News

The new Off-Broadway play All Nighter is now open and plenty of stars stepped out to support the cast on opening night!

The show’s lead producer Ben Platt was joined by husband Noah Galvin and best friend Beanie Feldstein on the red carpet on opening night on Sunday night (March 9) at The Newman Mills Theater in The Robert W. Wilson McC Theater Space in New York City.

Cast members Kristine Froseth, Kathryn Gallagher, Julia Lester, Havana Rose Liu, and Alyah Chanelle Scott, plus understudies Tessa Albertson and Olivia Puckett also posed on the carpet.

All Nighter, written by Natalie Margolin and directed by Jaki Bradley, is playing a limited 12-week run through May 18. Here’s the synopsis: “It’s finals week at a small liberal arts college in rural Pennsylvania. A tight-knit group of roommates pull one last all-nighter to complete their final assignments. Holed up in an old ballroom,...

The upcoming Netflix series “The Four Seasons” has added Julia Lester to its cast, Variety has learned exclusively.

Lester will appear in a recurring role alongside series stars Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Erika Henningsen, Marco Calvani, and Will Forte. The series was originally picked up for eight episodes in January 2024 and completed filming in New York in November. It is based on the 1981 film of the same name that was directed by and starred Alan Alda.

In the film, three married couples take vacations together each season, but things are thrown for a loop when one of the husbands leaves his wife and begins bringing a younger woman with him. Lester will appear as Lila, the daughter of Anne (Kenney-Silver) and Nick (Carell).

Lester is perhaps best known for her role in the Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” appearing as Ashlyn across the show’s four seasons.

Five of Hollywood’s brightest rising stars have joined the cast of the upcoming off-Broadway play All Nighter.

Looking for Alaska‘s Kristine Froseth, Woman of the Hour‘s Kathryn Gallagher, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series‘ Julia Lester, Bottoms‘ Havana Rose Liu, and The Sex Lives of College Girls‘ Alyah Chanelle Scott will star in the upcoming production of Natalie Margolin‘s new play, which will have a 12-week limited engagement in New York City in spring 2025.

The play will be performed at the Newman Mills Theater in the Robert W. Wilson McC Theater Space from February 25 to May 18.

Here’s the synopsis: “It’s finals week at a small liberal arts college in rural Pennsylvania. A tight-knit group of roommates pull one last all-nighter to complete their final assignments. Holed up in an old ballroom, the hours pass, the pressure mounts, the Adderall flows, and the truths...

Ron Perlman has had a remarkable career. His first film was an Oscar winner (Quest for Fire) from a great director; later that decade, he'd win a Golden Globe for the TV series Beauty and the Beast. He's been in everything from big franchise movies and international arthouse films to indie horror and numerous classics with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. But when MovieWeb spoke with Perlman about his new film with Liam Neeson, Absolution, he surprised us when he named the film in his career that he's the proudest of — and it's one hardly anybody has seen.

"I had a production company for about five or six years called Wing and a Prayer Pictures, and I produced about nine movies," explained Perlman. He continued:

"And the first one we identified was called Asher, and it was actually the last movie we produced. It was the movie that killed the company.

Two years ago, we heard that production had wrapped on Spin the Bottle, a supernatural horror film that has genre regulars Ali Larter (the Final Destination and Resident Evil franchises) and Justin Long playing supporting roles and Tanner Stine (Impulse) and Kaylee Bryant (Legacies) taking on the lead roles. Now Spin the Bottle is finally ready to make its way out into the world, as Paramount will be giving the film a digital release on October 4th – and with that date just a couple of weeks away, a trailer has arrived online. You can check it out in the embed above.

Gavin Wiesen directed Spin the Bottle from a screenplay written by John Cregan (Plague Town). The actors mentioned above are joined in the cast by Christopher Ammanuel (Black Lightning), Ryan Whitney (Reagan), Angela Halili (American Horror Stories), Samantha Cormier (Legion), Hal Cumpston (The Greatest Beer Run Ever) and Tony Amendola...

The cast of the chilling Hulu psychological thriller Jagged Mind features such exciting stars as an Arrowverse superhero and a familiar voice from The Last of Us Part II. Jagged Mind tells the story of a young woman who begins experiencing blackouts and confounding visions that lead her to realize that she’s stuck in a time loop, and it might all be connected to her mysterious new girlfriend. Based on Allyson Morgan’s short film First Date from the Hulu anthology series Bite Size Halloween, Jagged Mind is directed by Kelley Kali, the indie darling who helmed the festival favorite I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking).

Jagged Mind, which first premiered at the American Black Film Festival, is also a Hulu release, and while a lot of the plot is a secret, the movie has a great cast. The movie features actors from such familiar franchises as The Vampire Diaries,...

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday — especially when it’s New Music Friday! We’re breaking down this week’s best new tracks to keep on your radar.

New Music Friday – March 10th, 2023

Miley Cyrus – “River”, plus Endless Summer Vacation (Album)

Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”

Meghan Trainor – “Mother”, plus Takin’ It Back (Deluxe) (Album)

Nf – “Motto”

Maluma – “La Reina”

Twice – “Set Me Free”, plus Ready To Be (Album)

d4vd – “Worthless”

Other noteworthy artists with releases this week include 6Lack – “Talkback”, Tame Impala – “Wings Of Time”, Christine and the Queens – “To be honest”, Myke Towers – “Aguardiente”, Chrissy Chlapecka – “I’m So Hot”, Pnau & Khalid – “The Hard Way”, Roderick Porter ft Jay Isaiah – “Bittersweet”, joan – “loner”, Akira Galaxy – “Virtual Eyes”, Tiësto – “All Nighter”, Becky G ft Omega – “Arranca”, Sebastian Esquivel and Alex Favela – “Rzr Rojo”, Maris – “Crashland”, Peter Raffoul – “Thought You Should Know, and Griffen Palmer...

Deadline reports that genre regulars Ali Larter (the Final Destination and Resident Evil franchises) and Justin Long play supporting roles in the supernatural horror film Spin the Bottle, with Tanner Stine (Impulse) and Kaylee Bryant (Legacies) taking on the lead roles. Production recently wrapped on the film, which centers on

a group of teenagers in small town Texas who unleash a deadly force after playing the famed party game Spin the Bottle in an abandoned house where a grisly massacre once took place.

Gavin Wiesen directed Spin the Bottle from a screenplay by John Cregan (Plague Town). The actors mentioned above are joined in the cast by Christopher Ammanuel (Black Lightning), Ryan Whitney (Reagan), Angela Halili (American Horror Stories), Samantha Cormier (Legion), Hal Cumpston (The Greatest Beer Run Ever) and Tony Amendola (The Curse of La Llorona).

Financing for Spin the Bottle was provided by Fortress Media Group. Will Hayes,...

Exclusive: Tanner Stine (Impulse) and Kaylee Bryant (Legacies) will lead the supernatural horror Spin the Bottle from director Gavin Wiesen (The Art of Getting By), with Justin Long (Barbarian) and Ali Larter (The Rookie) to play supporting roles.

The recently wrapped film written by John Cregan centers on a group of teenagers in small town Texas who unleash a deadly force after playing the famed party game Spin the Bottle in an abandoned house where a grisly massacre once took place.

Christopher Ammanuel (Black Lightning), Ryan Whitney (Reagan), Angela Halili (American Horror Stories), Samantha Cormier (Legion), Hal Cumpston (The Greatest Beer Run Ever) and Tony Amendola (The Curse of La Llorona) round out the cast. Fortress Media Group is financing, with Will Hayes, Jim Valdez, Kyle Hayes and Chris Barish producing. Harrison Kordestani is exec producing, with Scot Ruggles serving as co-producer.

Stine has previously appeared on series including Impulse,...

Sufjan Stevens has announced a new solo album, The Ascension, his first since 2015’s Carrie and Lowell. The LP is due out September 25th and follows on the heels of Aporia, an ambient record Stevens made with his stepfather and Asthmatic Kitty co-founder Lowell Brams that was released earlier this year.

The first single from the new album, “America,” isn’t out until July 3rd, but you can view the album art and the full tracklist below, which looks as though it features a few references to other artists: “Run Away With Me...

Angelo De Augustine and Sufjan Stevens have teamed up for the first time on De Augustine’s new single, “Santa Barbara,” released Tuesday on Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty label.

The contemplative track, guided by a Guilele arpeggio, sees De Augustine assessing his loneliness and seeking out love as solace: “All this life has been a disguise/Except for the hand in mine.” Stevens contributes his trademark wistful vocals and guitar-playing to the song. The music video, filmed last month, sees him wandering an empty, washed-out beach.

“‘Santa Barbara’ touches on the...

Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams have released another teaser track from their upcoming instrumental album Aporia.

The LP was inspired by Enya and other new-age music, and you can definitely hear it on this newest song, “Climb That Mountain,” a peaceful three-minute tune that could soundtrack a steady climb up a hillside.

Aporia is due out on March 27th via Stevens’ label Asthmatic Kitty. The duo previously shared the track “The Runaround” along with a music video featuring the Bike Life riders. Stevens and Brams previously collaborated on...

Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams (yes, of Carrie and Lowell fame) have collaborated on a new album called Aporia, out March 27th via Asthmatic Kitty. On Wednesday, the pair shared their latest track from the album, “The Runaround.”

The New Age-y, semi-instrumental track comes with a music video featuring slow-motion footage of Bike Life riders, cruising and popping wheelies on ATVs and dirt bikes. It’s not the most conventional activity to be soundtracked by Sufjan Stevens, but the video looks great nonetheless.

Stevens and Brams previously shared another Aporia track,...

Following 2015’s stellar Carrie & Lowell (and the even better live album version), Sufjan Stevens kept busy providing tracks for Call Me By Your Name, releasing side projects, a few great singles, and more, but those enduring the wait for his next album can now rest easy. It’s been announced and, as expected, it’s totally unexpected.

Titled Aporia, the 21-track “mostly instrumental” album is a collaboration with his stepfather Lowell Bram, with whom he co-founded the label Asthmatic Kitty. Described as a “new age” album—and here’s where the film angle comes in—it was partially inspired by the scores for Blade Runner, Under the Skin, Hereditary, and The Last Temptation of Christ.

“In the spirit of the New Age composers who sanded off the edges of their synths’ sawtooth waves, Aporia approximates a rich soundtrack from an imagined sci-fi epic brimming with moody, hooky, gauzy synthesizer soundscapes,...

Exclusive: Analeigh Tipton has signed with ICM Partners. The move comes after she recently toplined last year’s indie thriller Broken Star, opposite Tyler Labine.

The actor broke out playing a babysitter with a crush on Steve Carell in Crazy, Stupid, Love in 2011. She later starred in ABC’s romantic comedy Manhattan Love Story, which didn’t make it a full season after it debuted in 2014.

More recently, Tipton’s credits include James Franco’s John Steinbeck adaptation In Dubious Battle, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2016, and Alex Ross Perry’s Golden Exits, which bowed at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. In between, she starred opposite J.K. Simmons and Emile Hirsch in All Nighter.

Her other TV credits include HBO’s Hung, and films including Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Mississippi Grind, Two Night Stand, Warm Bodies and Luc Besson’s Lucy.

She remains repped by Mosaic and McKuin Frankel Whitehead Llp.

Who Tried It: Kaitlyn Frey, Style & Beauty Assistant

Why We Tried It: I like to wear a full face of makeup on the daily (not because I’m self-conscious, but because I just love playing with product), so I’m always on the hunt for a setting spray that will allow my hard work to withstand sweaty subway rides, end-of-day gym sessions and happy hour with friends. I also faced a dilemma: my foundation almost always transfers onto my boyfriend’s J.Crew polos and Charles Tyrwhitt button-ups when I lean my head on his shoulder, and (needless to say) he’s Over It.

Emile Hirsch is intriguingly learning from J.K. Simmons that a true connection and sense of purpose can even arise during the most unforeseen circumstances in their latest film, ‘All Nighter.’ The actors’ new buddy comedy humorously showcases how a biased father must overcome his preconceived judgments about his daughter’s former boyfriend and ask him for […]

The post Interview: Emile Hirsch, Analeigh Tipton and Gavin Wiesen Talk All Nighter (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.

Plot: When his daughter goes missing, her steely father teams up with her loser ex-boyfriend to find her. Review: Imagine if Meet The Parents eliminated everyone but De Niro and Stiller, took place in L.A. predominantly over the course of a single night and you'll have a very good idea of what All Nighter is all about. It's a perfectly acceptable comedy that entertains primarily... Read More...

Gavin Wiesen’s All Nighter is essentially a lo-fi indie take on Meet the Parents. In the Ben Stiller role is Emile Hirsch as Martin, a bearded, banjo playing La layabout whose shirts go perpetually un-ironed. Filling Robert De Niro’s shoes is J.K. Simmons as his girlfriend Ginnie’s (Analeigh Tipton) father, Mr. Gallo, a smartly suited alpha male whose job is carrying out suspiciously sinister sounding “procurement.”

First impressions are disastrous, with Mr. Gallo blankly dismissing the wimpy, awkward creature his daughter has attached herself to. Ginnie seems to come to her senses, too, as she breaks up with Martin soon after. This all makes it something of a surprise when, six months later, Mr. Gallo unexpectedly turns up at Martin’s front door.

Ginnie isn’t returning her father’s calls and so, fearing the worst, her father has returned to La to search for her, enlisting...

Gavin Wiesen’s follow up to his Sundance hit “The Art of Getting By” is being released March 24 on VOD and is titled “All Nighter”. The comedy centers around a workaholic father (J.K. Simmons) who attempts to visit his daughter (Analeigh Tipton) during a layover in La, only to discover that she's disappeared, forcing him to team up with her awkward ex-boyfriend (Emile Hirsch) in order to find her over the course of one transformative night. “All Nighter” marks Wiesen’s second collaboration with composer Alec Puro as Puro also scored “The Art of Getting By”. We had a chance to briefly talk with Puro about everything from the scoring process for “All Nighter” to what type of project he would like to score next. Fans...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out. And if you're into box office and how movies might do, come play some of the box office games at EZ1 Productions including their new Pick 5 game!

This Past Weekend:

As expected, Legendary Pictures’ Kong: Skull Island won the weekend, and honestly, the Weekend Warrior’s original prediction of $61.6 million was pretty darn close to the movie’s opening weekend which ended up at $61 million. (Unfortunately, I chickened out on Thursday because my prediction was so much higher than all others and lowered it to $58 million, which was Still closer to than every other prediction last weekend.) Also, as expected (at least by me), Hugh Jackman’s Logan took a 2nd weekend tumble as has been the case with most X-Men movies,...

For 11 years now Tampa has hosted the Gasparilla International Film Festival. Located in the historic Ybor neighbourhood, the fest provides a great mix of local fare, world class features and docs as well as its fair share of cinephilic events. There are a few exciting films making their debut, including All Nighter with J.K. Simmons that looks to be a lot of fun, as well as titles like Burn Your Maps and others that have had festival success elsewhere. I'm personally looking forward to catching Score, the doc on film soundtracks, and the Parker Posey vehicle The Architect. The Florida showcase often finds some hidden gems, and the fest generally provides a great deal of comraderie and fun for local audiences. Look out for...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

11th Gasparilla International Film Festival to Screen 35 Features Including J.K. Simmons’ ‘All Nighter’“All Nighter”

The 11th edition of Tampa’s most prominent film event, Suncoast Credit Union’s Gasparilla International Film Festival (Giff), will take place March 2-March 9, 2017 at the Tampa Theater and AMC Centro Ybor. Gavin Wiesen’s “All Nighter,” starring Academy Award-winner J. K. Simmons will have its World Premiere as part of the festival.

A total of 35 films and over 70 shorts will screen over eight days and will include international and regional premieres of narrative features, documentaries and short films from around the world. In addition to the film program, Giff will also feature master classes and panel discussions.

The title sponsor, Suncoast Credit Union, has been committed to the festival for three consecutive years with the goal of bringing quality entertainment and enrichment to the community. The Suncoast Credit Union also sponsors the Family Fun...

Bikini Bottom is about to get “Whiplash.”

On Saturday’s episode of “SpongeBob Squarepants,” J.K. Simmons will give a nod to his Oscar-winning role as demanding jazz instructor by playing a more piscine version of the character.

Read More: ‘All Nighter’ Trailer: J.K. Simmons and Emile Hirsch Are Forced to Get Along in Search of a Missing Woman

Maestro Mackerel (Simmons) is the conductor of the Bikini Bottom Philharmonic and sports wild hair and a chunky turtleneck. Although he doesn’t look a lot like “Whiplash’s” Terence Fletcher, they share a similar intolerance of poor musicianship. Maestro Mackerel doesn’t throw chairs, but he has a different, physical way of demonstrating his displeasure.

In the sneak peek clip from “You Snooze You Lose” below, check out what happens when Squidward is too tired to play at his audition but Spongebob and Patrick decide to help him out in a...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– The 2017 Sun Valley Film Festival (Svff), presented by Zions Bank, has announced its film line-up for the weekend of March 15 – 19. Now in its sixth year, Svff offers five days of 30 feature film screenings, including 5 world premieres and featuring 16 documentaries and 14 narrative features.

The festival will open with the World Premiere documentary “Blood Road” starring Sun Valley local Rebecca Rusch on March 15 and close with the documentary “Big Sonia” on March 19. Additional film highlights include “The Hero,” starring Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon, Krysten Ritter and Nick Offerman, “Custody” with Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere, Ellen Burstyn and Tony Shalhoub, and “Dina,” winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at Sundance. The film slate can also be viewed here.

– Suncoast Credit Union Gasparilla International Film Festival...

Suncoast Credit Union Gasparilla International Film Festival (Giff) announced its official selection for the annual event held at the Tampa Theater and AMC Centro Ybor in Tampa, Florida, from March 2-March 9.

The festival will host the world premiere for All Nighter starring Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons and directed by Gavin Wiesen.

There will be 35 films and over 70 shorts, in which it will host international and regional premieres of narrative features, documentaries and short films around the world.

Here are the highlighted line up of the films:

Opening Night Film:

Burn Your Maps: A nine-year-old boy, grieving with his parents over the recent loss of his baby sister, becomes obsessed with the idea that he’s a Mongolian goat herder who belongs back home in his small village in Mongolia. Cast: Vera Farmiga, Jacob Tremblay, Virginia Madsen, Suraj Sharma. Directed by Jordan Roberts

Closing Night Film:

Unleashed: When...

Before we get to see J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon in “Justice League,” he’ll do some investigating in the comedy “All Nighter.” The first trailer for the film introduces viewers to Simmon’s character Mr. Gallo, a globe-trotting businessman who goes in search of his missing daughter.

The clip begins with Simmons meeting his daughter Ginnie’s (Annaleigh Tipton) awkward boyfriend, Martin (Emile Hirsch), who plays the banjo and spills a drink all over him. Cut to six months later and he finds out Ginnie is missing after he visits her boyfriend’s place and discovers that she broke up with him. The story continues as the two go in search of her, forced to get along, but forming an unlikely friendship along the way.

The cast is rounded out by Taran Killam, Kristen Schaal, Jon Daly and Shannon Woodward. The film is directed by “The Art of Getting By...

Meeting your girlfriend’s father is always tough, especially if you’re Emile Hirsch, but especially if her father is a particularly intimidating J.K. Simmons. This trailer for Gavin Wiesen’s comedy All Nighter opens like that, but then it quickly dives into a comedic spin on Taken with the aforementioned girl going missing and Simmons enlisting Emile Hirsch’s whiny, ineffectual loser to help track her down. From there, Taran Killam shows up as a guy in a hat, people get punched, and a lady talks about a Tweet she just posted, all while Simmons has what appears to be a good amount of fun playing a grumpy badass—and he doesn’t even have to take anyone to the gun show to do it.

All Nighter will be available through on-demand services on March 24, 2017.

More J.K. Simmons is never a bad thing in my opinion, particularly when he's playing a terrifying bad-ass. In Gavin Wiesen's All Nighter, Simmons plays a globe-trotting, workaholic who attempts to visit his daughter during a last-minute layover in Los Angeles. After discovering that she's disappeared, he forces her awkward, nervous ex-boyfriend (Emile Hirsch), who is still... Read More...

"This is not a movie, this is life." The first trailer has debuted for an indie comedy titled All Nighter, the second feature from director Gavin Wiesen, who last directed a film titled Homework (which was retitled to The Art of Getting By). All Nighter stars J.K. Simmons as a workaholic father who decides to visit his daughter in La, only to discover she's missing. He find her ex-boyfriend and ends up searching for her with him. Emile Hirsch is the ex, a banjo-playing goofball. The full cast includes Analeigh Tipton, Kristen Schaal, Taran Killam and Stephanie Allynne. This looks like a wild night of fun, I just hope it's good. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Gavin Wiesen's All Nighter, originally from Yahoo: A workaholic father who attempts to visit his daughter during a layover in La, only to discover that she's disappeared, is forced to team...

A trailer for an upcoming comedy called All Nighter just popped up online, and it looks like it could be a funny flick! The movie stars J.K. Simmons as a workaholic father who travels to Los Angeles to visit his daughter. When he gets there he discovers that she's disappeared. So what does he do? He is forced to awkwardly team up with her goofy banjo-playing ex-boyfriend to help him find her over the course of one transformative night. Her ex is played by Emile Hirsch.

Simmons and Hirsch are both talented actors, and it's fun to see them team up for a comedy like this. All Nighter was directed by Gavin Wiesen, and I hope that it actually turns out to be a decent comedy! The movie is set to be released in select theaters and on VOD on March 17th.

Actor J.K. Simmons has a full slate for 2017, including Zack Snyder’s “Justice League,” the Owen Wilson-Ed Helms comedy “Bastards” and Tomas Alfredson’s new film “The Snowman.” Simmons will also star in the new film “All Nighter,” formerly titled “The Runaround,” about a globe-trotting businessman who forms an unlikely friendship with his daughter’s struggling musician ex-boyfriend after she mysteriously disappears.

Read More: ‘Renegades’ Trailer: J.K. Simmons Gets Tied up in Nazi Gold Heist

After Ginnie (Annaleigh Tipton) breaks up with the awkward Martin (Emile Hirsch), he falls into a broken-hearted depression. But just then her father Mr. Gallo (Simmons), a man resolutely unimpressed by Martin, persuades him to take him to where Ginnie lives. When they don’t find her there, the two spend the rest of the day and night together searching for her all over Los Angeles and soon form an uneasy friendship. It...

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– Exclusive: Grasshopper Film has announced the acquisition of all U.S. distribution rights to “The Human Surge,” the electrifying debut from Argentine filmmaker Eduardo Williams, which was recently awarded the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival from a jury led by Dario Argento. The film will open in theaters next year.

The film follows Buenos Aires resident “Exe, 25 years old, has just lost his job and is not looking for another one. His neighbors and friends seem as odd to him as they always do. Online, he meets Alf, a boy from Mozambique who is also bored with his job and who is about to follow Archie, another boy who has run away into the jungle.

Exclusive: Good Deed Entertainment has acquired North American rights to The Runaround, the feature comedy that stars J.K. Simmons and Emile Hirsch. It will release the film theatrically next year. Directed by Gavin Wiesen (The Art of Getting By) and written by Seth W. Owen (Morgan), the film follows a workaholic father (Simmons) as he attempts to visit his daughter during a layover in Los Angeles, only to discover that she’s disappeared. In order to find her, he's forced…...

The new Baywatch movie is definitely a comedy. If you weren't sure, the latest photo from the set shared by Dwayne Johnson on his official Instagram page assures us of that. It shows The Rock and Zac Efron putting their glorious six-packs on display. While it looks like co-star Jon Bass has been interested in a different kind of six-pack altogether. The confident young man shows off his much more realistic psyche as he sets out to save those in need of a good beach rescue. Says Dwayne Johnson about this latest photo.

"The Boys of #Baywatch are some bad ass dudes. We have a lot of cool things in our movie. R-Rated comedy, hard core action, beautiful ass kicking women, the unforgiving and majestic ocean, Zac's 17 pack abs, and most important our #1 secret weapon...@thejonbass."

You might not immediately recognize co-star Jon Bass. He got his start acting on...

Legendary Pictures unleashed a mighty roar at Comic-Con last year when it announced big-budget King Kong prequel Kong: Skull Island, a period piece that will reintroduce moviegoers to the heralded Eighth Wonder of the World. Soon after, though, the pic fell somewhat under the radar. And now, as crowds prepare to again flood San Diego, it’s been revealed that Skull Island has suffered a serious blow, with both Michael Keaton and Jk Simmons vacating their roles.

The simultaneous exits are believed to relate to scheduling conflicts. Skull Island recently pushed back production from this fall to the end of the year, and the sure-to-be demanding shoot just couldn’t work out with both actors’ busier-than-ever slates. As for Tom Hiddleston, as far as we know, he still remains attached in the lead role.

Keaton, who was Oscar-nominated last year for a career-revitalizing lead turn in Birdman (or the Unexpected...

Exclusive: Gaumont, The Solution pre-buys among deals.

Euro distributor Ascot Elite has finalised deals for German-speaking Europe on a trio of Cannes market titles, including upcoming Jk Simmons (Whiplash) and Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) comedy The Runaround from The Solution.

Due to shoot this summer in Los Angeles, Gavin Wiesen will direct The Runaround from a screenplay by Seth W Owen about a globe-trotting workaholic father who enlists the help of his daughter’s awkward ex to find his girl during a layover in Los Angeles.

From Gaumont, the outfit pre-bought new French drama-comedy Le Coeur en Braille from Cesar-winning actor-director Michel Boujenah.

Set to shoot this August, Pascal Elbe (The Other Son) and Charles Berling (March of the Penguins) are among the cast of the drama based on Pascal Ruten’s novel about the friendship between a cellist who is losing her sight and a young boy who helps her hide the condition from her...

The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off this week, Telluride and Venice wrapped up and Fifty Shades of Grey got its leads. If you missed these and Deadline’s other top film stories this week, here’s your chance to check them out now:

Toronto 2013: Will Deals Take Back Seat As Buyers Focus On Fest Oscar Hopefuls?

By Mike Fleming Jr – The Toronto Film Festival got underway last night with the Gala premiere of the Bill Condon-directed DreamWorks Julian Assange film The Fifth Estate.

Vin Diesel’s ‘Riddick’ Opens Weak Weekend

By Nikki Finke – Welcome to one of the slowest weekends at the domestic box office. The movie season is off to a weak start – just $70M total filmgoing

Dakota Johnson Lands ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ Role

By Mike Fleming Jr – Exclusive: The coveted role of Anastasia Steele has gone to Dakota Johnson in the Universal Pictures and...