News

"The perfect life has the most to hide." As always. It's never as perfect as it seems... Netflix has revealed an official trailer for another new murder mystery whodunit series - this one called The Perfect Couple. It's adapted from the book of the same name written by Elin Hilderbrand, and all of the episodes are directed by the talented Belgian filmmaker Susanne Bier - after making Bird Box in 2018 she has stuck with Netflix. When one lavish wedding ends in disaster before it can even begin - with a body discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony - everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect. So, who was it...? The Perfect Couple stars Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Eve Hewson, Dakota Fanning, Jack Reynor, Ishaan Khattar, Sam Nivola, Mia Isaac, and Meghann Fahy. Despite this glamorous cast, this seems like it was made by the Netflix...

Netflix has shared a first look at The Perfect Couple, which will premiere globally on the streaming service on September 5, 2024.

Based on the book by Elin Hilderbrand, the series is directed and executive-produced by Susanne Bier. Bier’s film credits include Brothers (2004), After the Wedding (2006), In a Better World (2010), and Bird Box (2018). Her TV credits include The Night Manager (2016), The Undoing (2020), and The First Lady (2022).

In The Perfect Couple, Amelia Sacks is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families on Nantucket. Her disapproving future mother-in-law, famous novelist Greer Garrison Winbury, has spared no expense in planning what promises to be the premiere wedding of the season — until a body turns up on the beach.

As secrets come to light, the stage is set for a real-life investigation that feels plucked from the pages of one of Greer’s novels. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect.

The six-episode series stars Nicole Kidman,...

Sundance film festival: Captain Marvel directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have made a bizarrely misjudged hodgepodge of gore, needle drops and nostalgia

More often than not, the opening night slot at Sundance has become more curse than blessing, too many films living and dying in just one night, barely to be seen again. Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s sci-fi comedy The Pod Generation anyone? How about the Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore melodrama After the Wedding? Daisy Ridley’s suicide drama Sometimes I Think About Dying? Or maybe that sequel to An Inconvenient Truth that you didn’t even know existed? This year’s sacrificial lamb, the 80s-set anthology Freaky Tales, is nothing if not confident in its ability to make an impact, asserting itself as an experience that won’t easily be forgotten.

Acting as its own hype man, the film begins with a block of narrated...

Knock at the Cabin boasts a star-studded cast of actors who are bringing M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie to life. Based on the 2018 novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, by Paul G. Tremblay, Shyamalan’s latest is a psychological horror that sets itself apart from his previous films. Shyamalan co-writes the film, which is being compared to Signs.

Knock at the Cabin marks Shyamalan’s 15th feature film as a director and his latest after 2021’s Old. The mega producer and writer-director has had a hit-or-miss record when it comes to the quality of his films, but Shyamalan remains a staple within the horror genre. Knock at the Cabin is about a home invasion, and Shyamalan used 1990s camera lenses during filming to give it an “old school thriller look.” While the story and cinematography are crucial to Knock at the Cabin, Shyamalan assembled a great cast to portray the characters,...

Cutting Edge Music Holdings and London-based investment firm Blantyre Capital have joined forces for a $125 million acquisition of music publishing rights owned by film and TV composers.

One-third of the total investment has been earmarked for projects on major networks and streaming platforms. While specific names of projects and talent were not immediately made available, the companies said multiple franchises are part of the transaction. Titles are part of the slates of networks, studios and platforms including Fox, FX, ABC, CBS, Disney, Paramount, HBO, TNT, Warner Bros, NBCUniversal, Hulu, Starz, Netflix, Amazon and Apple.

Cutting Edge, which was founded nearly two decades ago in the UK and now has offices in New York and LA, has become a player in film and TV financing via its stakes in music. The company has become known for its moves in independent film, closing deals in 2018 for films like After the Wedding, starring Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore.

Mary Berry BBC Series

Great British Bake Off alum and Britain’s Best Home Cook judge Mary Berry is reteaming with BBC One for Mary Berry’s Fantastic Feasts. The three-part series, which will also air on iPlayer, sees Berry help novice cooks who want to surprise a loved one with a great meal, teaching them a selection of achievable, impressive dishes. On the day of the special event, Berry and two celebrity helpers will be on hand to assist. Mary Berry’s Fantastic Feasts is produced by Rumpus Media. Emily Hudd and Kelly Sparks are executive producers. Applications for aspiring cooks are open and an air date has yet to be set.

Viacom Buys Chilean TV Network

ViacomCBS Networks International has closed previously announced acquisition of Chilevisión from WarnerMedia. The acquisition includes Chilevisión’s free-to-air television network, which is Chile...

The 34th European Film Awards ceremony takes place on December 11.

Danish director Susanne Bier is to receive the the honorary European Achievement in World Cinema award from the European Film Academy at this year’s European Film Awards to take place in Berlin on December 11.

Bier is the first female director to win a European Film Award, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy.

She started her career with Freud Leaving Home, the story of a Jewish woman who still lives with her parents in Stockholm at the age of 25, which received the 1991 Dragon Award in Gothenburg.

Bier...

Puppets

BritBox U.K.’s “Spitting Image” will return to the airwaves on Sept. 11, with a lineup featuring several new puppets of prominent national figures. Last year, the program was a massive hit for BritBox, the streaming platform co-developed by the BBC and ITV, reaching an audience of more than 4.4 million viewers for the series’ U.S. Election Special and over 200 million global online viewers for the year. In 2020 series creator Roger Law returned to “Spitting Image” as head of the series’ creative team, with Jeff Westbrook joining as showrunner. Avalon produces. Earlier this year it was also announced that a new local version of “Spitting Image” will be made for Sky Germany, featuring the most internationally relevant bits of the English-language original with original German-language skits added for the local audience.

Theater

Composer and theater impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber’s £6 million ($8.2 million) West End production of “Cinderella” will resume Aug.

‘The World To Come’, ‘Riders Of Justice’ also hit cinemas.

M. Night Shyamalan’s ageing thriller Old heads the new openers at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, as new releases persist despite concerns over rising Covid-19 cases.

The UK and Ireland reported a combined 41,094 new cases on Thursday, July 22. This is up 565% from 6,180 on May 17, the day cinemas reopened in England.

The vaccine rollout should reduce the spread and potency of the virus, with all UK adults now offered a first dose. However there are still concerns that the third wave will affect box office releases; yesterday Entertainment Film Distributors...

Abby Quinn will star in an upcoming Blumhouse and Epix movie set in Nashville opposite Shiloh Fernandez and Joshua Leonard. They join the previously announced Alexxis Lemire and Katey Sagal in the film, which has the working title of “Tattered Hearts.”

The movie centers on a promising up-and-coming country duo who seek out the secluded mansion of their idol (Sagal), a former country music star and “Music City” royalty turned recluse. What starts out as a friendly visit devolves into a twisted series of horrors forcing the friends to confront the lengths they will go to realize

their dreams. Brea Grant (“12 Hour Shift”) is directing from a script by Rachel Koller Croft.

Quinn will star as “Jordan,” singer and guitarist, and one half of the music duo. The actress had a notable role in the Sundance hit “Landline” opposite Edie Falco and Jenny Slate. She most recently starred in...

The familiar vengeance payback genre has some goofy and entirely welcome top-spin applied to it in Anders Thomas Jensen’s Riders Of Justice. The Danish film also features a version of Mads Mikkelsen — currently at a career peak — that we’ve never seen before, with his handsome face hidden behind an Ozark-style full beard as a tough army officer ill-prepared to console his bereft teenaged daughter in the wake of her mother’s violent death.

Writer-director Jensen knows Mikkelsen well, having written previous films for the actor including The Salvation, After The Wedding and Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself. Jensen has also enjoyed good fortune at the Oscars — directing 1998 Best Short Subject winner, Election Night; as co-writer of the 2009 winner in the same category, The New Tenants; and as screenwriter of Suzanne Bier’s 2011 Best Foreign Language Film laureate, In A Better World.

At the outset, Riders Of Justice, which...

This is what life has been like for Mads Mikkelsen since “Another Round” collected the Best International Feature Film Oscar last month. He started rehearsing James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones 5” with Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, bookending the year he began with yet another franchise villain, Gellert Grindelwald, replacing Johnny Depp in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3.”

“I’m playing misunderstood people,” he said, smiling over Zoom. “I’ve had a few non-villainous American roles that tend to be the baddies; I did an American film called ‘Arctic.’ He’s not a villain, so I’m grateful for that. Maybe times will turn a little, and people are watching a little more of the Danish stuff. Maybe they’ll accept a funny accent for an everyday-man character. If that’s not the case, I’m happy with what I’m doing. I’m happy I’ve...

This is what life has been like for Mads Mikkelsen since “Another Round” collected the Best International Feature Film Oscar last month. He started rehearsing James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones 5” with Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, to be followed by a role as Kaecilius in Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” That will bookend the year he began with yet another franchise villain, Gellert Grindelwald, replacing Johnny Depp in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3.”

“I’m playing misunderstood people,” he said, smiling over Zoom. “I’ve had a few non-villainous American roles that tend to be the baddies; I did an American film called ‘Arctic.’ He’s not a villain, so I’m grateful for that. Maybe times will turn a little, and people are watching a little more of the Danish stuff. Maybe they’ll accept a funny accent for an everyday-man character.

[Editor’s Note: The following piece contains spoilers for “The Undoing,” including the ending.]

Susanne Bier is in demand. HBO reached out to “The Night Manager” Emmy-winner to direct the limited series “The Undoing”; she didn’t have to pitch. That’s not just because she’s a sought-after filmmaker — and because experienced women directors are a prize get these days — but the Danish Oscar-winning auteur (“In a Better World”) has a sophisticated skill set that includes something hard to find: she knows how to reach a wide audience.

In fact, showrunner David Kelley’s six-hour “The Undoing” not only drew a massive audience when it played on HBO and HBO Max last fall, but the numbers went up episode by episode until the climactic “whodunit” finale, which delivered 3 million viewers across all platforms. It was the most-watched HBO night for an original series since Kelley’s “Big Little Lies” finale in 2019.

This time Kelley adapted Jean Hanff Korelitz...

[Editor’s Note: The following piece contains spoilers for “The Undoing,” including the ending.]

Susanne Bier is in demand. HBO reached out to “The Night Manager” Emmy-winner to direct the limited series “The Undoing”; she didn’t have to pitch. That’s not just because she’s a sought-after filmmaker — and because experienced women directors are a prize get these days — but the Danish Oscar-winning auteur (“In a Better World”) has a sophisticated skill set that includes something hard to find: she knows how to reach a wide audience.

In fact, showrunner David Kelley’s six-hour “The Undoing” not only drew a massive audience when it played on HBO and HBO Max last fall, but the numbers went up episode by episode until the climactic “whodunit” finale, which delivered 3 million viewers across all platforms. It was the most-watched HBO night for an original series since Kelley’s “Big Little Lies” finale in 2019.

This time Kelley adapted Jean Hanff Korelitz...

Breaking: Though his adaptation of West Side Story is not set to make its premiere till later this year, Steven Spielberg looks to have found his next directing gig, one of which is very close to home. Sources tell Deadline that Spielberg is coming on to direct an untitled pic at Amblin Partners that is loosely based on his childhood growing up in Arizona. Insiders add that Michelle Williams is in negotiations to star in a major role inspired by his mom but with a separate and original voice.

Given how personal the story is, this will also mark the first time since A.I. that Spielberg will partake in screenwriting duties, co-writing the script with Tony Kushner, who has penned several Spielberg movies in the past. The film will start shooting this summer with an expectation that it will be released sometime in 2022.

Spielberg will now look to cast...

When Mads Mikkelsen first heard about “Another Round” from director Thomas Vinterberg, it was just a pitch eight years ago about “this philosopher who had this theory that we’re born with too little alcohol in the blood if you wanted to achieve things.” But when he read the fleshed-out script it dug deeper. The theory about alcohol “was the kickstarter to the story, but this story was much more about embracing life and about four characters who are kind of standing on the platform looking at the train that’s just leaving them.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Mikkelsen above.

Mikkelsen plays Martin, a teacher feeling unfulfilled in his career and his marriage who embarks on this experiment with his friends. “Between the four of us actors and Thomas, we have enough experience to know how it is to be drunk,” says Mikkelsen, but the cast ran an...

Exclusive: HBO is bolstering the supporting cast for Mare of Easttown, its upcoming limited series starring Kate Winslet. Mackenzie Lansing (The Deuce), Kate Arrington (Billions), Ruby Cruz (Castle Rock), Eisa Davis (Betty), Enid Graham (The Glorias), Justin Hurtt-Dunkley (High Flying Bird), Izzy King, Jack Mulhern (The Society), Anthony Norman (Broadway’s The Prom), Drew Scheid (Halloween) and Madeleine Weinstein (Broadway’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) join the series, which is a co-production of HBO and Paul Lee’s wiip. It will premiere April 18 on HBO.

Written by Brad Inglesby, and directed by Craig Zobel, Mare of Easttown stars Winslet as Mare Sheehan, a small-town Pennsylvania detective whose life crumbles around her as she investigates a local murder. The limited series is an exploration into the dark side of a close community and an authentic examination of how family and past tragedies can define our present.

Arrington plays Faye,...

Exclusive: The long-in-development Peggy Lee biopic Fever not only looks to have found a new studio to call home, but also a new star to play the legendary singer. Sources tell Deadline that MGM is in talks to come aboard the Peggy Lee biopic, with Academy Award nominee Todd Haynes set to direct and four-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams on board to star.

The film will be produced by Marc Platt, Reese Witherspoon and Pamela Koffler & Christine Vachon via their Killer Films production company. It is understood that multi-Grammy-winning artist Billie Eilish, mother Maggie Baird and Record Label partner Justin Lubliner have expressed interest in Fever and are in early discussions with the filmmakers to come on board as executive producers for the feature film.

Eilish was part of a celebration of Lee’s life and career last May and has always seen Lee as one of her inspirations for her music.

From buzzy horrors to difficult dramas, this year’s low-key, mostly virtual festival offers a restricted yet intriguing selection

Even in any normal year, trying to predict what will and won’t land at the Sundance film festival is something of a fool’s errand. It’s a lineup filled with small, often totally unknown films, most of which don’t yet have distribution, a long list of italicised question marks waiting to be underlined or erased and what makes it all that much harder to predict is that the movies that premiere with big names are often the biggest disasters. In recent editions, films such as Eighth Grade, The Farewell, Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Hereditary all came from nowhere to end up going somewhere while more obviously starry fare such as Four Good Days (Glenn Close and Mila Kunis), The Last Thing He Wanted (Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck...

Exclusive: In what is turning into quite a successful partnership, Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt look to have found their next project together. A24 has come on to Reichardt’s next film Showing Up with Williams attaching herself to star. The news was confirmed via a new episode of The A24 Podcast, which drops today, that features a conversation between Kenneth Lonergan and Kelly Reichardt. The project is mentioned at the top of the podcast. This will mark the fourth film, the two have worked on together, having previously collaborated on Wendy & Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff, and Certain Women.

Showing Up is set to go into production summer 2021. The script is written by Reichardt and her long-time writing partner, Jon Raymond. Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani, and Vincent Savino will produce. Scott Rudin and Eli Bush will serve as executive producers.

Reichardt’s latest film is a vibrant and sharply funny...

Michelle Pfeiffer is set to star in Showtime’s “The First Lady,” an upcoming anthology series that will examine the lives of several former first ladies.

Variety reported on Thursday that Pfeiffer, who starred in recent films such as the upcoming “French Exit,” as well as “mother!,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” will portray Betty Ford, who served as First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977. Susanne Bier will direct and executive-produce the hour-long series. The filmmaker most recently served as the director behind HBO’s “The Undoing,” and prior, Netflix’s “Bird Box,” but also helmed Danish favorites including “After the Wedding” and “Open Hearts.”

A premiere date for “The First Lady” is still under wraps.

The synopsis for the show, which was previously titled “First Ladies,” reads: “In the East Wing of the White House, many of history’s most impactful and world-changing...

Running fully online over Feb. 3-4, the Nordic region’s largest TV market, TV Drama Vision – which is held parallel to Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival – will roll out the red carpet to Danish writer-director Susanne Bier as an honorary guest.

The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning helmer will discuss her 30-year career, ranging from the Danish hits “After the Wedding” and “In a Better World” to the acclaimed English-language series “The Night Manager” and “The Undoing.” She will also share tips on how creators can adapt to the ever-changing content industry while sticking to their vision.

“It’s never easy to get star guests, so we’re thrilled to welcome Susanne Bier,” said Göteborg fest head of industry Cia Edström, who described Bier as “an interesting creator, who has moved elegantly from auteur filmmaking to the mainstream. She is a perfect match for an event like ours,” she added.

Detailing...

Despite very chaotic schedules, Gold Derby gathered four top TV showrunners recently for a Meet the Experts panel to discuss their latest projects and careers. Watch our exciting new group webchat above with Katori Hall (“P-Valley”), Aaron Guzikowski (“Raised by Wolves”), Benjamin Cavell (“The Stand”) and Susanne Bier (“The Undoing”). Click on each name above to be taken to their separate interviews during the hour-long panel.

In the chat, we ask about projects that influenced them into joining the crazy world of television and film long before it actually happened for them. For Cavell, he chooses to talk about “The Sopranos.” Hall discusses “Good Times” from the 1970s. Bier chats about an old black-and-white version of “Treasure Island.” Guzikowski mentions the original episodes of “The Twilight Zone.”

Other topics we cover in our group discussion include the process of waiting on a new project to debut for the public and critics,...

Susanne Bier was just as excited as anybody to watch her HBO limited series “The Undoing” unfold over recent weeks for audiences. She joined our Gold Derby Meet the Experts Showrunners panel this month (watch the exclusive video interview above), revealing that “it took off in a crazy way! The audience literally went into full gear speculating about who was the villain, who could they trust?”

The six-episode mystery thriller stars Hugh Grant as a man accused of the savage murder of his lover and Nicole Kidman as his steadfast wife. Other cast members included Edgar Ramirez, Donald Sutherland, Lily Rabe and Noah Jupe. Bier directed and served as executive producer alongside TV Hall of Fame member David E. Kelley, who wrote all of the segments.

SEEHugh Grant interview: ‘The Undoing’

She almost worked with Grant a few years ago and was finally able to snag him for this role.

Anders Thomas Jensen’s action comedy “Riders of Justice,” starring Mads Mikkelsen, will open the 50th International Film Festival Rotterdam. The festival will be staged in two parts this year: the first, in a hybrid format, running Feb. 1-7, and the second, hopefully a physical event, June 2-6. The awards ceremony will take place on Feb. 7.

In “Riders of Justice,” Mikkelsen plays Markus, a military man who returns home to look after his daughter Mathilde following his wife’s death in a train accident. At first it looks like she was the victim of a tragic piece of bad luck, but then mathematics geek Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), a fellow passenger on the train, shows up with his two eccentric colleagues, Lennart (Lars Brygmann) and Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro), and floats the theory of a possible murder conspiracy. The film plays in the Limelight section.

Jensen is Denmark’s top screenwriter,...

Four top TV showrunners will reveal the secrets behind their programs when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with key 2021 guild and Emmy contenders this month. Each person will participate in two video discussions to be published on Wednesday, December 16, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our managing editor Chris Beachum and a group chat with Chris and all of the producers together.

RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Emmy contenders:

“P-Valley” (Starz): Katori Hall

Hall is an Olivier Award-winning playwright whose TV career has included such projects as “Cast Black Talent Virtual Reading Series,...

Danish director Susanne Bier is stepping in to replace outgoing International Feature Film Executive Committee co-head Diane Weyermann. Academy President David Rubin appointed Directors Branch governor Bier to co-chair the committee alongside Writers Branch governor Larry Karaszewski.

Weyermann, the documentary chief at Participant, elected to step down as co-chair and recuse herself from serving on the Executive Committee due to her professional relationship with “Collective,” which Romania officially selected for this year’s International Feature Film competition. Weyermann is not credited on the film and while Participant did not finance it, Participant did co-acquire “Collective” and is sharing its release with Magnolia Pictures.

The Danish Bier directed Oscar-winner “In a Better World,” the Oscar-nominated “After the Wedding,” “Open Hearts,” and “Brothers.” She has also directed film and television in Hollywood, including HBO series “The Undoing,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, Netflix smash “Bird Box,” starring Sandra Bullock, Emmy-winning “The Night Manager,...

Danish director Susanne Bier is stepping in to replace outgoing International Feature Film Executive Committee co-head Diane Weyermann. Academy President David Rubin appointed Directors Branch governor Bier to co-chair the committee alongside Writers Branch governor Larry Karaszewski.

Weyermann, the documentary chief at Participant, elected to step down as co-chair and recuse herself from serving on the Executive Committee due to her professional relationship with “Collective,” which Romania officially selected for this year’s International Feature Film competition. Weyermann is not credited on the film and while Participant did not finance it, Participant did co-acquire “Collective” and is sharing its release with Magnolia Pictures.

The Danish Bier directed Oscar-winner “In a Better World,” the Oscar-nominated “After the Wedding,” “Open Hearts,” and “Brothers.” She has also directed film and television in Hollywood, including HBO series “The Undoing,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, Netflix smash “Bird Box,” starring Sandra Bullock, Emmy-winning “The Night Manager,...

Diane Weyermann, the content chief for Participant Media, has stepped down as co-chair of the international feature film’s executive committee, Variety has confirmed.

Weyermann decided to leave her role as co-chair of the executive committee due to her professional relationship with the documentary “Collective,” which has been selected to represent Romania in this year’s International Feature Film competition. “Collective” was produced by Participant.

Alhough Weyermann is not personally credited on the film and was not responsible for the financing, Participant—for which she is head of documentaries—co-acquired the film and is handling its release.

The Academy president David Rubin has appointed the Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier (“The Night Manager”), who is currently the governor of the Directors Branch, to co-chair the committee alongside Larry Karaszewski, the governor of the Writers Branch.

One of Scandinavia’s most celebrated auteurs, Bier previously won an Oscar with her Danish drama...

Dane’s credits include current HBO release The Undoing.

Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier has been named co-chair of the Academy’s international feature film executive committee and has replaced Diane Weyermann alongside Larry Karaszewski.

The development comes after Weyermann stepped down as co-chair and recused herself from serving on the executive committee.

Weyermann took the decision due to her professional relationship with a feature officially selected for this year’s international feature film category that Participant, where she oversees documentaries, co-acquired and will work on the release.

The film is Alexander Nanau’s Romanian documentary selection Collective, which follows a...

Billy Crudup is in early negotiations to join Ezra Miller in the DC superhero tentpole “The Flash” for Warner Bros., Variety has confirmed.

Crudup, who recently won an Emmy for drama series for “The Morning Show,” portrayed Dr. Henry Allen as the father to Barry Allen, aka The Flash, in Zach Snyder’s 2017 “Justice League” opposite Miller. He had been tapped for the part in the standalone movie “The Flash” during its early development under director Rick Famuyiwa but had moved on after the team of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein came on to the project.

The project has gained momentum with Andy Muschietti directing. The “It” helmer revealed in August that he had persuaded Ben Affleck to come on to “The Flash” as Batman in a story in which Miller’s Barry Allen would be appearing in parallel dimensions and meeting different versions of DC’s heroes. Michael Keaton,...

Mads Mikkelsen’s chiseled features, raspy voice and cool steely gaze have made the Danish actor a go-to bad guy for any casting agent looking for a supervillain — James Bond’s nemesis Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, Doctor Strange’s warlock adversary Kaecilius — or serial killer (TV’s Hannibal) with a touch of class.

Back in his native Denmark, Mikkelsen has carved out a parallel career as a character actor, with dramatic turns in the likes of period romance A Royal Affair, or social dramas After the Wedding and The Hunt.

Another Round, from The Hunt director Thomas Vinterberg, is a rare comic performance from ...

Mads Mikkelsen’s chiseled features, raspy voice and cool steely gaze have made the Danish actor a go-to bad guy for any casting agent looking for a supervillain — James Bond’s nemesis Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, Doctor Strange’s warlock adversary Kaecilius — or serial killer (TV’s Hannibal) with a touch of class.

Back in his native Denmark, Mikkelsen has carved out a parallel career as a character actor, with dramatic turns in the likes of period romance A Royal Affair, or social dramas After the Wedding and The Hunt.

Another Round, from The Hunt director Thomas Vinterberg, is a rare comic performance from ...

Oscar winner Julianne Moore is set to join the ensemble cast of Universal’s movie adaptation of the Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen, joining Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams and Amandla Stenberg.

The story follows Evan Hansen, a high schooler with social anxiety. He unintentionally gets caught up in a lie after the family of a classmate who died by suicide mistakes one of Hansen’s letters for their son’s suicide note. Moore will play the protagonist’s mother.

Steven Levenson, who wrote the book for the stage musical, penned the script, and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote the music and original lyrics for the musical and film. Stephen Chbosky will direct, and Marc Platt and Adam Siegel will produce for their Universal-based Marc Platt Productions.

Universal’s SVP Production Sara Scott and director of development Lexi Barta will oversee production on behalf of the studio.

Moore...

Exclusive: LA-based indie production and sales company Clear Horizon is expanding into domestic distribution with the acquisition of civil rights drama Son Of The South.

The film, which debuts tonight at the American Black Film Festival, is written and directed by Oscar-nominated editor Barry Alexander Brown (BlacKkKlansman), well known for his long-running collaboration with Spike Lee.

Brown has edited Spike Lee movies including Oscar-winner BlacKkKlansman, She’s Gotta Have It, Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X and Inside Man. He also co-directed Oscar-nominated documentary The War At Home.

Lee is an executive producer on Son Of The South, which stars Lucas Till, Lex Scott Davis, Lucy Hale, Cedrick the Entertainer, Julia Ormond and the late Brian Dennehy. Producers are Colin Bates, Eve Pomerance, Bill Black, Stan Erdreich, and River Bend Pictures.

Based on the Bob Zellner autobiography The Wrong Side Of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement,...

The competition line-ups of the 26th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival have also been revealed. The Sarajevo Film Festival, taking place online this year from 14 to 21 August, has announced that Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen will be awarded the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo. The star of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher, Pusher 2 and Valhalla Rising, Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt and Another Round, Susanne Bier's After the Wedding, Nikolaj Arcel's A Royal Affair, the James Bond title Casino Royale which restarted the franchise in 2006, plus an assortment of Hollywood movies such as Clash of the Titans, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Arctic, as well as the NBC show Hannibal, will hold a masterclass for Sarajevo's online audience. The Danish star joins Michel Franco (whose works will also play in the festival’s “Tribute to” programme) as a recipient of Honorary Heart of Sarajevo, as previously announced (read.

Buyers snap up horror titles for Germany, Indonesia, Taiwan.

David Brown’s Clear Horizon has drummed up business at the Cannes virtual market and struck key territory deals on Collector 3 (Coll3cted) and Thunderbird.

Collector 3, the third entry in the home invasion franchise starring Josh Stewart, has sold to Splendid for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and Front Row for the Middle East.

Sales have also closed in Indonesia (Pt Falcon), Philippines (Captive Entertainment), Taiwan (Deep Joy), Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay (Bf Distribution), and Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador (Starr Films).

Horror thriller Thunderbird starring Natalie Brown has sold to Lighthouse for Germany,...

Hong Kong Arts Centre: Moving Images announces their May programme, which includes their regular Golden Scene Selection, Independently Yours: Together We Stand and Independently Yours: Taking Back the Legislature + Inside the Red Brick Wall as well as the Hong Kong Arts Centre x Hong Kong Film Festival – Independently Yours: Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down, the delayed February programme which has finally been rescheduled for June.

Golden Scene Selection – June

Venue: Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre

Date: 2020.06.23 – 2020.06.29

Price: Standard ticket: $80. Tickets are now available at Putyourself.in.

“Golden Scene Selection”, proudly presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre (Hkac) and Golden Scene Company Limited, will bring the audience a series of cherry-picked selections from around the world at the Hkac.

Screening Schedule

23/6 (Tue) 8pm Radioactive (Preview)

24/6 (Wed) 8pm Beyond The Dream (Preview)*

25/6 (Thu) 8pm A Family Tour*

26/6 (Fri) 8pm After the Wedding

27/6 (Sat) 3pm...

Finnish director Anders Engström, whose TV credits include Taboo, Hanna and See, is aboard to direct producer Joel B. Michaels’ (Terminator Salvation) update of 1980 supernatural thriller The Changeling.

The film follows a musician who, after the death of his young daughter, returns to his childhood home. After a series of terrifying events, he begins to unlock the mystery of the dead child that haunts his home along with a terrible family secret. Tab Murphy’s script is said to introduce “several new twists and turns”.

Cornerstone Films, which first picked the title up in 2018, will be shopping the project at the upcoming Cannes virtual market. Uwe Schott and Stefan Arndt of X-Filme (Babylon Berlin) are also producing with Cornerstone’s Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder serving as executive producers.

The plan is to shoot the remake in Ireland. Michaels was the original producer of the 1980 film starring George C. Scott.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte over the weekend said Italian movie theaters will be allowed to reopen on June 15 as coronavirus lockdown restrictions lift. However, it remains to be seen how many cinemas will actually be operational by then.

While it’s unlikely many of Italy’s roughly 4,000 screens will be active next month, the country’s distributors and exhibitors are busy gearing up for summer releases and finding creative solutions for moviegoing to resume.

“In order to open movie theaters, audiences need to feel safe and relaxed” says Andrea Occhipinti, who heads Italian distributor-producer Lucky Red and is also chief of national arthouse theater chain Circuito Cinema.

“As exhibitors, we need to understand how many people will actually go (to the movies),” Occhipinti adds, pointing out that if theaters operate under 30% capacity “it will be a bit complicated economically.”

The other crucial challenge for Italy’s arthouse circuit in...

“The quarantine has rocked the status quo and accelerated some trends,” said Lucky Red CEO.

Rome-based producer and distributor Lucky Red and sister programming outfit Circuito Cinema are the latest arthouse players to launch a profit-sharing VoD streaming platform in response to the closure of cinemas due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

In collaboration with Italian cinema magazine MYmovies.it, the partners are gearing up to launch their new platform MioCinema on May 18 with French filmmaker Ladj Ly’s gritty Oscar-nominated, Cannes Jury Prize winner Les Miserables kicking off the programme.

Lucky Red had been due to release the film in...

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A post shared by Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) on Mar 30, 2020 at 7:07pm Pdt

Like many others right now, Selena Gomez is occupying her time with a little help from friends like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and the complete cast of Saturday Night Live - virtually, that is. The singer recently shared her list of entertainment recommendations in an earnest Instagram post featuring candid photos of herself cooking. "I shared a few lists in my stories of things I'm watching, listening to and reading to keep me positive and help pass the time," Gomez wrote. "Hope it helps you."

"Hope it helps you."

Gomez's extensive list of movie recommendations includes recent releases like Invisible Man and Uncut Gems, in addition to cult classics like Clueless and Election. Gomez also appears to be filling her feed with hilarious content, as her list of Instagram accounts to follow...

Exclusive: La-based producer and sales firm Clear Horizon is lining up a historical drama about the Symbionese Liberation Army and its kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst.

Mizmoon will tell the story of Patricia ‘Mizmoon’ Soltisyk, the radicalized college co-ed who co-founded the terrorist group with her lesbian lover and an escaped convict with an obsession for guns and explosives. The group famously carried out bank robberies and murders in the 1970s and kidnapped heiress Hearst, the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. Soltysik was one of the six Sla members killed in a shootout with the Lapd in the mid 70s.

Clear Horizon founder David Brown, an executive producer on recent Julianne Moore-Michelle Williams adaptation After The Wedding, will make his directorial debut on the project, which he will produce with Cynthia Greening and Todd Lundbohm. Script comes from Greening and Tony Clarno, with revisions by Reinhard Denke.

The project is out to cast. Shoot is scheduled for Los Angeles later this year, cast and Covid-19 permitting. We are told the team is working off material from the public domain so have not needed to acquire life rights.

Patty Hearst and the Sla have spawned multiple screen projects over the years including a 1988 movie directed by Paul Schrader and a 2004 PBS doc by Robert Stone.

Brown recently produced The Undertaker’s Wife starring Shannyn Sossamon and John Brotherton and Chasing Nightmares starring Anne Heche and Graham McTavish.

Brown said, “Not only are we looking to push a number of our projects forward, but we want to get the word out to other filmmakers who have a need for funding or partnerships. We still have our doors open at this time.”...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Julianne Moore and Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard are attached to star in buzzy new comedy-drama movie package When You Finish Saving the World, which Jesse Eisenberg has written and will direct and which Emma Stone will produce with SNL writer-director Dave McCary and Moore.

CAA Media Finance, which is arranging financing for the film, will rep world distribution rights. The mother-son story is inspired by Eisenberg’s upcoming Audible Original of the same name, which we can reveal is debuting this year.

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The movie, whose precise plot details are being kept under wraps, will have a...

Consider Selena Gomez your social distancing expert. On Sunday, the "Rare" singer took to Instagram to share how she's been passing the time while practicing social distancing with an epic list of her favorite movies, television shows, songs and books. "Here are some of the things that I've been watching, listening to and reading to keep me positive and help pass the time," she wrote on her Stories. "Hope it helps!!" For Selena, social distancing has given her plenty of time to revisit some of her favorite films. She included Jennifer's Body, American Hustle, Clueless, Sugar and Spice, After The Wedding, Zodiac, Election and Flirting With Disaster on her movies list....

Doing the dishes has never been more dramatic!

On Thursday, Julianne Moore shared how she and her family have been spending their time self-isolating amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. It should come as no surprise that the Hollywood household — the actress, 59, shares son Caleb, 22, and daughter Liv, 17, with her director husband Bart Freundlich — aren’t putting their filmmaking craft to rest while shut in.

Moore posted a mini-movie on Instagram, shot in her kitchen as she scrubbed a dish in the sink. The simple chore is turned into a cinematic scene, thanks to the Oscar winner‘s “performance,” cinematography by her husband,...

Julia Garner in ‘The Assistant.’

In a further sign of consolidation among independent distributors, Rialto Distribution has closed its Sydney office while continuing to book films into Australian cinemas via its Auckland headquarters.

However the end of the company’s presence in Oz after more than 20 years does not signal any reduction in acquisitions for multiple-platform release.

“We have gained much-needed economies of scale with Kevin Gordon, our Australia/New Zealand sales and distribution manager, selling in directly,” CEO Kelly Rogers tells If.

“This is going very well and Australian exhibitors are receptive to our strong line-up. We expect to release approximately 30 titles in 2020, mainly digital titles and select strong theatrical films.”

Former Myriad Pictures and Icon Film Distribution marketing executive Lisa Garner, who joined Rialto as Sydney-based head of film in February 2018, expects to soon announce her next venture.

Currently Rialto has a hit with Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson...

Several high-profile releases have been postponed.

The spread of coronavirus in northern Italy is beginning to take its toll on the country’s cinema chains.

Italian box office takings this weekend were down 44% compared to the previous week and down 30% compared to the same period in 2019.

Several releases due out next weekend have also been postponed; Si vive una volta sola from comedy star Carlo Verdone (Vision Distribution); Berlinale competition title Hidden Away by Giorgio Diritti (01 Distribution); Bart Freundlich’s After The Wedding (Lucky Red); Cambio tutto (Medusa) and Lupin III (Anime Factory). None of the distributors have set new...

Exclusive: Rising actress Jenna Ortega, known for Netflix series You and Disney Channel’s Stuck In The Middle, has been set to lead cast in high-school drama The Fallout, which U.S. outfit Clear Horizon has launched here at the Efm.

Actress Megan Park (What If) will write and direct, with David Brown and Giulia Prenna producing for Clear Horizon, and Joannie Burstein and Rebecca Miller producing for The Burstein Company. Cara Shine will also produce. Clear Horizon is selling worldwide rights with 828 Media Capital financing. Todd Lundbohm will produce for 828.

In the feature, high schooler Vada navigates the emotional fallout she experiences in the wake of a school tragedy. Relationships with her family, friends and view on the world are forever altered.

Upcoming film roles for Ortega include Yes Day opposite Jennifer Garner and The Babysitter 2 opposite Bella Thorne.

Canadian Park’s debut short won the Grand...