Jack O’Connell is in advanced negotiations to play Happy Mondays’ frontman Shaun Ryder in AGC Studios’ “Twisting My Melon.” The project, which AGC will fully finance and co-produce, was announced at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. In addition to O’Connell, Jason Issacs is in talks to play Derek Ryder, Shaun’s father. Holliday Grainger (“Cinderella”)
Every now and then a documentary doesn’t just open your eyes but tears you apart by exposing a moral rift with resonance far beyond the film’s home country. “Collective,” Alexander Nanau’s explosive observational documentary about unfathomable corruption at the heart of the Romanian medical industry, is such a work. Taken on its own, this chilling
September 6, 2019 1:18AM PT Alejandro Amenábar dramatizes the beginning of the Franco regime in this handsomely mounted but somewhat dramatically muffled Spanish history lesson. Alejandro Amenábar went 15 years without making a feature in Spain, and his first such since the excellent “The Sea Inside” is notable not only for being a 20th-century Spanish
Cairo-based Tunisian actress Hend Sabry, who is at the Venice Film Festival as a member of the jury for debut films, is having a good year. “The Blue Elephant 2,” a thriller with horror elements in which she stars – directed by Marwan Hamed who cast her more than a decade ago in “The Yacoubian
September 6, 2019 12:54AM PT Angelina Jolie has given her support to female-led Afghan film “Hava, Maryam, Ayesha,” made by first-time director Sahraa Karimi. The pic, which has its world premiere Friday at the Venice Film Festival, chronicles the lives of, and the difficult choices facing, three Afghan women from different social backgrounds. In a
September 6, 2019 12:53AM PT In this Canadian neo-noir, a Niagara Falls native returns to her hometown for a funeral and winds up investigating a mystery from her past. The notion of Niagara Falls as more than a tourist trap — as a place where people live and labor into the off-season, when the water
BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, has merged its operations in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It has appointed Jon Penn to head the unified structure. The move follows the departure of Myleeta Aga, acting executive VP, Asia, and comes after all BBC Studios’ international sales and distribution businesses, encompassing content sales, branded
Armando Iannucci believes that modern (British) comedy owes a considerable debt to Charles Dickens, and he should know. Iannucci produces some of the wickedest, and most colorful, laughter to be found on (British) television: “I’m Alan Partridge,” “The Thick of It” and, for export, “Veep.” Dickens, on the other hand, has produced a mostly dreary
September 5, 2019 10:31PM PT Longtime exec Angelica McDaniel has exited her post as executive VP in daytime programs, CBS Entertainment. McDaniel leaves amid a restructuring that will see her department absorbed by current programming, headed by Amy Resisenbach. The move is being made in an effort to streamline the reporting structure at CBS Entertainment
Helen Reddy was very far from a one-hit-wonder. Indeed, she had more chart hits than practically any other solo female act of the 1970s. Yet in a way, the song most associated with her feels like it came from an artist who was never heard from before or since. “I Am Woman” arrived exactly as
Variety’s Entertainment and Technology summit featured a host of conversations surrounding the use of advertising in media and the ways in which perpetually advancing technology is constantly affecting how fans consume content. From “Spider-Man’s” departure from the Marvel Universe to Crypt TV’s possibly long future with Facebook Watch, take a look at the 10 biggest
In today’s film news roundup, Lily James circles a British drama role, “Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story” has started production, Laika makes a veteran hire and “Beanpole” and “Just Noise” get distribution. CASTINGS Lily James is in negotiations to join Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes in the British historical drama “Dig,” set up at Netflix.
Actress Carol Lynley, best known for her role in the 1972 film “The Poseidon Adventure,” died at her Pacific Palisades home Tuesday after suffering a heart attack, according to her friend, actor Trent Dolan. She was 77. Lynley began her career as a child model, appearing on the cover of Life magazine at the age
Even with a steady supply of eye-opening documentaries coming out of Syria, we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of the human stories emerging from the country’s ongoing crisis. Two years after his multi-award-winning “Last Men In Aleppo” — co-directed by Steen Johannessen and following a trio from the selfless volunteer rescue collective “The White
Rwanda-born writer Scholastique Mukasonga’s 2012 novel “Notre-Dame du Nil” is not specifically about the 1994 Rwandan genocide but rather how class division, colonialism and economic disparity created a toxic stew of resentment and prejudice that made the genocide possible. By using a Rwandan all-girls Catholic boarding school as her microcosm, she lays out how the
The regular major-festival presence of the films of Robert Guédiguian is a curious, if not wholly unwelcome, anomaly. Amid punchier, more provocative, more aesthetically challenging arthouse titles, his work moves to the calmer rhythms of classical naturalism, in which each new title feels more like a new chapter in a career-spanning novel — or a
David Raboy makes his feature debut with ‘The Giant,” which makes its world premiere in the Toronto festival’s Discovery section. Raboy wrote, directed and edited the atmospheric, suspenseful thriller that also plays with supernatural elements in a hot, humid small southern town. The movie’s journey began in 2010, when Raboy began writing the short “The
Exclusive TMZ/Getty R. Kelly‘s so-called girlfriends will be visiting him frequently now that he’s in his prison’s general population, but their visits will be strictly cordial … NOT conjugal. The singer’s attorney, Steven Greenberg tells TMZ … Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary plan to go see him soon at the federal prison in Chicago where
Milo Ventimiglia is suiting up as daredevil Evel Knievel for a limited series that has been ordered at USA Network, Variety has learned. Titled “Evel,” the series is based on the story of the larger-than-life 1970s daredevil as he prepares for his greatest death-defying feat, the historic Snake River Canyon jump. There is not currently an
In today’s tv news roundup, Amazon Prime Video set a Nov. 1 premiere date for “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” and AMC released the first trailer for its new hip-hop docuseries “Hip Hop: The Songs That Shook America.” DATES Season 2 of “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, Nov. 1.
September 5, 2019 4:06PM PT Magnolia Pictures has bought worldwide rights to “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band” ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. The film also marks the first time a Canadian-made documentary will open the festival. Directed by Daniel Roher and executive produced by Martin Scorsese
September 5, 2019 3:40PM PT Veteran film production exec Jon Mone has been named by Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith as co-president of Westbrook Studios and head of motion pictures. “Jon has an exceptional track record that speaks volumes to his creativity, talent relationships and incredible eye for storytelling,” said Westbrook Inc. co-founders Jada
Saban Films has acquired U.S. rights to “Line of Duty,” an action thriller with Aaron Eckhart. The film centers on a disgraced cop (Eckhart) who finds himself in a race against time to find a kidnap victim whose abductor he accidentally killed. The thriller is directed by Steven C. Miller, who previously oversaw “Escape Plan
Patreon, the subscription-based fan platform, is eyeing a range of new services to support creators — including potentially providing loans at some point, CEO Jack Conte said. Conte, speaking at Variety’s Entertainment & Technology Summit in L.A., said Patreon is considering ways to provide capital funding and other financial services to artists, as well as
Patty Jenkins is heading to Netflix. Variety has learned that the director, writer, and producer has signed a multi-year overall deal at the streaming service to produce new television series. According to sources, the deal is valued at $10 million over three years. “We’re thrilled to welcome Patty Jenkins to Netflix,” said Channing Dungey, vice
September 5, 2019 3:16PM PT IFC Films has purchased North American rights to “The True History of the Kelly Gang,” a historical drama that stars Russell Crowe, Nicholas Hoult, and Charlie Hunnam. The film is premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and was considered to be one of the hotter projects looking for
Lech Majewski, the Polish film and theater director and writer, will be the recipient of the Directing Award at the Camerimage International Film Festival, which will take place in Torun, Poland, on Nov. 9-16. Known for helming such films “The Mill and the Cross” and “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” Majewski is a dual U.S.
September 5, 2019 3:00PM PT Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the latest big name star to set up a project at Apple. Variety has learned from sources that Gordon-Levitt is set to star in, write, and executive produce a drama series currently in the works at the nascent streamer titled “Mr. Corman.” It is said to follow
Fans holding out hope that Spider-Man might be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be disappointed to hear that “for the moment the door is closed,” according to Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra. Speaking at Variety‘s Entertainment & Technology summit, Vinciquerra cryptically added that “it’s a long life,” implying that perhaps in the
September 5, 2019 2:30PM PT Robert Pattinson is set to be honored at the 2019 Mill Valley Film Festival in October for his work in the A24 drama “The Lighthouse.” The presentation will include a special Oct. 5 screening of the film, directed by Robert Eggers and also starring Willem Dafoe. Pattinson, who’s earned rave