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Exclusive: In a very competitive situation, Apple TV+ has landed The Dealer, a Media Res drama starring Oscar winner Jessica Chastain and Oscar nominee Adam Driver, with a straight-to-series order.

The Dealer is executive produced by the A Doll’s House, Part 2 trio of Sam Gold, Lucas Hnath and Sarah Lunnie. Written by Hnath and to be directed by Gold, The Dealer is described as a biting exploration of power, class, seduction and culture set inside the glittering world of the high-end art market, told through the eyes of an aspiring super gallerist, played by Jessica Chastain, and the tangled relationship with her most gifted and unnerving artist, played by Adam Driver.

Also executive producing The Dealer are Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer for Media Res, Chastain and Kelly Carmichael for Freckle Films, Driver and Alan Poul (Six Feet Under). Arianna Anderson will serve as co-executive producer on the project,...

Exclusive: Gold Tree, the parent company of Gold Tree Studios, has secured $1 billion in financing from Malka Group for its film, television and animation slates.

Led by Gold Tree CEO and founder Tim Chonacas, the company will expand soundstages, equipment rentals and post-production services in key tax-incentivized states to support its ongoing commitment to producing content across multiple platforms while offering world-class studio facilities.

“We’re incredibly grateful to Malka for their belief in our vision,” Chonacas said. “This financing will allow us to expand our studio footprint in other states and territories and keep developing innovative projects across film, TV and animation. We’re excited to give back to our community and bring film jobs back to LA as well.”

Said Malka Group CEO Moses Gross: “Malka’s recognizes the strengths of partnering with Tim Chonacas, Gold Tree which exemplifies the agile, innovative spirit of independent production. We...

Al Pacino spent time with some old friends, attending a 50th anniversary screening of “Dog Day Afternoon” at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre — those friends being the other collaborators he misses from making the classic bank-robbery-gone-wrong drama a half-century ago.

The avuncular Pacino also made a lot of new friends at the Aero, with Tuesday’s capacity crowd reveling not just in his tales of making “Dog Day Afternoon” but assorted takes on other aspects of his career.

“Let’s just say it’s always a 50-year anniversary, you know,” Pacino said with a chuckle. “I mean, I did ‘The Godfather’ — it was 50 years; people celebrated — and I did ‘The Godfather Part II,’ which you got another, but I’m due on this one.”

The 84-year-old acting giant was pinned down on what he now considers the favorite role of his career (spoiler: it’s not one of the...

Atomic Features, the production company co-founded by Daniel Ragussis (“Imperium”) and Dennis Lee (“Fireflies in the Garden”), has closed, what it is describing as “a significant” new round of equity financing. The round was led by Fanghua Jiang, Li Jing, and Lanfu Yang.

The company says the new investments will enable it to expand its development slate, adding between four to eight new projects, as well as launch a production fund to finance the first three films it is developing — real-time disaster thriller, “Black Tuesday”; the horror movie, “Breed”; and the dystopian thriller, “The Oasis.”

The company offers a different type of development methodology than the traditional Hollywood model by working with directors from the inception of a project, and relies upon a formalized notes-giving process pioneered by Ragussis in his Notes for Execs workshop, which launched in 2019 and has included participants from such companies as Warner Bros., Universal, Fox and Disney.

Kathryn Bigelow’s political thriller movie Zero Dark Thirty has officially found its newest streaming home for the month of March. The 2012 movie was led by Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain, who portrayed the role of a CIA intelligence analyst named Maya.

Starting on March 1,Zero Dark Thirty will finally be available for streaming on Peacock. The story takes place after the dreadful 9/11 attacks, where Chastain’s Maya has been tasked to search for the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who has been identified as the mastermind behind the 9/11 tragedy. The film chronicles the decade-long global manhunt for the most dangerous man on the planet, with an elite team of intelligence and military operatives devoting themselves to finding and eliminating the enemy. At the moment, it is currently one of Bigelow’s highest-rated movies to date, with a Certified Fresh rating of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Related15 Amazing War...

Dexter: Resurrection has booked another familiar name.

Peter Dinklage, who famously played Tyrion Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones, has joined Michael C. Hall on his Dexter: Resurrection cast murder board.

Dinklage, in a series regular role, will play Leon Prater, a billionaire venture capitalist. To the world, Leon is a generous philanthropist, but behind his polished exterior lies dark intrigue, reads his character description.

He joins the previously announced cast of Uma Thurman and returning Dexter franchise stars David Zayas, James Remar and Jack Alcott.

Dexter: Resurrection stars Hall as titular serial killer Dexter Morgan; he will also be the narrator, as he was in all of the previous series. The next show in the Dexter franchise takes place is present day. The series is currently in production in New York and is set to premiere this summer on Paramount+ With Showtime.

Showrunner Clyde Phillips previously explained to...

Impact entrepreneur and Un Global Goals advocate Natasha Mudhar is making a mark with The World We Want Studios, a production banner that’s quickly assembling a slate of star-powered projects including Johnny Depp’s directorial effort “Modi” and Al Pacino-Jessica Chastain feature “Lear Rex.”

Mudhar’s journey into high-profile Hollywood productions began in 2013 through veteran producer Barry Navidi, Pacino’s longtime creative partner. “My journey with ‘Lear Rex’ and ‘Modi’ began when I was introduced to Al Pacino through Barry Navidi,” Mudhar tells Variety. “At the time, I worked closely with Barry on ‘An Evening with Pacino,’ Mr. Pacino’s sold-out London show. This collaboration allowed me to build a strong creative and business rapport with Barry, which eventually led to my involvement as co-producer for ‘Lear Rex’ and executive producer for ‘Modi.'”

“Our commissioning ethos is rooted in the belief that purpose-driven storytelling can be both engaging and commercially successful,...

‘Safe House’ To Open Göteborg Film Festival

Eirik Svensson’s Safe House (Før Mørket) will kick of the 48th Göteburg Film Festival on January 24, 2025. The film’s screenplay, written by Harald Rosenløw Eeg and Lars Gudmestad, is based on real events from the autobiography ‘Det Finnes Ingen de Andre – Det er Bare Oss” by Lindis Hurum, Secretary General of Doctors Without Borders in Norway. It’s set during the civil war in the Central African Republic in 2013, when on Christmas Eve, a desperate Muslim man seeks refuge at a field hospital, while a threatening Christian militia gathers outside, demanding his life. Norwegian aid worker Linn (Kristine Kujath Thorp) faces a series of moral dilemmas as she strives to protect the man without endangering her colleagues’ safety. Alexander Karim, Bibi Tanga, Mattis Hermann Nyquist, Tracy Gotoas, and Alma Pöysti are also among the cast. Safe — which is from Fantefilm and co-produced with Film i Väst,...

Exclusive: The Veterans has boarded sales for an AFM launch on Bernard Rose’s Shakespeare adaptation Lear Rex, starring Al Pacino as tragic monarch King Lear alongside Jessica Chastain as his villainous, power-hungry, oldest daughter Goneril.

Principal photography is completed on the picture, the all-star cast for which also features Emmy winner Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) as Lear’s second malevolent daughter Regan; Academy-Award Winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) as the king’s beloved youngest daughter Cordelia, who he erroneously banishes; Emmy Winner Peter Dinklage as the Fool, and Lakeith Stanfield (The Book Of Clarence) as the scheming figure of Edmund.

Further cast members include Ted Levine as Kent, Mathew Jacobs as Gloucester, Danny Huston as Albany, Chris Messina as Cornwall, Stephen Dorff as Poor Tom and Rhys Coiro as Oswald.

Rose, who started out making music videos for iconic pop tunes such...

Al Pacino is opening up about going broke a little over ten years ago.

The 84-year-old actor shared in his new memoir, “Sonny Boy,” that he had a corrupt account and lost millions of dollars. That account eventually went to prison for their crimes.

Keep reading to find out more…

In his book, the Oscar winner shared in 2011, he started “to get warnings that my accountant at the time, a guy who had lots of celebrity clients, was not to be trusted.”

After the accountant’s mismanagement of his finances and over spending, Al says he “went broke.”

“In this business, when you make $10 million dollars for a film, it’s not $10 million. Because after the lawyers, and the agents, and the publicist, and the government, it’s not $10 million, it’s four and half in your pocket,” he wrote. “But you’re living above that because you’re high on the hog.

Jessica Chastain is calling out JetBlue.

Earlier this week, the 47-year-old Oscar-winning actress took to X, formerly Twitter, to call out the airline for only giving her a $15 credit after their in-flight entertainment system was down for her six-hour flight.

Keep reading to find out more…In a since-deleted tweets, Jessica wrote, “Thank you @JetBlue for your $15.00 credit. My flight was $1,500 and the credit is 1/100 of the money I paid you. Strange that I paid that for your flight entertainment system that didn’t work for the duration of my 6hr flight, but I guess it was worth it for this $15 credit.”

She also included screenshot of her receipt of the $15 credit for the inconvenience.

JetBlue then responded to Jessica‘s complaints, tweeting, “We’re sorry you’re disappointed, Jessica. Please send us a Dm so we can look into this.”

Jessica responded sharing a screenshot of a conversation she...

Al Pacino nearly died of Covid in 2020, the iconic actor says, recalling his harrowing experience in a recent episode of The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast.

At the height of the pandemic, the Oscar, Emmy and Tony award-winning actor contracted a life-threatening Covid infection. Pacino said that he wasn’t feeling well, “unusually not good.” When the 84-year-old actor broke into a fever, a nurse was called in to cure his dehydration. That’s when the situation became dire.

“I was sitting there in my house, and I was gone. Like that. I didn’t have a pulse,” Pacino told the Times.

In “minutes” an ambulance arrived at his house. Pacino said there were about six paramedics and two doctors in his house dressed in outfits that “looked like they were from outer space or something.” When he opened his eyes, Pacino recalled the medical professionals saying, “He’s back.

Al Pacino revealed on The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast that he lost his pulse during a near-death experience with Covid-19 during the 2020 pandemic. The Oscar winner said the infection led to dehydration and “my pulse was gone. It was so — you’re here, you’re not. I thought: Wow, you don’t even have your memories. You have nothing. Strange porridge.”

“What happened was, I felt not good — unusually not good,” Pacino explained. “Then I had a fever, and I was getting dehydrated and all that. So I got someone to get me a nurse to hydrate me. I was sitting there in my house, and I was gone. Like that. I didn’t have a pulse.”

“In a matter of minutes they were there — the ambulance in front of my house,” he continued. “I had about six paramedics in that living room, and there were two doctors,...

For producer Barry Navidi, Johnny Depp’s directorial comeback “Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness” marks a full-circle moment in an unconventional career.

Navidi’s first time working with Depp nearly 30 years ago on the 1995 project “Divine Rapture” ended in disappointment when the production was shelved. But on Tuesday, the two will celebrate a high with the world premiere of “Modi” at San Sebastian Film Festival.

Set in war-torn Paris in 1916, “Modi” follows 72 turbulent hours in the life of bohemian artist Amedeo Modigliani (Riccardo Scamarcio). Fleeing the police and contemplating leaving the city, Modi is convinced to stay by his fellow artists. After a night of hallucinations, he encounters American collector Maurice Gangnat (Pacino), who could change his life forever.

Born in pre-revolution Iran, Navidi grew up watching Hollywood and Indian films. One that made an impression was “The Godfather,” starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. “Call it fate,...

Peter Dinklage and Stephen Dorff are completely unrecognizable in these new photos from the set of their upcoming movie Lear Rex!

The actors were spotted in costume while filming a scene for the King Lear adaptation alongside co-star Al Pacino on Wednesday (September 18) in Los Angeles.

In Lear Rex, an aging King (Pacino) divides his land between his three daughters to prevent future conflict. But he rejects the young daughter who loves him and places his trust in her malevolent sisters, who strip him of his power and condemn him to a wretched wasteland of horror and insanity.

Peter is playing The Fool while Stephen is playing Poor Tom. The star-studded cast was recently announced, including several Oscar winners.

Browse through the gallery for 50+ photos from the set of Lear Rex…...

Exclusive: Lakeith Stanfield is in final negotiations to star opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson in the thriller Die, My Love, which Lynne Ramsay is directing. Ramsay also co-wrote the script with Enda Walsh.

Set in a remote forgotten rural area, the story follows a mother who struggles to maintain her sanity as she battles with psychosis. It is unknown who Stanfield would play.

Justine Ciarrocchi and Lawrence (through their Excellent Cadaver banner), Martin Scorsese, Andrea Calderwood and Black Label Media producing. Black Label Media is also financing pic.

Stanfield is continuing to deliver a diversified slate as he continue to be one of Hollywood’s busier stars. He was most recently seen in Sony and Legendary’s The Book of Clarence as well as Disney’s The Haunted Mansion. On the TV side, he starred in the Apple TV+ drama The Changeling, which he also exec produced.

In 2021, he...

"Candyman" was first concocted by horror maestro Clive Barker in the form of a short story called "The Forbidden." Released as part of the fifth volume of his "Books of Blood" series, the story was eventually transformed into what would become Bernard Rose's 1992 hit slasher and remains one of the best horror movies ever made. The figure of Candyman, played famously by Tony Todd, has transcended into the realm of iconic — and spawned a franchise featuring three direct sequels throughout the '90s and Nia DaCosta's criminally underrated "Candyman" from 2021. The importance and impact of the original "Candyman" cannot be overstated, and Bernard Rose's keen eye and unique grasp of presenting the horrors of an urban legend come to life has been sparking nightmares for over three decades.

Before Rose stepped into Cabrini-Green with the dulcet tones of Philip Glass' score, he directed films like "Smart Money," "Body Contact,...

An A-list cast is joining Al Pacino for his new film Lear Rex, an adaptation of William Shakespeares "King Lear." According to a report by Deadline, ten noted actors have signed on for the film, with the Godfather actor as King Lear alongside Jessica Chastain, who had previously signed on to the film. Pacino, a longtime fan of The Bard, has assembled an impressive list of Oscar and Emmy winners and nominees for his new interpretation of Lear, which begins filming August 12 in Los Angeles.

Joining the cast is Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose, Emmy winner Rachel Brosnahan, Oscar nominee Lakeith Stanfield, Emmy nominee Peter Dinklage, Chris Messina, Ted Levine, Danny Huston, Matthew Jacobs, Rhys Coiro, and Stephen Dorff. The film will be written and directed by Bernard Rose and produced by Barry Navidi, who has produced five other Pacino films. Rose told Deadline, "It is enormously exciting to get...

Academy Award winners Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain are set to star in a new film adaptation of William Shakespeares King Lear. The project, titled Lear Rex, has just added Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage, as well as Rachel Brosnahan who will play Lois Lane in the upcoming Superman film.

Per Deadline, Pacino is set to play Shakespeares Mad King in the adaptation, while Chastain will portray one of his daughters, Goneril. Dinklage, who rose to fame for his role as Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones, has been cast as The Fool, an ever-important character in The Bards works. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisels Brosnahan, who has also been cast to star in James Gunns Superman film as David Corenswets Lois Lane, is set to play Regan, another of Lears daughters.

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Back in February, news broke that Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain would star in “Lear Rex,” based on the Bard’s “King Lear.” That’s exciting enough, but details on the upcoming film’s supporting cast and this ensemble is a doozy. And given the plethora of big names here, it’s safe to expect Bernard Rose‘s film to be one of 2025 or 2026’s most anticipated films.

Continue reading ‘Lear Rex’: Rachel Brosnahan, Lakeith Stanfield, Ariana DeBose & More Join Al Pacino & Jessica Chastain In Upcoming Shakespeare Adaptation at The Playlist.

Exclusive: Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Emmy Award winner Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Academy Award nominee Lakeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah), Emmy Award winner Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Chris Messina (Argo), Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs), Danny Huston (The Constant Gardener), Matthew Jacobs (Bar America), Rhys Coiro (Entourage) and Stephen Dorff (Blade) have joined Academy Award winners Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain in Bernard Rose’s Lear Rex, a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear.

Barry Navidi is the producer, marking his fifth collaboration with Pacino following The Merchant of Venice, Wilde Salomé, Salomé as well as this year’s Modi directed by Johnny Depp. Sharon Howard-Field, the film’s Casting Director, shares a long working history with Navidi. Navidi’s finance partners are Mattias Westman of Westman Films, Eco Entertainment, Dali Films and World Vision. CAA Media Finance...