Game Stands Tall (2014)Draft Day (2014)23 Blast (2013)Touchback (2012)The 5th Quarter (2011)The Blind Side (2009)The Longshots (2008)The Express: The Ernie Davis Story (2008)Leatherheads (2007)The Game Plan (2007)The Comebacks (2007)Gridiron Gang (2006)Facing The Giants (2006)We Are Marshall (2006)Invincible (2006)Two For The Money (2005)The Longest Yard (2005)Friday Night Lights (2004)Radio (2003)Monday Night Mayhem (2002)The Replacements (2000)Remember The Titans (2000)Any Given Sunday (1999)Varsity Blues (1999)Air Bud: Golden Receiver (1998)The Waterboy (1998)The Garbage...

Edward R. Pressman, the prolific Hollywood indie producer behind Wall Street, Badlands, American Psycho, Das Boot and The Crow, among dozens of others, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 79.

His death was confirmed to Deadline his company, Pressman Films.

With dozens of acclaimed and impactful films and TV movies stretching back to the late 1960s and including now-classics like Conan the Barbarian, Talk Radio, Bad Lieutenant and Brian De Palma’s 1972 Sisters, Pressman was noted for discovering talented directors early in their careers. In addition to Sisters he produced De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise, and, with the acclaimed 1973 TV-movie Badlands, Terrence Malick. Jason Reitman made his directing debut in Pressman’s 2005 Aaron Eckhart starrer Thank You for Smoking.

An early collaboration with Oliver Stone on the 1981 drama The Hand paved the way for Talk Radio (1988) and the 1987 Oscar-winning Wall Street. He and Stone produced Kathryn Bigelow’s early film Blue Steel (1990).

Among the other directors with whom Pressman would forge early bonds were Alex Proyas (The Crow), Sylvester Stallone (Paradise Alley) and Sam Raimi (Crimewave).

Among his many other credits both domestic and international, either as producer or executive producer, are Fred Schepisi’s Plenty, starring Meryl Streep; Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot; Mary Harron’s American Psycho, with Christian Bale; James Toback’s Two Girls and a Guy; Harold Becker’s City Hall, starring Al Pacino; Danny DeVito’s Hoffa, starring Jack Nicholson; Charles Burnett’s To Sleep With Anger, starring Danny Glover; Barbet Schroeder’s Reversal of Fortune, starring Jeremy Irons in an Oscar-winning performance as Claus von Bülow; and John Frankenheimer’s The Island of Dr. Moreau, with Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer.

Pressman also earned Emmy and PGA Award nom as an executive producer of the 2018 HBO telefilm Paterno, and former longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. The producer also was nominated for back-to-back Indie Spirit Awards in 1992 and ’93 for Homicide and Bad Lieutenant, respectively, and received Film Independent’s John Cassavetes Award in 1991. He also received a Tribute Award from the Gothams in 2003.

A native New Yorker and Stanford University graduate who also studied at the London School of Economics, Pressman has been honored by the French Cinematheque, The National Film Theatre in London, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Pacific Film Archives and the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Cinematék, among others.

Pressman is survived by his wife of 39 years, Annie McEnroe Pressman, and son Sam Pressman, who has worked for Edward R. Pressman Productions for the past decade and says he will continue producing films for the company in honor of his father.

Warners’ first original feature of the Warner Bros. Discovery era is here … and it’s a period mobster drama fronted by two Hollywood veterans.

Returning to the genre that made him a household name, Robert De Niro will star in Wise Guys, a feature intended for theatrical distribution that will be directed by Barry Levinson, the filmmaker known for 1980s classic Rain Man and movies such as Wag the Dog.

Nicholas Pileggi, who coincidentally authored Wiseguy, the 1985 book that was the basis for the 1990 De Niro-Martin Scorsese crime classic, Goodfellas, wrote the script. Irwin Winkler, best known for producing the Rocky movies as well as being a producer on Goodfellas, is a producer.

The project is centered on Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two Italian-American crime bosses that ran their respective families in the middle of the 20th century. In 1957, Genovese...

Five top TV cinematographers will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022 Emmy Awards nominees. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Thursday, August 4, at 4:00 p.m. Pt; 7:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Christopher Rosen and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.

RSVP today to our entire ongoing Emmy contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2022 nominees:

Atlanta (FX)

Synopsis: Earn and his cousin Alfred, based in Atlanta, try to make their way in the world through the rap scene.

Bio: Christian Sprenger won at the Emmys previously for “Atlanta” and had a nomination for “Glow.

Exclusive: Erin Moriarty (The Boys), Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad), Dina Shihabi (Archive 81) and Ryan Corr (House of the Dragon) have signed on to star in Catching Dust—an upcoming Texas noir marking the feature debut of writer-director Stuart Gatt, which will enter production in the Canary Islands this month.

The drama is set in the isolation of Texas’ Big Bend, where a lone trailer on an abandoned commune has become the reluctant hideout for Geena (Moriarty), at the behest of her criminal husband, Clyde (Courtney). Geena’s lust for life and desire for interaction with the outside world are quashed by Clyde’s insistence they remain hidden from the law and his former cohorts looking to settle old scores. Exhausted by Clyde’s controlling ways, Geena decides to leave. But then a trailer arrives carrying Amaya (Shihabi) and Andy (Corr), a couple from New York seeking a respite from the city.

Exclusive: AMC Networks has acquired North American rights to Monsieur Spade, a one-hour drama starring Clive Owen from The Queen’s Gambit co-creator Scott Frank and City On A Hill showrunner Tom Fontana. Black Bear Television also has joined as the series’ studio and will deficit finance.

FilmNation Entertainment (I Know This Much Is True) will handle international distribution outside of North America. French production company Haut et Court TV will co-produce and handle local production services.

The series will be shot in France this summer. Pre-production is underway.

Co-written by Fontana & Frank, and to be directed by Frank, Monsieur Spade centers around writer Dashiell Hammett’s great detective Sam Spade (Owen), the protagonist of Hammett’s 1930 classic The Maltese Falcon. Monsieur Spade finds Spade (Owen) in the South of France in 1963 at the end of the Algerian War, years after the events depicted in The Maltese Falcon.

This week we’ve got a ton of brand-new content, from a prestige Apple TV+ thriller featuring a time traveling serial killer to the real-life tales of Watergate, Navalny, the Holocaust, and the making of “The Godfather.” Plus, we say goodbye to the longest-running Netflix original comedy series. As you can tell, this is a lot!

On with the television!

“Shining Girls”

Friday, April 29, Apple TV+

Apple TV+

“Shining Girls,” based on the novel by South African author Lauren Beukes, has an ingenious premise. Jamie Bell plays a time-traveling serial killer who targets special young women (the “shining girls” of the title). In the 1980s, he leaves one girl standing, who then decides to hunt him down. Of course, that girl is Elisabeth Moss, who through roles on “Mad Men,” “Top of the Lake” and “Handmaid’s Tale”, has become one of the most exciting and emotionally acute performers working today.

What does it take to escape painful memories? Harry Haft’s own struggle to overcome his personal trauma is the basis for “The Survivor.” The true story of coming to grips with unspeakable evil and its lingering influences marks a theatrical return for Barry Levinson. The director’s most recent projects saw him helm selected mini-series episodes along with HBO movies like “Paterno” and “Wizard of Lies.

Continue reading ‘The Survivor’ Trailer: Ben Foster Fights For His Life In Barry Levinson’s Auschwitz Drama Hitting HBO On April 27 at The Playlist.

David E. Kelley’s upcoming Peacock crime drama “The Missing” has tapped Barry Levinson to direct multiple episodes, including the first. He will also executive produce the series.

“The Missing” is based on Dror A. Mishani’s 2011 novel “The Missing File” and follows Avraham Avraham (Jeff Wilbusch), an NYPD detective whose belief in mankind is his superpower when it comes to uncovering the truth. He is guided by a deep sense of spirituality and religious principles but is left to question his own humanity when a seemingly routine investigation turns upside down. The cast also includes Juliana Canfield as the eager and newly minted NYPD detective Janine Harris, Karen Robinson as the tough and loyal captain Helen Davies and Michael Mosley as the sardonic veteran detective Earl Malzone.

Levinson is best known for directing films including “Rain Man,” “Good Morning, Vietnam” and “Wag the Dog.” Most recently, he directed the...

HBO announced today that Academy Award winner Barry Levinson’s latest film, The Survivor, starring Ben Foster, will premiere on the premium cabler on April 27 at 8 p.m. Et/Pt, in honor of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)—subsequently becoming available for streaming on HBO Max.

The HBO Original is based on Alan Haft’s book, Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano. It tells the incredible true story of Haft (Foster), who after being sent to Auschwitz, survived not only the unspeakable horrors of the camp, but the gladiatorial boxing spectacle he was forced to perform with his fellow prisoners for the amusement of his captors. Unbeknownst to those who try to destroy him, Haft’s will to survive is driven by his quest to reunite with the woman he loves.

Levinson previously directed the HBO films Paterno, The Wizard of Lies and You Don’t Know Jack,...

Barry Levinson and HBO are back in business. The filmmaker's latest, "The Survivor," has been acquired by the premium cable network, which will now serve as the movie's home in North America. Levinson, known for directing movies such as "Rain Man" and "Bugsy," helmed the biopic about boxer Harry Haft.

"The Survivor" was produced by New Mandate Films and Bron Studios, in association with Baltimore Pictures, Endeavor Content, USC Shoah Foundation, and Creative Wealth Media. It's a splashy get for HBO, as Haft's story is compelling and Levinson is a filmmaker often associated with quality. Levinson previously teamed with the network on "Paterno," "You...

The post Barry Levinson's The Survivor, Starring Ben Foster, Lands at HBO appeared first on /Film.

WME Independent brokered acquisition on behalf of filmmakers.

In the first significant deal for a film that premiered in Toronto that comes two weeks after the festival ended HBO Films has acquired North American rights from WME Independent to potential awards season prospect The Survivor.

‘The Survivor’: Toronto Review

At time of writing details relating to a potential awards-qualifying theatrical release were unavailable. The film directed by Barry Levinson and starring Ben Foster hails from New Mandate Films and Bron Studios in association with Baltimore Pictures, Endeavor Content, USC Shoah Foundation and Creative Wealth Media.

Based on the book ‘Harry Haft: Survivor Of Auschwitz,...

HBO Films has acquired the North American rights to “The Survivor,” a Harry Haft biopic produced and directed by Academy Award winner Barry Levinson. The deal comes after the film premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Based on Alan Haft’s book “Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano,” “The Survivor” stars Ben Foster as Haft, an escaped Auschwitz prisoner who is forced to perform in boxing matches by his captor before moving to New York and using his boxing skills to help find the woman he loves.

Along with Foster, “The Survivor” also stars Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”), Billy Magnussen (“No Time to Die”), Peter Sarsgaard (“Jackie”), Saro Emirze (“Wilsberg”), Dar Zuzovsky (“Hostages”), Danny DeVito (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) and John Leguizamo (“Latin History for Morons”).

“The Survivor” comes from Bron and New Mandate Films.

This will not mark the first...

Following its world premiere at Toronto, HBO Films has taken exclusive North American rights to Barry Levinson’s The Survivor about Holocaust survivor and U.S. boxer Harry Haft. Ben Foster plays Haft in the movie, which marks a reteam with his Liberty Heights writer-director Levinson. Deal was 8-figures, making it the biggest one in a subdued Toronto marketplace.

After being sent to Auschwitz, Haft survived not only the unspeakable horrors of the camp but the gladiatorial boxing spectacle he was forced to perform with his fellow prisoners for the amusement of his captors. Unbeknownst to those who try to destroy him, Haft is driven by the most important reason any man has to survive: a quest to reunite with the woman he loves. After a daring escape, he makes his way to New York, where he succeeds in using his boxing skills to establish a name for himself in...

Exclusive: Barry Levinson is attached to direct a limited TV series that will be exec produced by Kevin Costner, and comes from 24’s Stephen Kronish and Zodiac producer Mike Medavoy.

The Oscar-winning director behind Rain Man, Good Morning, Vietnam and Diner is set to helm One Giant Leap, a series that will tell the story of the moon landing.

The project is being written and showrun by Kronish, who was a producer and writer on 24 between seasons three and seven, and was also an exec producer of The Kennedys minseries.

It will look at one of the most historic events in U.S. history from a slightly different angle, stressing the personality conflicts within the flight team that almost doomed the mission before it left the launch pad – and how a NASA psychiatrist’s predictions of disaster for astronaut Buzz Aldrin were ignored by her superiors. The series will...

Hulu released the first trailer for its upcoming limited series about the beginning of the opioid crisis, “Dopesick,” which tracks how Oxycontin became the “worst drug epidemic in American history.”

Watch the trailer above. The series will premiere on Oct. 13.

The eight-episode series stars Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, Will Poulter and John Hoogenakker, with Kaitlyn Dever and Rosario Dawson. Guest stars include Phillipa Soo and Jake McDorman.

“Dopesick” examines how one company triggered the worst drug epidemic in American history. The series takes viewers to the epicenter of America’s struggle with opioid addiction, from the boardrooms of Big Pharma to a distressed Virginia mining community to the hallways of the DEA. Defying all the odds, heroes will emerge in an intense and thrilling ride to take down the craven corporate forces behind this national crisis and their allies.

The limited series is inspired by the New York...

Exclusive: Showtime has rounded out the cast for its upcoming anthology series The First Lady. Aya Cash (The Boys), Jake Picking (Hollywood), Cayden Boyd (The Resident), Marc Hills (Snatchers), Ben Cook (Paterno), Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer (Bridge and Tunnel), Thomas E. Sullivan and Patrice Johnson Chevannes (Chambers) have been cast in the series, joining previously announced stars Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson.

The First Lady, created by Aaron Cooley and produced by Lionsgate TV and Showtime, is a revelatory reframing of American leadership, told through the lens of the women at the heart of the White House. Season 1 focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt (Anderson), Betty Ford (Pfeiffer) and Michelle Obama (Davis).

Previously announced cast also includes Lexi Underwood as Malia Obama, O-t Fagbenle as Barack Obama and Derek Cecil as Donald Rumsfeld.

Cash will play Esther Liebowitz, press secretary to Betty Ford, who often butts heads with...

Riley Keough is set as a lead opposite Chris Pratt and Constance Wu in Amazon’s conspiracy-thriller series The Terminal List, based on Jack Carr’s bestselling novel.

Taylor Kitsch and Jeanne Tripplehorn also star in the series, which Pratt executive produces along with Antoine Fuqua, who directs, and writer David Digilio. The Terminal List is a co-production from Amazon Studios and Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television.

Written by Digilio, The Terminal List follows James Reece (Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. However, as new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life but the lives of those he loves.

Keough will play Lauren Reece, an elite triathlete and a warrior in her own right.

Throughout Emmy season, IndieWire will be evaluating the top contenders for TV’s most prestigious prize, and it all starts here. At the bottom of this page are IndieWire TV Critic Ben Travers’ predictions for Best TV Movie. This article will be updated throughout the coming months, along with all our predictions, to reflect an up-to-the-minute state of the race. Make sure to keep checking IndieWire for the latest coverage on the 2020 Emmys, including breaking news, analysis, interviews, podcasts, FYC event coverage, reviews of all the awards contenders, and more. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be given out the week of Sept. 14; the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will take place virtually on Sunday, September 20. (See our awards calendar for a more detailed breakdown of important dates.) ABC is broadcasting the ceremony.

Last Year’s Winner: “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”

Still Eligible: No.

Hot Streak: Not even the return of...

In what has been a growing trend in recent years at the Emmys, this year’s crop of TV movies under-performed in the nominations. I thought films like “Bad Education” and “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” would have done a lot better than they did given their strong reviews and the high-profile talent attached. This is especially ironic during an era when streaming movies are getting more and more popular at the Oscars. So what gives?

SEE2020 Emmy nominations complete list: All the nominees for the 72nd Emmy Awards

“Bad Education” earned only two Emmy noms: Best TV Movie and Best Movie/Limited Actor (Hugh Jackman); Emmy darling Allison Janney didn’t even earn a nomination for her supporting performance as a corrupt school official. “El Camino” did a little better with five nominations including Best TV Movie, but none of its actors made the cut, not even Aaron Paul,...

Hulu is moving ahead with Dopesick, an 8-episode limited series focused on America’s opioid crisis, brandishing promising marquee names in headliner Michael Keaton, Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson, Emmy-winning writer/showrunner Danny Strong and veteran Emmy-winning producer Warren Littlefield.

The series, a production of Fox 21 Television Studios eyed for 2021, adapts author Beth Macy’s 2018 journalistic book, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America. Hulu’s series, like the book, will focus on the ordeal of a Virginia mining town, with Keaton starring as Samuel Finnix, who’s described as “an old-school doctor who approaches his practice with kindness and compassion, but finds himself embroiled in Big Pharma’s deadly secret.” Yet, the series will also intersect “unsparing yet deeply human portraits” of families affected by the pill-pushing encroachment of monolithic companies, all while attempting to shine “a hopeful light” for the future. As Bert Salke, President,...

Damien Chazelle made history when he won Best Director at the Oscars for the modern movie musical “La La Land” (2016). He was 32 when he collected that trophy, which made him that category’s youngest winner in history. Just a few years later the wunderkind could follow that with a trophy or two for his work on the small screen. He’s a director and executive producer of the Netflix limited series “The Eddy.”

SEEAndre Holland (‘The Eddy’): It was ‘scary’ to act in French for the first time [Exclusive Video Interview]

The eight-episode musical premiered on May 8 and it’s about — surprise, surprise — jazz, not unlike Chazelle’s “La La Land” and “Whiplash” (2014) were. This time the story follows Andre Holland as the owner of a French jazz club whose daughter (Amandla Stenberg) comes to visit. Chazelle directed the first two episodes, and he’s not the only pedigreed artist behind the camera.

Don Kaye Feb 26, 2020

Legendary actor Al Pacino took Hunters -- his first regular TV series -- to a whole new level.

If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen Al Pacino on TV much over the years, the answer is simple: the iconic star of films like The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon and Scarface hasn’t done much work on the small screen during his more than five decades as an actor.

Following a guest shot on a long-forgotten 1968 series called N.Y.P.D., Pacino did not show up on TV again until 2003, when he played the evil real-life lawyer Roy Cohn on HBO’s six-part adaptation of Angels in America. Since then, he’s done the TV/cable movies You Don’t Know Jack (2010), Phil Spector (2013) and Paterno (2018). But he’s never had a regular role on an episodic series -- until now.

read more: Hunters Review (Spoiler-Free)

On the new Amazon Prime show Hunters,...

The too-strange-to-be-fiction documentary series “Wild Wild Country” took Netflix by storm back in March 2018, with its lurid exploration of controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, his personal assistant Ma Anand Sheela, and their community of followers in Wasco County, Oregon. It was inevitable this wild saga, which led to one of the largest bio-terrorism attacks ever committed on U.S. soil, would make its way to a bigger screen. But it’s not the one you think.

“Sheela,” the movie inspired by the story behind the series, has been set up at Amazon Studios, per Deadline. Personal secretary turned convicted bio-terrorist Sheela will be played by Priyanka Chopra in a film set to be directed by Barry Levinson, in a script from Nick Yarborough.

Ultimately sentenced to 20 years in federal prison but paroled after just 39 months, Sheela served as Osho’s lieutenant throughout the early 1980s, helping to move his...

Alec Bojalad Feb 17, 2020

How David Weil and Nikki Toscano, showrunners for Amazon Prime's Hunters, enticed Al Pacino to television to kill Nazis.

If you discount TV movies like 2018’s Paterno, and miniseries like 2003’s Angels in America, Al Pacino hasn’t appeared on a TV show proper since guest starring in one episode of N.Y.P.D. over 50 years ago. Yes that’s just N.Y.P.D.…no Blue. So what does it take to get one of America’s finest actors back into the world of television - and this time in a streaming format, no less? One great idea of course! And that idea belongs to David Weil, who conceived of and successfully pitched to Amazon Prime the Nazi-hunting drama Hunters.

Hunters, which is produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, follows a young Jewish man named Jonah (Logan Lerman) living in 1977’s New York City.

Riley Keough is ready to rock’n’roll.

The Girlfriend Experience star has signed on to play the titular female singer/songwriter in Amazon’s upcoming series adaptation of Daisy Jones & The Six, our sister site Deadline reports.

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The show will be based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s popular 2019 novel about the rise and fall of a fictional 1970s rock band.

Riley Keough has landed the title role in the upcoming Amazon series “Daisy Jones & The Six,” Variety has learned. In addition, Niki Caro has signed on to direct multiple episodes along with executive producing the series.

Based on the novel of the same name by Taylor Jenkins Reid, the series is a musical drama detailing the rise and fall of a renowned rock band in the 1970s. Keough’s Jones is described as born into privilege but ignored by her selfish parents. She is a spirited and enigmatic singer/songwriter who comes of age and rises to rock superstardom against the backdrop of the L.A. music scene in the 1970s.

This is not Keough’s first time in a project exploring music stardom, with the actress making her onscreen debut in the 2010 feature “The Runaways,” based on the all-female ’70s band of the same name. She went on...

Riley Keough will star as Daisy Jones in the upcoming Amazon original series Daisy Jones & The Six. Director Niki Caro has also joined the show, based on the best-selling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. She will direct multiple episodes, including the first, and will also serve as executive producer alongside Reese Witherspoon.

Daisy Jones & The Six is a musical/drama detailing the spectacular rise and precipitous fall of a renowned (fictional) rock band in the 1970s.

Born into privilege but ignored by her selfish parents, Daisy Jones (Keough) is a spirited and enigmatic singer/songwriter who comes of age and rises to rock superstardom against the backdrop of the L.A. music scene in the 1970s.

Daisy Jones & The Six is executive produced by Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter for Hello Sunshine, Brad Mendelsohn for Circle of Confusion, Niki Caro and showrunner Will Graham.

Showtime has rounded out the series regular cast for Hombre, its thriller drama pilot from BAFTA nominee Jonas Cuarón (Gravity), starring Gael Garcia Bernal (Mozart in the Jungle). Marisé Alvarez (The Vessel), Greg Grunberg (A Star Is Born), Pepi Sonuga (Famous In Love), Adriana Santos (Taken) and newcomer Noah Reyes will join Bernal in the pilot, which is set to begin production at the end of April in Los Angeles.

Created by Cuarón, who also will direct the pilot, Hombre centers on a Mexican-American family man named Marcos Osuna (Bernal) who is living undocumented in the United States. When his wife Leticia is detained by Ice, Marcos, both desperate and resourceful, goes to unprecedented lengths to get her back. The project is an emotional thriller about a man enmeshed in a dangerous double life, contending with powerful forces set on thwarting his unwavering desire to unite his family.

Cuarón executive produces with Bernal,...

Off Broadway’s Manhattan Theatre Club has completed casting for Donald Margulies’ plan Long Lost for production this summer, Hereditary‘s Alex Wolff joining a roster that also includes Kelly AuCoin (Billions), Annie Parisse (Friends from College) and Lee Tergesen (Oz).

Long Lost will reunite playwright Margulies with director Dan Sullivan. The two previously collaborated on Margulies’ The Country House, Brooklyn Boy, the Tony Award-nominated Time Stands Still, the Pulitzer Prize finalist Sight Unseen, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner with Friends.

Long Lost begins previews Tuesday, May 14 at Mtc’s New York City Center Stage 1, with an opening night of June 4. The casting was announced today by artistic director Lynne Meadow and executive producer Barry Grove.

Mtc describes Long Lost as “a funny, unsettling, ultimately moving play about the limits of compassion and filial obligation. When troubled Billy appears out-of-the-blue in his estranged brother David’s Wall Street office, he...

With just one week to go before the Oscars inundate Hollywood with the final event of this year’s awards season, one last guild had some awards of its own to give out. It’s safe to say that no one does it quite like the Writers Guild, which traditionally holds not one, but two awards ceremonies, with both New York and Los Angeles playing home to evening events that unfold simultaneously. On Sunday evening, the NYC crowd hit the Edison Ballroom for a Roy Wood, Jr.-hosted show, while the Angeleno arm was back at the Beverly Hilton, hosted by Chelsea Peretti.

Despite missing out on an Oscar nod, it was Bo Burnham’s feature directorial debut, “Eighth Grade,” which walked away with the win for Best Original Screenplay, while Best Adapted Screenplay honors went to “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” written by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty.

The...

Alfonso Cuarón has triumphed at the Directors Guild of America Awards, making the “Roma” auteur the official frontrunner as we near the Academy Awards in just a few weeks. There’s significant overlap between the two voting groups, and the DGA winner tends to be similarly awarded by the Academy — their selections have diverged only seven times since 1949. Cuarón previously won the award for “Gravity,” for which he also won the Oscar.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Feature Film

Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”

Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma” (winner)

Peter Farrelly, “Green Book”

Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”

Adam McKay, “Vice”

Documentaries

Morgan Neville, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

RaMell Ross, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening”

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, “Free Solo”

Tim Wardle, “Three Identical Strangers”

Betsy West and Julie Cohen, “Rbg”

First-Time Feature Film

Bo Burnham, “Eighth Grade” (winner)

Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”

Carlos López Estrada,...

The 71st Annual Directors Guild of America Awards will be held Saturday, Feb. 2, with awards to be given out in 11 categories across film and television.

Alfonso Cuaron is the runaway favorite to take home his second feature film DGA Award for “Roma,” which would set him up for the corresponding Oscar since the two bodies have only ever disagreed seven times in 70 years. He previously won both for “Gravity” (2013). Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”) is in second place in our odds and would be the first black winner in DGA history.

Last year, Cuaron’s friend Guillermo del Toro took home the DGA and Oscar for “The Shape of Water.”

See DGA Awards: Alfonso Cuaron all but certain to win key Oscar precursor

On the TV side, “The Americans” is predicted to bag another farewell prize, while it’s a tight one between “Atlanta” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for comedy honors.

Jean-Marc Vallee might get a twin win at Saturday’s Directors Guild of America Awards. With 82/25 odds in our predictions, the “Sharp Objects” director is the favorite to take home the TV movie/miniseries prize for the second year in a row, but he ought to watch out for Ben Stiller (“Escape at Dannemora”).

Vallee prevailed last year for “Big Little Lies,” and like with that series, he helmed every episode of “Sharp Objects” as well. He’d be the third person to win this category twice after Lamont Johnson and Jay Roach.

Mick Jackson holds the record with four victories, for “Indictment: The McMartin Trial” (1995), “Tuesdays with Morrie” (1999), “Live with Baghdad” (2002) and “Temple Grandin” (2010). Joseph Sargent has three DGA Awards, for “The Marcus-Nelson Murders” (1973), “Something the Lord Made” (2004) and, in a tie with George C. Wolfe for “Lackawanna Blues,” “Warm Springs” (2005).

See SAG Awards: See the complete list of winners

Unlike last year,...

The Directors Guild Awards honor the best achievements behind the camera in both television and film, so who will be this year’s top picks when the industry’s directors have their say on Saturday, February 2? Scroll down for our predictions in seven categories ranked by their likelihood of winning (our projected winners are in gold). These racetrack odds are based on the combined predictions of hundreds of Gold Derby users.

It looks like Alfonso Cuaron will continue his awards romp. The lauded filmmaker has already won Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Awards for his work on the intimate drama “Roma,” plus a slew of other critics’ prizes. So he gets leading odds to win here too, as he did five years ago when he won this award for “Gravity” (2013). But will the industry admire him as much as the critical establishment? He may have to watch out for Spike Lee...

Actor to make streaming series debut on Nazi-hunter drama.

Al Pacino is reportedly close to signing on to co-star in Jordan Peele-produced Amazon Studios series The Hunt.

The project would mark the streaming series debut of Oscar-winner Pacino, whose notable previous television roles have been in HBO movies Paterno, Phil Spector and You Don’t Know Jack and HBO miniseries Angels In America. He won Emmys for his performances in the latter two projects.

Pacino would join previously announced lead Logan Lerman on the cast of The Hunt, about a diverse group of Nazi hunters living in 1977 New...

Comedy series creators dominate this year’s roster of Directors Guild of America TV awards nominees. Donald Glover is contending for an episode in the sophomore season of “Atlanta,” which also reaped a bid for Hiro Murai. Both Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel Palladino vie for installments in the second edition of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” And Bill Hader is nominated for the pilot of “Barry.”

Among the TV drama helmers is Adam McKay for an episode of “Succession.” He could well be a nominee for his film “Vice” as well. He contends here against “Ozark” star Jason Bateman, long-time “Homeland” helmer Lesli Linka Glatter, Chris Long for “The Americans” series finale and Daina Reid for a second season episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

On the telefilm/limited series side, Barry Levinson made it a lucky 13 DGA nominations with his bid for “Paterno.” He faces off against Cary Joji Fukunaga...

The Director’s Guild of America gave its stamp of approval to a number of actors-turned-directors Monday afternoon, nominating a slew of famous faces for its 2019 DGA Awards.

Jason Bateman (“Ozark”), Bill Hader (“Barry”), Sacha Baron Cohen (“Who Is America?”), and Ben Stiller (“Escape at Dannemora”) all landed their first DGA nominations, while Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) scored his second nomination for the series.

“Atlanta” was one of a few projects scoring multiple nominations, as Hiro Murai was also selected for his work on “Teddy Perkins” (IndieWire’s pick for the best TV episode of 2019). Daniel Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino were both nominated for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and three directors were honored from “A Series of Unfortunate Events”: Barry Sonnenfeld, Bo Welch, and Allan Arkush were all chosen in the Children’s Programs category.

Despite Sherman-Palladino’s nod, women only snagged three nominations in the three predominant categories: drama,...