“Emilia Pérez,” the Spanish-language musical drama starring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón which scored enthusiastic reviews after its Cannes premiere, is nearing a deal for U.S. and U.K. rights with Netflix.
Sources said the deal, which could also include additional territories, is for approximately $12 million, and there’s still the possibility that the ongoing negotiations could fall apart.
Saldaña stars as Rita, an undervalued lawyer whose firm is more inclined to help criminals than seek justice. She finds an unexpected way out when a feared drug cartel leader Manitas (Gascón) recruits her to aid him in surreptitiously completing a sex change operation to become the woman he’s always wanted to be. Gomez plays his unsuspecting wife. In an exclusive interview with Variety, Audiard described the movie as an “opera libretto in four acts,” as the actors break out into original songs to advance the plot.
Sources said the deal, which could also include additional territories, is for approximately $12 million, and there’s still the possibility that the ongoing negotiations could fall apart.
Saldaña stars as Rita, an undervalued lawyer whose firm is more inclined to help criminals than seek justice. She finds an unexpected way out when a feared drug cartel leader Manitas (Gascón) recruits her to aid him in surreptitiously completing a sex change operation to become the woman he’s always wanted to be. Gomez plays his unsuspecting wife. In an exclusive interview with Variety, Audiard described the movie as an “opera libretto in four acts,” as the actors break out into original songs to advance the plot.
- 5/23/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Pathé has unveiled a trailer for “Monsieur Aznavour,” showing the Golden-Globe nominated actor Tahar Rahim transformed as Charles Aznavour, the French-Armenian singer, songwriter and actor who sold more than 180 million records around the world.
The movie charts Aznavour’s rise to stardom in the 1950s and his friendships with many artists, including Edith Piaf, who took him with her on a tour of France and the U.S.
“Monsieur Aznavour” will be released by Pathé on Oct. 23. It’s directed by singer-turned-filmmakers Mehdi Idir and Grand Corps Malade (“Patients”), and produced by Jean-Rachid Kallouche’s Kallouche Cinema and Mandarin & Compagnie, the banner behind Francois Ozon’s and Anne Fontaine’s films.
Kallouche, who teamed with Eric and Nicolas Altmayer at Mandarin on Grand Corps Malade and Idir’s previous films, is married to Katia Aznavour, the daughter of the late artist.
Rahim spoke to Variety briefly about his role...
The movie charts Aznavour’s rise to stardom in the 1950s and his friendships with many artists, including Edith Piaf, who took him with her on a tour of France and the U.S.
“Monsieur Aznavour” will be released by Pathé on Oct. 23. It’s directed by singer-turned-filmmakers Mehdi Idir and Grand Corps Malade (“Patients”), and produced by Jean-Rachid Kallouche’s Kallouche Cinema and Mandarin & Compagnie, the banner behind Francois Ozon’s and Anne Fontaine’s films.
Kallouche, who teamed with Eric and Nicolas Altmayer at Mandarin on Grand Corps Malade and Idir’s previous films, is married to Katia Aznavour, the daughter of the late artist.
Rahim spoke to Variety briefly about his role...
- 5/22/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival continued to dazzle with star-studded appearances, including a notable photocall for the highly anticipated film Emilia Perez on Sunday. Among the attendees were Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana and French director Jacques Audiard.
Gomez, known for her roles in Only Murders in the Building and her successful music career, stunned in an elegant ensemble, radiating Hollywood glamour. Saldana, known for performing in the Guardians of the Galaxy series and Avatar, exuded confidence and style, complementing Gomez’s chic look. Audiard, the celebrated French director known for his work on Dheepan and A Prophet, brought a touch of sophistication to the event.
Audiard’s latest film, Emilia Perez, has been one of the most anticipated titles at this year’s festival. The movie blends drama and dark comedy and explores complex themes of identity and transformation, showcasing the director’s signature storytelling skills. Gomez and Saldana play pivotal roles,...
Gomez, known for her roles in Only Murders in the Building and her successful music career, stunned in an elegant ensemble, radiating Hollywood glamour. Saldana, known for performing in the Guardians of the Galaxy series and Avatar, exuded confidence and style, complementing Gomez’s chic look. Audiard, the celebrated French director known for his work on Dheepan and A Prophet, brought a touch of sophistication to the event.
Audiard’s latest film, Emilia Perez, has been one of the most anticipated titles at this year’s festival. The movie blends drama and dark comedy and explores complex themes of identity and transformation, showcasing the director’s signature storytelling skills. Gomez and Saldana play pivotal roles,...
- 5/21/2024
- by Lauren Ramsey
- Uinterview
There’s a lot to look forward to in what has been branded a Mexican comedy-thriller musical from the Palme d’Or winner that brought us Dheepan, A Prophet, Rust and Bone, and, more recently, the underseen Western delight that marked his move toward Hollywood, The Sisters Brothers. Or so it seemed.
Writer-director Jacques Audiard is one of the few filmmakers who has been able to, more than once, tell stories from outside their world and capture narrative, character, and culture with a unique foreign perspective that adds meaningful insight without bringing into question the filmmakers’ respect or depiction of the subjects.
Thus it appeared that this cartel-centric, Mexico-set, largely Latina film––about an unsuspecting lawyer being forced to help a violent cartel boss transition into a woman in order to leave her past behind and finally feel like herself––is actually right up the septuagenarian Frenchman’s alley. Unfortunately,...
Writer-director Jacques Audiard is one of the few filmmakers who has been able to, more than once, tell stories from outside their world and capture narrative, character, and culture with a unique foreign perspective that adds meaningful insight without bringing into question the filmmakers’ respect or depiction of the subjects.
Thus it appeared that this cartel-centric, Mexico-set, largely Latina film––about an unsuspecting lawyer being forced to help a violent cartel boss transition into a woman in order to leave her past behind and finally feel like herself––is actually right up the septuagenarian Frenchman’s alley. Unfortunately,...
- 5/20/2024
- by Luke Hicks
- The Film Stage
Imagine a world in which Stephen Sondheim made Sicario. Yes, that Stephen Sondheim; yes, that 2015 thriller about the world of Mexican drug cartels. Got that? Good. Now add in Selena Gomez as the wife of a narco who, in a moment of deep grief and remembrance, utters the line, “My pussy still hurts when I think of you” — which, to be fair, sounds a lot more poetic in Spanish. She believes her husband, a major drug lord for the Los Globales cartel, had been murdered. This is not true. Rather,...
- 5/19/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
The Cannes Film Festival keeps on chugging, with more acquisitions, more premieres and an honorary Palme d’Or awarded to a studio for the first time.
The Glorious Return of Jacques Audiard
French filmmaker Jacques Audiard is a consistent staple at Cannes. His film “A Prophet” won the Grand Prix in 2010, 2012’s “Rust and Bone” competed for the Palme d’Or and 2015’s “Deephan” won the Palme d’Or. The last time Audiard was at Cannes in 2021, his smaller “Paris, 13th District” competed for the Palme d’Or.
Now he’s back with “Emilia Pérez,” a musical crime comedy about an escaped Mexican cartel leader undergoing gender-affirming surgery that stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Édgar Ramírez. And judging by the response to the film, it sounds like he has a good shot at Cannes’ top prize once again.
The film “landed the loudest, most enthusiastic standing ovation,...
The Glorious Return of Jacques Audiard
French filmmaker Jacques Audiard is a consistent staple at Cannes. His film “A Prophet” won the Grand Prix in 2010, 2012’s “Rust and Bone” competed for the Palme d’Or and 2015’s “Deephan” won the Palme d’Or. The last time Audiard was at Cannes in 2021, his smaller “Paris, 13th District” competed for the Palme d’Or.
Now he’s back with “Emilia Pérez,” a musical crime comedy about an escaped Mexican cartel leader undergoing gender-affirming surgery that stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Édgar Ramírez. And judging by the response to the film, it sounds like he has a good shot at Cannes’ top prize once again.
The film “landed the loudest, most enthusiastic standing ovation,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
His has a longstanding tradition with the Cannes Film Festival this former Palme d’Or winner for Dheepan (2015) moved into a completely different language, backdrop setting and new genre with the musical for a project that was born during the pandemic. Jacques Audiard has been a visitor with Regarde Les Hommes Tomber in the Critics’ Week, 1996’s Un héros très discret (Best Screenplay winner), 2009’s A Prophet (Grand Prix winner), 2012’s Rust & Bone and 2021’s Paris, 13th District. Starring Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, Édgar Ramírez, Adriana Paz and Karla Sofía Gascón as the titular Emilia Pérez.
Gist: Overqualified and undervalued, Rita (Saldana) is a lawyer at a large firm that is more interested in getting criminals off the hook than bringing them to justice.…...
Gist: Overqualified and undervalued, Rita (Saldana) is a lawyer at a large firm that is more interested in getting criminals off the hook than bringing them to justice.…...
- 5/19/2024
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
One of the best things about being at film festivals is that most of the time you never know what is going to happen in the film you're about to watch. At Cannes, it's usually the first time the film is ever being shown to an audience. Walking into these films without any expectations or any idea what we're all in for can result in some of the most wildly exhilarating experiences when you encounter a truly ambitious, unexpected, one-of-a-kind creation. That's the case with Emilia Perez from French filmmaker Jacques Audiard. I shouldn't be surprised, however, considering my love for Audiard's films goes back all the way to my very first visit to Cannes in 2009 - Un Prophet (A Prophet) is still one of my all-time favorite Cannes films. 15 years later and Audiard has totally blown me away again with Emilia Perez, a full-on Broadway-esque musical about Mexican society...
- 5/19/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Jia Zhangke’s Caught By The Tides is the new leader on Screen International’s Cannes jury grid with an average score of 2.6.
The Chinese romance epic received one four (excellent) from Justin Chang (LA Times) followed by seven threes (good). On the other end, The Telegraph and Katja Nicodemus of Germany’s Die Zeit gave it just one star.
This is Jia’s sixth time in Competition with highlights including 2015’s Mountains May Depart which scored 2.8 and 2013’s A Touch Of Sin on 3.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Caught By The Tides chronicles...
The Chinese romance epic received one four (excellent) from Justin Chang (LA Times) followed by seven threes (good). On the other end, The Telegraph and Katja Nicodemus of Germany’s Die Zeit gave it just one star.
This is Jia’s sixth time in Competition with highlights including 2015’s Mountains May Depart which scored 2.8 and 2013’s A Touch Of Sin on 3.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Caught By The Tides chronicles...
- 5/19/2024
- ScreenDaily
You know a movie has left a big impression at Cannes when the applause explodes in the press room as the cast files in. Such was the case Sunday morning for Emila Pérez.
Jacques Audiard’s latest movie follows Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an overqualified and undervalued lawyer who goes from repping guilty criminals to a cartel leader Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón) who hires her to help him withdraw from his business and realize a plan he has been secretly preparing for years: to become the woman he has always dreamt of being.
Gascón, who is trans, today spoke about the prejudice she has faced in the Latin America and Hispanic communities.
“People who are trans are subjected to insults or death threats because they exist. In Mexico, there are harsh phrases when addressing trans people. It can be gross,” the actress explained.
“I think we should be taken for what we are.
Jacques Audiard’s latest movie follows Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an overqualified and undervalued lawyer who goes from repping guilty criminals to a cartel leader Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón) who hires her to help him withdraw from his business and realize a plan he has been secretly preparing for years: to become the woman he has always dreamt of being.
Gascón, who is trans, today spoke about the prejudice she has faced in the Latin America and Hispanic communities.
“People who are trans are subjected to insults or death threats because they exist. In Mexico, there are harsh phrases when addressing trans people. It can be gross,” the actress explained.
“I think we should be taken for what we are.
- 5/19/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
“Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish-language musical drama starring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón, has earned the biggest standing ovation of this year’s Cannes Film Festival so far.
Gomez wiped away tears as the Palais clapped for a full nine minutes, accompanied by plenty of hooting, whistling and cheering. During the standing ovation, director Jacques Audiard waved his hat at the balcony as stars Saldaña and Édgar Ramírez shared an emotional hug. There was huge applause for Gascón, who stars in the film as a drug cartel leader who seeks gender-affirming surgery.
In the film, from Palme d’Or winner Audiard, Saldaña stars as Rita, an “overqualified and undervalued” lawyer, whose firm is more inclined to help criminals than seek justice. She finds an unexpected way out when a feared drug cartel leader Manitas (Gascón) recruits her to aid him in surreptitiously completing a sex change operation to...
Gomez wiped away tears as the Palais clapped for a full nine minutes, accompanied by plenty of hooting, whistling and cheering. During the standing ovation, director Jacques Audiard waved his hat at the balcony as stars Saldaña and Édgar Ramírez shared an emotional hug. There was huge applause for Gascón, who stars in the film as a drug cartel leader who seeks gender-affirming surgery.
In the film, from Palme d’Or winner Audiard, Saldaña stars as Rita, an “overqualified and undervalued” lawyer, whose firm is more inclined to help criminals than seek justice. She finds an unexpected way out when a feared drug cartel leader Manitas (Gascón) recruits her to aid him in surreptitiously completing a sex change operation to...
- 5/18/2024
- by Ramin Setoodeh and Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
Jacques Audiard returned to Cannes on Saturday night to introduce the world to Emilia Perez, which received a rapturous response from the audience, who gave it a nine-minute standing ovation. After Audiard took the mic to speak in French, the standing ovation resumed for another minute or so.
The 10th film from the French auteur — his sixth film in the main competition — stars Zoe Saldaña as a frustrated lawyer, Selena Gomez as a drug lord’s wife, Édgar Ramírez as a dangerous love interest and Karla Sofía Gascón as the cartel kingpin who longs to escape a life of crime and become the woman he’s always dreamed of becoming. And surprise — it’s a musical.
As the credits roled, there were whoops and hollers and shouts of “Bravo,” even before the lights came up. Saldaña and Gascón were in tears, while Gomez was visibly moved, covering her face.
Reviews...
The 10th film from the French auteur — his sixth film in the main competition — stars Zoe Saldaña as a frustrated lawyer, Selena Gomez as a drug lord’s wife, Édgar Ramírez as a dangerous love interest and Karla Sofía Gascón as the cartel kingpin who longs to escape a life of crime and become the woman he’s always dreamed of becoming. And surprise — it’s a musical.
As the credits roled, there were whoops and hollers and shouts of “Bravo,” even before the lights came up. Saldaña and Gascón were in tears, while Gomez was visibly moved, covering her face.
Reviews...
- 5/18/2024
- by Chris Gardner and Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Going into this year’s Cannes Film Festival, expectations soared around a certain go-for-broke, no-guts-no-glory, swing from a Palme d’Or winning auteur, and on Saturday — two days after Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” fizzled — festivalgoers got all they wanted and more in Jacques Audiard’s gonzo telenovela musical “Emilia Perez.” Turns out we had been looking at the wrong Palme d’Or winner all along.
If for nothing else, the French director’s previous Grand Prize and Palme d’Or wins for tough-guy films “A Prophet” and “Dheepan” feel especially pertinent given the startling (and delightful) swerve he offers with “Emilia Perez,” an Almodóvar-aping melodrama about a cartel kingpin’s transition to the more benevolent woman she was always hiding from the world.
That the Spanish-language film is also a full-blown musical, chock-full of deliriously choreographed numbers and ear-catching ditties about vaginoplasties and tracheal shaves would also reflect Audiard’s high perch.
If for nothing else, the French director’s previous Grand Prize and Palme d’Or wins for tough-guy films “A Prophet” and “Dheepan” feel especially pertinent given the startling (and delightful) swerve he offers with “Emilia Perez,” an Almodóvar-aping melodrama about a cartel kingpin’s transition to the more benevolent woman she was always hiding from the world.
That the Spanish-language film is also a full-blown musical, chock-full of deliriously choreographed numbers and ear-catching ditties about vaginoplasties and tracheal shaves would also reflect Audiard’s high perch.
- 5/18/2024
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a movie musical where the words “mammoplasty, vaginoplasty, rhinoplasty” play out in song. Nor have you lived until you’ve seen that same movie musical in which Selena Gomez says the words “My pussy still hurts when I think of you.” And you’ve never seen a movie musical at all about transness that takes as bold of swings as Jacques Audiard‘s “Emilia Pérez,” which is stylistically unforgettable while missing the crucial element that makes any movie musical work: Actually good, memorable songs.
Audiard is the 72-year-old French director known ever for dipping into other worlds and genres that are far from his own as a cis white guy from Europe. His 2015 Palme d’Or winner “Dheepan” was a story of Tamil refugees who’ve fled Sri Lankan civil war for Paris. “The Sisters Brothers” was his attempt at a western...
Audiard is the 72-year-old French director known ever for dipping into other worlds and genres that are far from his own as a cis white guy from Europe. His 2015 Palme d’Or winner “Dheepan” was a story of Tamil refugees who’ve fled Sri Lankan civil war for Paris. “The Sisters Brothers” was his attempt at a western...
- 5/18/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Spoiler Alert: The following review contains some spoilers.
Like a rose blooming amid a minefield, it’s a miracle that Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” exists: a south-of-the-border pop opera about a most unlikely metamorphosis and the personal redemption it awakens in a stone-cold criminal.
With a Palme d’Or to his name and the cojones to tackle his third movie in a culture and language that are not his own (after “Dheepan” and “The Sisters Brothers”), the director of “A Prophet” takes audiences into the macho realm of Mexican cartels, where Manitas del Monte — a fearsome drug lord with a silver grill and a voice like gravel — wants out, not because he’s had a crisis of conscience, but because he’s decided to embrace his true self … as a woman.
Pardon me if I’ve mixed up the pronouns there. Audiard’s dazzling and instantly divisive film — which...
Like a rose blooming amid a minefield, it’s a miracle that Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” exists: a south-of-the-border pop opera about a most unlikely metamorphosis and the personal redemption it awakens in a stone-cold criminal.
With a Palme d’Or to his name and the cojones to tackle his third movie in a culture and language that are not his own (after “Dheepan” and “The Sisters Brothers”), the director of “A Prophet” takes audiences into the macho realm of Mexican cartels, where Manitas del Monte — a fearsome drug lord with a silver grill and a voice like gravel — wants out, not because he’s had a crisis of conscience, but because he’s decided to embrace his true self … as a woman.
Pardon me if I’ve mixed up the pronouns there. Audiard’s dazzling and instantly divisive film — which...
- 5/18/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Neon, the Oscar-winning distributor of “Parasite,” is getting back in business with “Titane” director Julia Ducournau.
In one of the first big rights deals of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the studio announced it has acquired North American territories for Ducournau’s “Alpha.” Plot details were not immediately disclosed, except that the film will be “genre-defying.” Neon previously released Ducournau’s acclaimed “Titane,” which won Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, in 2021. She is only the second woman director to do so, following Jane Campion for “The Piano.”
“Alpha” will star Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim.
Producers are Jean des Forêts and Amelie Jacquis of Petit Film, and Eric and Nicolas Altmayer of Mandarin & Compagnie. Frakas Productions is co-producing. Charades and FilmNation Entertainment are handling global sales. The Neon deal was negotiated by its president of acquisitions and production Jeff Deutchman, with Charades’ Carole Baraton and FilmNation...
In one of the first big rights deals of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the studio announced it has acquired North American territories for Ducournau’s “Alpha.” Plot details were not immediately disclosed, except that the film will be “genre-defying.” Neon previously released Ducournau’s acclaimed “Titane,” which won Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, in 2021. She is only the second woman director to do so, following Jane Campion for “The Piano.”
“Alpha” will star Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim.
Producers are Jean des Forêts and Amelie Jacquis of Petit Film, and Eric and Nicolas Altmayer of Mandarin & Compagnie. Frakas Productions is co-producing. Charades and FilmNation Entertainment are handling global sales. The Neon deal was negotiated by its president of acquisitions and production Jeff Deutchman, with Charades’ Carole Baraton and FilmNation...
- 5/14/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Are we headed for a bon marché?
A new class of finished films and packages (unmade movies with big stars and a director attached) will travel to Cannes this week in search of cash and homes with the studios, streamers and global indie players.
The 2024 Cannes market comes equipped with some interesting contradictions. Stateside, the content buying machine is fraught. Major media stock prices are getting hammered day by day, and a new age of austerity has gripped the once free-spending tech giants. At the same time, distributors paralyzed by the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes need content to fill their slates for the end the year and the top of 2025.
“We’d agree that finished film volume isn’t as high due to the strikes, but Cannes is a much better setting for packages to begin with,” one top sales agent told Variety. “These movies can get financed out of the international marketplace,...
A new class of finished films and packages (unmade movies with big stars and a director attached) will travel to Cannes this week in search of cash and homes with the studios, streamers and global indie players.
The 2024 Cannes market comes equipped with some interesting contradictions. Stateside, the content buying machine is fraught. Major media stock prices are getting hammered day by day, and a new age of austerity has gripped the once free-spending tech giants. At the same time, distributors paralyzed by the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes need content to fill their slates for the end the year and the top of 2025.
“We’d agree that finished film volume isn’t as high due to the strikes, but Cannes is a much better setting for packages to begin with,” one top sales agent told Variety. “These movies can get financed out of the international marketplace,...
- 5/14/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Gaumont has unveiled a first look at Leila Bekti in Ken Scott’s family comedy Once Upon My Mother.
Set in 1960s Paris and based on a true story, Bekhti stars as a mother of six who refuses to accept a medical diagnosis that her son will never walk and instead defies insurmountable odds to guide him to the life he imagines for him through optimism and faith.
Bekhti’s previous roles include All That Glitters and A Prophet.
The lowdown on all the Cannes 2024 titles...
Set in 1960s Paris and based on a true story, Bekhti stars as a mother of six who refuses to accept a medical diagnosis that her son will never walk and instead defies insurmountable odds to guide him to the life he imagines for him through optimism and faith.
Bekhti’s previous roles include All That Glitters and A Prophet.
The lowdown on all the Cannes 2024 titles...
- 5/14/2024
- ScreenDaily
FilmNation and Charades are teaming up to present “Alpha,” the new film from Julia Ducournau, to buyers at Cannes.
It’s the same place where Ducournau caused a sensation with 2021’s “Titane,” her subversive and divisive body horror film, which won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top award. Ducournau became the second female director to win the award, following Jane Campion (“The Piano”). “Anatomy of a Fall” director Justine Triet would become the third female winner in 2023. Ducournau’s other films include 2016’s “Raw,” a coming-of-age film about a young vegetarian who develops a taste for cannibalism.
“Alpha’s” cast includes Golshifteh Farahani, who appeared in “The Patience Stone” and “Paterson,” as well as César award-winning Tahar Rahim, best known for his work in “The Mauritanian,” “A Prophet” and “The Serpent.”
“‘Alpha’ is Julia’s most personal, profound work yet, and we are looking forward to a global...
It’s the same place where Ducournau caused a sensation with 2021’s “Titane,” her subversive and divisive body horror film, which won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top award. Ducournau became the second female director to win the award, following Jane Campion (“The Piano”). “Anatomy of a Fall” director Justine Triet would become the third female winner in 2023. Ducournau’s other films include 2016’s “Raw,” a coming-of-age film about a young vegetarian who develops a taste for cannibalism.
“Alpha’s” cast includes Golshifteh Farahani, who appeared in “The Patience Stone” and “Paterson,” as well as César award-winning Tahar Rahim, best known for his work in “The Mauritanian,” “A Prophet” and “The Serpent.”
“‘Alpha’ is Julia’s most personal, profound work yet, and we are looking forward to a global...
- 5/3/2024
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The lineup for the 77th Cannes Film Festival has officially been unveiled. As of right now, 19 films will be competing for the prestigious top prize, the Palme d’Or. The festival will be running from May 14 through the closing ceremony on May 25 in the small town on the French Riviera. This year’s jury will be led by Greta Gerwig, fresh off of her success writing and directing “Barbie,” which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The remaining members of the jury have yet to be announced.
Having an idea of a filmmaker’s history at the festival can sometimes help give us an insight as to who could be in the best position to take home the Palme. For example, two of this year’s entries come from filmmakers who have previously claimed the Palme. Another five are from directors who have won prizes in official...
Having an idea of a filmmaker’s history at the festival can sometimes help give us an insight as to who could be in the best position to take home the Palme. For example, two of this year’s entries come from filmmakers who have previously claimed the Palme. Another five are from directors who have won prizes in official...
- 4/18/2024
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
India’s B62 Studios has an early 2024 hit with February release “Article 370,” and also has an ambitious slate lined up with plans for expanding into eastern Asia.
B62 was launched by the brothers Dhar — Lokesh and Aditya — and is named after their address in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar neighborhood, where they grew up watching the best of Bollywood alongside arthouse cinema. Lokesh Dhar went on to a flourishing career in film marketing, distribution and syndication before turning to producing, while Aditya Dhar directed military action film “Uri: The Surgical Strike,” one of the biggest Indian box office hits of 2019.
B62 has already completed its next 2024 release, “Baramulla,” directed by “Article 370” helmer Aditya Suhas Jambhale and, like that film, also set in Kashmir. “People do spy universe, people do superhero universe, we are doing Kashmir universe,” laughed Aditya Dhar. “Baramulla” is a supernatural thriller Aditya Dhar wrote in 2015-...
B62 was launched by the brothers Dhar — Lokesh and Aditya — and is named after their address in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar neighborhood, where they grew up watching the best of Bollywood alongside arthouse cinema. Lokesh Dhar went on to a flourishing career in film marketing, distribution and syndication before turning to producing, while Aditya Dhar directed military action film “Uri: The Surgical Strike,” one of the biggest Indian box office hits of 2019.
B62 has already completed its next 2024 release, “Baramulla,” directed by “Article 370” helmer Aditya Suhas Jambhale and, like that film, also set in Kashmir. “People do spy universe, people do superhero universe, we are doing Kashmir universe,” laughed Aditya Dhar. “Baramulla” is a supernatural thriller Aditya Dhar wrote in 2015-...
- 3/11/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Plot: Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson) is a New York Emt who acquires clairvoyance after a brush with death. She uses her powers to stop a spider-powered villain (Tahar Rahim) hunting three girls who, he believes, will eventually end his life.
Review: Let’s get one thing out of the way first. Not every Marvel movie by Sony has been bad. For my money, they’re behind the two greatest Spider-Man movies ever made, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse. And there’s the Venom movies. Those are elevated B-movies, but they’re a decent amount of fun thanks to Tom Hardy’s merciless scenery chewing, and the grosses for those flicks have been astronomical. Clearly, someone likes them. But Morbius…
Of course, one of the reasons people aren’t hyped about Madame Web is that the character isn’t exactly a household name. For those who aren’t in the loop,...
Review: Let’s get one thing out of the way first. Not every Marvel movie by Sony has been bad. For my money, they’re behind the two greatest Spider-Man movies ever made, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse. And there’s the Venom movies. Those are elevated B-movies, but they’re a decent amount of fun thanks to Tom Hardy’s merciless scenery chewing, and the grosses for those flicks have been astronomical. Clearly, someone likes them. But Morbius…
Of course, one of the reasons people aren’t hyped about Madame Web is that the character isn’t exactly a household name. For those who aren’t in the loop,...
- 2/13/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Trailers are designed to stir up excitement, the amuse-bouche that whets your appetite for the three-course meal. Occasionally, the oldest marketing trick in the book backfires. When Sony dropped a sneak peek at Madame Web, the newest addition to the company’s roster of Spider-Man–related films and another of their corporate crossovers with the good folks at Marvel Studios, the reaction was … not exactly what they hoped for. The same fans they were hoping to get riled up about a batch of fresh Spidey-adjacent characters began to mock the clip,...
- 2/13/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
French director Thomas Bidegain is setting the record straight about Jake Gyllenhaal and Vanessa Kirby’s exit from his project “Suddenly.”
An interview with Bidegain that ran last week in the French magazine Technikart got international attention, with the headline “Four Days to Bury a Movie.” The interview suggested that Gyllenhaal and Kirby had left the film in the last stretch of pre-production in Iceland, which resulted in a loss of $26 million.
According to the story, Gyllenhaal dove into the freezing ocean, demanded multiple rewrites and rehearsed scenes in a mocking “Pepe Le Pew-like accent.” Though Bidegain wouldn’t address those specific claims, he tells Variety that he parted ways with Gyllenhaal and Kirby over a creative clash, rather than unprofessional behavior on Gyllenhaal’s part. He also claims that, contrary to what is suggested in the French article, the company which financed “Suddenly,” Studiocanal, didn’t lose $26 million because...
An interview with Bidegain that ran last week in the French magazine Technikart got international attention, with the headline “Four Days to Bury a Movie.” The interview suggested that Gyllenhaal and Kirby had left the film in the last stretch of pre-production in Iceland, which resulted in a loss of $26 million.
According to the story, Gyllenhaal dove into the freezing ocean, demanded multiple rewrites and rehearsed scenes in a mocking “Pepe Le Pew-like accent.” Though Bidegain wouldn’t address those specific claims, he tells Variety that he parted ways with Gyllenhaal and Kirby over a creative clash, rather than unprofessional behavior on Gyllenhaal’s part. He also claims that, contrary to what is suggested in the French article, the company which financed “Suddenly,” Studiocanal, didn’t lose $26 million because...
- 2/2/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
An in-depth report paints a portrait of star power run amok on the set of Suddenly – a Jake Gyllenhaal drama that fell apart days before filming.
Whether it’s Val Kilmer’s antics on the set of The Island Of Doctor Moreau or Sly Stallone demanding last-minute changes during the filming of Rambo 3, cinema history is littered with stories of star power gone wild. According to a report in France’s Technikart magazine (and spotted by World of Reel) we can add the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring survival drama Suddenly to the list.
The film – essentially a two-hander about a pair of lovers trapped on an inhospitably cold island – was originally due to begin filming in the autumn of 2021. It was to be directed by Thomas Bidegain, with the script co-written by newcomer Valentine Monteil. For Bidegain, known for writing such films as A Prophet and Rust And Bone, it would...
Whether it’s Val Kilmer’s antics on the set of The Island Of Doctor Moreau or Sly Stallone demanding last-minute changes during the filming of Rambo 3, cinema history is littered with stories of star power gone wild. According to a report in France’s Technikart magazine (and spotted by World of Reel) we can add the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring survival drama Suddenly to the list.
The film – essentially a two-hander about a pair of lovers trapped on an inhospitably cold island – was originally due to begin filming in the autumn of 2021. It was to be directed by Thomas Bidegain, with the script co-written by newcomer Valentine Monteil. For Bidegain, known for writing such films as A Prophet and Rust And Bone, it would...
- 1/31/2024
- by Ryan Lambie
- Film Stories
Madame Web Starcast Salary: Dakota Johnson Earns 669% Higher Than Sydney Sweeney (Picture Credit: IMDb)
American superhero film Madame Web is all set to premiere in February 2024. Starring Dakota Johnson in the lead, the film, helmed by Sj Clarkson, is based on a Marvel comic of the same name. The film is the fourth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, which also includes characters like Venom, and a film on Kraven is already being made.
The Fifty Shades actress was the first one to come on board to play Cassandra Webb, a woman with psychic abilities who can look into the future events of Spider-World, along with three superwomen with powerful futures.
After Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney joined the cast of this superhero film. And these stars are being paid a fortune for the film. In fact, while the Euphoria star is paid much less than the Fifty Shades star, Dakota...
American superhero film Madame Web is all set to premiere in February 2024. Starring Dakota Johnson in the lead, the film, helmed by Sj Clarkson, is based on a Marvel comic of the same name. The film is the fourth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, which also includes characters like Venom, and a film on Kraven is already being made.
The Fifty Shades actress was the first one to come on board to play Cassandra Webb, a woman with psychic abilities who can look into the future events of Spider-World, along with three superwomen with powerful futures.
After Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney joined the cast of this superhero film. And these stars are being paid a fortune for the film. In fact, while the Euphoria star is paid much less than the Fifty Shades star, Dakota...
- 1/30/2024
- by Trisha Gaur
- KoiMoi
For an action movie called “Mayhem!” and produced by the French outfit known as WTFilms, “Cold Skin” director Xavier Gens’ latest genre exercise starts off as a rather subdued affair that doesn’t seem all that eager to earn its title. An enjoyably hackneyed and machete-happy tale about an ex-con’s tragic first stab at a second chance, Gens’ Thailand-set foray into Gareth Evans territory is more than 40 minutes old before it borders on anything worthy of an exclamation point, and even by the time it’s over this slow-bruising riff on “The Raid” barely rises to the level of a low-key hullabaloo despite its promise of absolute pandemonium.
That isn’t necessarily a knockout blow against it. Inspired by his collaboration with Evans on “Gangs of London,” but aware that he lacks his colleague’s bone-crunching touch, Gens does his best to make the movie’s simple revenge porn...
That isn’t necessarily a knockout blow against it. Inspired by his collaboration with Evans on “Gangs of London,” but aware that he lacks his colleague’s bone-crunching touch, Gens does his best to make the movie’s simple revenge porn...
- 1/4/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
By now, everyone knows that Ezekiel Sims "was in the Amazon with Cassie's (Dakota Johnson) mom when she was researching spiders right before she died," but is that all we really need to know about the man who seems to be a major "Madame Web" villain? The power of an instantly popular meme goes a long way, so even once Sony's new Spider-Man spinoff hits theaters and reveals more about Sims, I'm pretty sure some of us will still remember him as the guy who Witawmmwswrsrbsd (for short).
Outside of his mysterious Amazon-set origin story, though, who is Ezekiel Sims? Is he a villain, as he seems to be when he appears repeatedly in Cassies' life, seemingly terrorizing teens at a diner and showing up barefoot on a subway train (the real crime) to throw random passengers around? Or is there something else going on here? "Madame Web" seems...
Outside of his mysterious Amazon-set origin story, though, who is Ezekiel Sims? Is he a villain, as he seems to be when he appears repeatedly in Cassies' life, seemingly terrorizing teens at a diner and showing up barefoot on a subway train (the real crime) to throw random passengers around? Or is there something else going on here? "Madame Web" seems...
- 11/19/2023
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
The pioneering French-Iranian producer and sales agent leaves behind a long-lasting legacy
Pioneering producer and celebrated Celluloid Dreams founder Hengameh Panahi died on November 5 following a long illness, sending shockwaves of sadness throughout the international film community and leaving a long-lasting legacy of both championing auteur cinema and shaking up the status quo in her wake.
The revered French-Iranian industry executive was known for finding and following emerging directors and accompanying their films to festival glory and international acclaim. Her career spanned four decades and more than 800 films.
She worked alongside iconic directors from across the globe including Jacques Audiard,...
Pioneering producer and celebrated Celluloid Dreams founder Hengameh Panahi died on November 5 following a long illness, sending shockwaves of sadness throughout the international film community and leaving a long-lasting legacy of both championing auteur cinema and shaking up the status quo in her wake.
The revered French-Iranian industry executive was known for finding and following emerging directors and accompanying their films to festival glory and international acclaim. Her career spanned four decades and more than 800 films.
She worked alongside iconic directors from across the globe including Jacques Audiard,...
- 11/10/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
News of the death of Celluloid Dreams CEO Hengameh Panahi has sparked an outpouring of admiration and tributes from the independent film community.
Panahi, a pivotal figure in the global art house scene, died Nov. 5, aged 67. In her decades in the business — as a producer, co-financier and sales agent — Panahi introduced the world to international auteurs from Iran (Jafar Panahi, Marjane Satrapi), Europe (Jacques Audiard, François Ozon, Gaspar Noé, Marco Bellocchio, Aleksandr Sokurov, the Dardenne brothers) and across Asia (Takeshi Kitano, Naomi Kawase, Jia Zanghke, Hirokazu Kore-eda).
“She took films that were challenging, that were difficult to make, to sell, to promote, and she fought for them,” says Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor) who knew and worked with Panahi for more than 30 years. “She was a unique part of the film ecosystem. She was really inspirational, with the films that she enabled to be made, and seen.”
Celluloid Dreams,...
Panahi, a pivotal figure in the global art house scene, died Nov. 5, aged 67. In her decades in the business — as a producer, co-financier and sales agent — Panahi introduced the world to international auteurs from Iran (Jafar Panahi, Marjane Satrapi), Europe (Jacques Audiard, François Ozon, Gaspar Noé, Marco Bellocchio, Aleksandr Sokurov, the Dardenne brothers) and across Asia (Takeshi Kitano, Naomi Kawase, Jia Zanghke, Hirokazu Kore-eda).
“She took films that were challenging, that were difficult to make, to sell, to promote, and she fought for them,” says Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor) who knew and worked with Panahi for more than 30 years. “She was a unique part of the film ecosystem. She was really inspirational, with the films that she enabled to be made, and seen.”
Celluloid Dreams,...
- 11/10/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hengameh Panahi, the celebrated French-Iranian producer who founded Celluloid Dreams and forged long-standing bonds with auteurs around the world, has died. She was 67.
Panahi, who worked with the likes of Jafar Panahi, Jacques Audiard, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Jia Zhangke, died on Nov. 5 after battling a long illness, according to a statement sent by a film publicist who worked with Panahi for many years.
Panahi was born in Iran and lived in Belgium from the age of 12 before moving to France in 1993. That’s where she founded the sales company Celluloid Dreams and played a major role in co-producing, co-financing and selling international rights to a number of politically minded films, such as Panahi’s Berlinale Golden Bear-winning “Taxi Tehran”; Audiard’s “A Prophet” and his Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan”; Ramin Mohseni’s ”From Afar”; Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” and “Chicken With Plums”; and Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami’s “Where...
Panahi, who worked with the likes of Jafar Panahi, Jacques Audiard, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Jia Zhangke, died on Nov. 5 after battling a long illness, according to a statement sent by a film publicist who worked with Panahi for many years.
Panahi was born in Iran and lived in Belgium from the age of 12 before moving to France in 1993. That’s where she founded the sales company Celluloid Dreams and played a major role in co-producing, co-financing and selling international rights to a number of politically minded films, such as Panahi’s Berlinale Golden Bear-winning “Taxi Tehran”; Audiard’s “A Prophet” and his Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan”; Ramin Mohseni’s ”From Afar”; Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” and “Chicken With Plums”; and Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami’s “Where...
- 11/9/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The Bureau creator Eric Rochant is today formally unveiling his production banner, Maui Entertainment, which has quietly launched with backing from Federation Studios.
In an exclusive interview to announce Maui, Rochant said creative talent “must be at the origin and center” of its projects, with a business model geared towards helping new writers and producers become showrunners. He also revealed he was working on a spy drama and a series with Spanish writer Isabel Coixet.
“I learned from Todd Kessler, who made Damages and Bloodline, that a good series must come from a writer who can explain why he’s the only one who can make a specific show,” said Rochant.
Maui quietly launched last year up with a Disney+ order, for Tout va Bien (Everything is Fine), but today marks its market launch. We can reveal the series is due to launch on November 15.
The eight-part show is from Camille de Castelnau,...
In an exclusive interview to announce Maui, Rochant said creative talent “must be at the origin and center” of its projects, with a business model geared towards helping new writers and producers become showrunners. He also revealed he was working on a spy drama and a series with Spanish writer Isabel Coixet.
“I learned from Todd Kessler, who made Damages and Bloodline, that a good series must come from a writer who can explain why he’s the only one who can make a specific show,” said Rochant.
Maui quietly launched last year up with a Disney+ order, for Tout va Bien (Everything is Fine), but today marks its market launch. We can reveal the series is due to launch on November 15.
The eight-part show is from Camille de Castelnau,...
- 10/13/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Rome’s Mia Market, dedicated to international TV series, animation, feature films, documentaries and more, kicked off Monday in the Eternal City’s 17th century Palazzo Barberini. There were some 2,300 registered industry execs on day one – roughly 300 of which are buyers – more than 120 selected projects on display, and plenty of panels.
At a press conference, Mia director Gaia Tridente noted that, sadly, a group of industry execs who were expected to arrive from Israel, including “Waltz With Bashir” director Ari Folman, are being forced to stay in the country by the war that has broken out with Palestinian militant group Hamas. “Our thoughts go out to them and we hope to be able to welcome them in Rome in a context of peace and security for all,” Tridente said.
The pre-Mipcom event, taking place Oct. 9 to 13, has expanded its scope this year, adding a full-fledged section dedicated to animation and...
At a press conference, Mia director Gaia Tridente noted that, sadly, a group of industry execs who were expected to arrive from Israel, including “Waltz With Bashir” director Ari Folman, are being forced to stay in the country by the war that has broken out with Palestinian militant group Hamas. “Our thoughts go out to them and we hope to be able to welcome them in Rome in a context of peace and security for all,” Tridente said.
The pre-Mipcom event, taking place Oct. 9 to 13, has expanded its scope this year, adding a full-fledged section dedicated to animation and...
- 10/9/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” may already boast an over 2.5-hour runtime, but the director says he has an even longer, “fantastic” 4.5-hour cut up his sleeve.
As reported in the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Scott said that the nearly 270-minute version of “Napoleon” focuses more on Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby) before she met Napoleon (Joaquin Phoenix). He hopes that Apple will “eventually” screen this longer version.
“It’s an astonishing story,” Phoenix told Empire about the theatrical version. “Hopefully we captured some of the most interesting moments.”
“Napoleon” will mark the second time Scott has directed Phoenix. In 2000, the star played a fictionalized version of Roman Emperor Commodus in “Gladiator.” Phoenix has since called his time on the high-grossing movie an “incredible experience” and the project his “first big production.”
“I really yearned for that experience again, or something similar,” Phoenix told Empire. “He’s approached me about other things in the past…...
As reported in the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Scott said that the nearly 270-minute version of “Napoleon” focuses more on Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby) before she met Napoleon (Joaquin Phoenix). He hopes that Apple will “eventually” screen this longer version.
“It’s an astonishing story,” Phoenix told Empire about the theatrical version. “Hopefully we captured some of the most interesting moments.”
“Napoleon” will mark the second time Scott has directed Phoenix. In 2000, the star played a fictionalized version of Roman Emperor Commodus in “Gladiator.” Phoenix has since called his time on the high-grossing movie an “incredible experience” and the project his “first big production.”
“I really yearned for that experience again, or something similar,” Phoenix told Empire. “He’s approached me about other things in the past…...
- 8/29/2023
- by Kayla Cobb
- The Wrap
Netflix Buys Japanese Romcom ‘Turn To Me Mukai-Kun’ From Nippon TV
Netflix has acquired romantic comedy drama Turn To Me Mukai-Kun from Japan’s Nippon TV. The series will stream on Netflix starting July 12, immediately after its broadcast on Nippon TV’s Wednesday primetime slot. Hulu Japan, which is owned by Nippon TV, will also stream the series in Japan immediately after its primetime broadcast. Based on the award-winning manga by Yoko Nemu, the series stars Eiji Akaso as a young man with a perfect life but disastrous love life who reconnects with an unforgettable ex.
‘How Do You Live?’ To Be First Studio Ghibli Film To Get Simultaneous Imax Release
Japan’s Studio Ghibli has announced that Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, How Do You Live?, will have an Imax release when it opens in Japan this Friday (July 14), marking the first of the animation master’s films to release simultaneously in Imax.
Netflix has acquired romantic comedy drama Turn To Me Mukai-Kun from Japan’s Nippon TV. The series will stream on Netflix starting July 12, immediately after its broadcast on Nippon TV’s Wednesday primetime slot. Hulu Japan, which is owned by Nippon TV, will also stream the series in Japan immediately after its primetime broadcast. Based on the award-winning manga by Yoko Nemu, the series stars Eiji Akaso as a young man with a perfect life but disastrous love life who reconnects with an unforgettable ex.
‘How Do You Live?’ To Be First Studio Ghibli Film To Get Simultaneous Imax Release
Japan’s Studio Ghibli has announced that Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, How Do You Live?, will have an Imax release when it opens in Japan this Friday (July 14), marking the first of the animation master’s films to release simultaneously in Imax.
- 7/10/2023
- by Liz Shackleton and Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Studiocanal has boarded “A Prophet,” a new television adaptation of Jacques Audiard’s acclaimed 2009 film. The eight-episode limited series started filming on July 3, with “Django” director Enrico Maria Artale and a diverse new cast led by Mamadou Sidibé.
The French-language series brings back the award-winning team behind the original film, including creators and writers Abdel Raouf Dafri and Nicolas Peufaillit (“The Returned”), as well as producer Marco Cherqui (“Savages”), in agreement with “A Prophet” producers Why Not Productions and Page 114.
The show, which is filming in Marseille and Puglia, Italy, is produced by Cherqui and Sebastien Janin, former Apple exec and co-founder of Media Musketeers, and co-produced by Ugc, Orange Studio, Entourage Series and Savon Noir, with the participation of Ocs. The key crew includes “Gomorra” cinematographer Ferran Paredes Rubio. Veteran Italian producer Fabio Conversi (“Youth”) is exec producing the series.
The original movie won the grand jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival,...
The French-language series brings back the award-winning team behind the original film, including creators and writers Abdel Raouf Dafri and Nicolas Peufaillit (“The Returned”), as well as producer Marco Cherqui (“Savages”), in agreement with “A Prophet” producers Why Not Productions and Page 114.
The show, which is filming in Marseille and Puglia, Italy, is produced by Cherqui and Sebastien Janin, former Apple exec and co-founder of Media Musketeers, and co-produced by Ugc, Orange Studio, Entourage Series and Savon Noir, with the participation of Ocs. The key crew includes “Gomorra” cinematographer Ferran Paredes Rubio. Veteran Italian producer Fabio Conversi (“Youth”) is exec producing the series.
The original movie won the grand jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival,...
- 7/10/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Europe has a brand-new media giant.
Vuelta Group, a private-equity fueled company headed by former Canal+ and Goldman Sachs executive Jerome Levy, made a very big launch on the European scene on Thursday, announcing its acquisition of Scandinavian independent film company Scanbox, German distributor/producer SquareOne Entertainment and French international sales company Playtime.
Vuelta (Latin for “to go around”) is planning future acquisitions in France, Italy, Spain and the Benelux region as it looks to build a pan-European television and film studio focusing on the production and distribution of European content across the continent.
The Vuelta launch is a further sign of consolidation in the European indie market, which has already seen several independent producers and distributors subsumed into Pe-backed studios such as Leonine and Mediawan or snatched up by global indie giants like Fremantle and Banijay.
The Veulta setup will see each of its subsidiary companies continue to operate...
Vuelta Group, a private-equity fueled company headed by former Canal+ and Goldman Sachs executive Jerome Levy, made a very big launch on the European scene on Thursday, announcing its acquisition of Scandinavian independent film company Scanbox, German distributor/producer SquareOne Entertainment and French international sales company Playtime.
Vuelta (Latin for “to go around”) is planning future acquisitions in France, Italy, Spain and the Benelux region as it looks to build a pan-European television and film studio focusing on the production and distribution of European content across the continent.
The Vuelta launch is a further sign of consolidation in the European indie market, which has already seen several independent producers and distributors subsumed into Pe-backed studios such as Leonine and Mediawan or snatched up by global indie giants like Fremantle and Banijay.
The Veulta setup will see each of its subsidiary companies continue to operate...
- 7/6/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Playtime has boarded “Monsieur Aznavour,” the prestige biopic of legendary French-Armenian Charles Aznavour starring Tahar Rahim. Budgeted at €26 million, the film will start principal photography on May 30. Pathé has scooped French rights and will give it a wide release in theaters.
Surely one of the hottest packages to hit this year’s Cannes market, the film will chart Aznavour’s sprawling life journey, from his poor childhood to his rise to fame, from his triumphs to his failures, from Paris to New York. Aznavour was devoted to his art until the very end, singing his songs in ten languages, on every stage, in every city, desperately searching for perfection. He sold more than 180 million records around the world.
Rahim, who’s rolling off Marvel’s “Madame Web” and Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon,” is highly committed to the part and has been preparing it for months. He will be in Cannes...
Surely one of the hottest packages to hit this year’s Cannes market, the film will chart Aznavour’s sprawling life journey, from his poor childhood to his rise to fame, from his triumphs to his failures, from Paris to New York. Aznavour was devoted to his art until the very end, singing his songs in ten languages, on every stage, in every city, desperately searching for perfection. He sold more than 180 million records around the world.
Rahim, who’s rolling off Marvel’s “Madame Web” and Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon,” is highly committed to the part and has been preparing it for months. He will be in Cannes...
- 5/17/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Johnny Depp returns to cinema for the first time in three years with the 2023 Cannes opening night film, “Jeanne du Barry.”
Directed by French actress/filmmaker Maïwenn, “Jeanne du Barry” centers on French king Louis Xv (Depp) and his lover Jeanne du Barry (Maïwenn) at the Versailles Palace. Louis Xv later was accused of corruption after his 59-year reign, the longest in French history other than Louis Xiv.
IndieWire can confirm “Jeanne du Barry” will premiere on the opening night of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, kicking off May 16. Le Pacte will distribute the film in France on the same day as Cannes’ opening night. The film is also expected to play in competition. It’s written by Maïwenn with Teddy Lussi-Modeste and Nicolas Livecchi.
Per the festival synopsis, Jeanne Vaubernier, a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure, uses her intelligence and allure to climb...
Directed by French actress/filmmaker Maïwenn, “Jeanne du Barry” centers on French king Louis Xv (Depp) and his lover Jeanne du Barry (Maïwenn) at the Versailles Palace. Louis Xv later was accused of corruption after his 59-year reign, the longest in French history other than Louis Xiv.
IndieWire can confirm “Jeanne du Barry” will premiere on the opening night of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, kicking off May 16. Le Pacte will distribute the film in France on the same day as Cannes’ opening night. The film is also expected to play in competition. It’s written by Maïwenn with Teddy Lussi-Modeste and Nicolas Livecchi.
Per the festival synopsis, Jeanne Vaubernier, a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure, uses her intelligence and allure to climb...
- 4/5/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Johnny Depp’s comeback movie Jeanne Du Barry is to open the Cannes Film Festival.
Directed by Maïwenn, who also stars, the film’s world premiere will take place on Tuesday, May 16 and the film will be released in cinemas the same day in France, the festival said Wednesday.
Maïwenn herself plays the eponymous main character alongside Depp, Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Pierre Richard, Pascal Greggory and India Hair. The film will recount the life, rise and fall of French King Louis Xv‘s court favorite, Jeanne Vaubernier.
The French-language film’s official synopsis describes Vaubernier as “a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure, who uses her intelligence and allure to climb the rungs of the social ladder one by one. She becomes the favourite of King Louis Xv who, unaware of her status as courtesan, regains through her his appetite for life. They fall madly in love.
Directed by Maïwenn, who also stars, the film’s world premiere will take place on Tuesday, May 16 and the film will be released in cinemas the same day in France, the festival said Wednesday.
Maïwenn herself plays the eponymous main character alongside Depp, Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Pierre Richard, Pascal Greggory and India Hair. The film will recount the life, rise and fall of French King Louis Xv‘s court favorite, Jeanne Vaubernier.
The French-language film’s official synopsis describes Vaubernier as “a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure, who uses her intelligence and allure to climb the rungs of the social ladder one by one. She becomes the favourite of King Louis Xv who, unaware of her status as courtesan, regains through her his appetite for life. They fall madly in love.
- 4/5/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Maïwenn’s historical drama, “Jeanne du Barry,” starring Johnny Depp as Louis Xv, is slated to world premiere on opening night of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Variety has learned. The festival confirmed the news following Variety’s report.
The movie marks Depp’s acting comeback after a three-year hiatus following his long legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard which culminated in a defamation trial won by Depp in December.
Maïwenn’s sixth feature, the period movie revolves around the tumultuous relationship of the French king Louis Xv and his lover, Jeanne du Barry (played by Maiwenn), whom he brought into the Versailles Palace to live near him even though she wasn’t a noble. Louis Xv, who was nicknamed “the beloved,” ultimately died as an unpopular king after being accused of corruption. He reigned for 59 years, the longest in the history of France after that of...
The movie marks Depp’s acting comeback after a three-year hiatus following his long legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard which culminated in a defamation trial won by Depp in December.
Maïwenn’s sixth feature, the period movie revolves around the tumultuous relationship of the French king Louis Xv and his lover, Jeanne du Barry (played by Maiwenn), whom he brought into the Versailles Palace to live near him even though she wasn’t a noble. Louis Xv, who was nicknamed “the beloved,” ultimately died as an unpopular king after being accused of corruption. He reigned for 59 years, the longest in the history of France after that of...
- 4/5/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Dominik Moll’s brooding procedural thriller “The Night of the 12th” won big at the 48th Cesar Awards Friday night in Paris.
Out of 10 nominations, “The Night of the 12th” picked up best film, director, male newcomer for Bastien Bouillon, supporting actor for Bouli Lanners, adapted screenplay and sound. Bouillon and Lanners star as two cops trying to solve the gruesome murder of a young woman. The film opened at Cannes in the Premieres section.
Caroline Benjo, who produced “The Night of the 12th” with Carole Scotta and Simon Arnal at Haut et Court, made a searing speech denouncing the violence against women. “When Dominic and Gilles came to us to make this film it was obvious that we (needed to address this issue) and that the perspective of men on this matter was crucial, and that filmmakers had to tell this story,” said Benjo. “A few days ago, Dominic...
Out of 10 nominations, “The Night of the 12th” picked up best film, director, male newcomer for Bastien Bouillon, supporting actor for Bouli Lanners, adapted screenplay and sound. Bouillon and Lanners star as two cops trying to solve the gruesome murder of a young woman. The film opened at Cannes in the Premieres section.
Caroline Benjo, who produced “The Night of the 12th” with Carole Scotta and Simon Arnal at Haut et Court, made a searing speech denouncing the violence against women. “When Dominic and Gilles came to us to make this film it was obvious that we (needed to address this issue) and that the perspective of men on this matter was crucial, and that filmmakers had to tell this story,” said Benjo. “A few days ago, Dominic...
- 2/24/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
While Sweden’s Ruben Östlund grabbed some Oscar nominations and took home Cannes’ Palmed’Or last year, two other Scandinavian filmmakers basked in the international spotlight following their Cannes competition premieres: Ali Abbasi with “Holy Spider” and Tarik Saleh with “Cairo Conspiracy” (previously titled “Boy From Heaven”).
Abbasi, an Iranian-born Danish helmer, and Saleh, a Swedish director whose father is Egyptian, are part of an exciting new generation of Nordic helmers who are shaking up traditional Scandinavian cinema.
These filmmakers are delivering singular and timely movies shot abroad or in different languages, weaving together genres and political elements.
“Holy Spider” was based on the true story of a family man who became a serial killer and murdered sex workers in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad, while “Cairo Conspiracy” is set against the backdrop of a ruthless struggle between Egypt’s religious and political elite.
Breaking away from the longentrenched trend of so-called Nordic Noir,...
Abbasi, an Iranian-born Danish helmer, and Saleh, a Swedish director whose father is Egyptian, are part of an exciting new generation of Nordic helmers who are shaking up traditional Scandinavian cinema.
These filmmakers are delivering singular and timely movies shot abroad or in different languages, weaving together genres and political elements.
“Holy Spider” was based on the true story of a family man who became a serial killer and murdered sex workers in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad, while “Cairo Conspiracy” is set against the backdrop of a ruthless struggle between Egypt’s religious and political elite.
Breaking away from the longentrenched trend of so-called Nordic Noir,...
- 2/19/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Oscar-nominated director Whit Stillman (Metropolitan) is turning his hand to big budget rom-com adventure TV with The Splendid Affinities, a series set across Paris, Madrid and London.
Global Screen is co-producing and will feature The Splendid Affinities on its Berlinale slate and Stillman has teamed with Argentina 1985 producer Infinity Hill and Lauranne Bourrachot (A Prophet) on the project, which is one of Stillman’s first major TV offerings.
The show is set 30 years after the end of the Soviet era, where the fictional Baltic republic of Vronyia is under threat along with the life of its beloved Prince Michael, elder statesman of the country’s return to democracy. Violence extends to London, Paris and Madrid and the main characters have to save the nations in the most stylish way possible, with dreams of finding love while doing so.
Stillman said the once popular rom-com adventure genre has “become rarer.
Global Screen is co-producing and will feature The Splendid Affinities on its Berlinale slate and Stillman has teamed with Argentina 1985 producer Infinity Hill and Lauranne Bourrachot (A Prophet) on the project, which is one of Stillman’s first major TV offerings.
The show is set 30 years after the end of the Soviet era, where the fictional Baltic republic of Vronyia is under threat along with the life of its beloved Prince Michael, elder statesman of the country’s return to democracy. Violence extends to London, Paris and Madrid and the main characters have to save the nations in the most stylish way possible, with dreams of finding love while doing so.
Stillman said the once popular rom-com adventure genre has “become rarer.
- 2/16/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Tahar Rahim, who earned BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for his starring roles in “A Prophet” and “The Mauritanian,” is set to play Charles Aznavour, the iconic French-Armenian singer, songwriter and actor who sold more than 180 million records around the world.
Titled “Monsieur Aznavour,” the biopic will be directed by singer-turned-filmmakers Mehdi Idir and Grand Corps Malade (“Patients”), and produced by Jean-Rachid Kallouche’s Kallouche Cinema and Mandarin & Compagnie, the banner behind Francois Ozon’s and Anne Fontaine’s films.
Kallouche, who teamed with Eric and Nicolas Altmayer at Mandarin on Grand Corps Malade and Idir’s previous films, is married to Katia Aznavour, the daughter of the late artist. Filming will kick off in the summer for an estimated delivery in 2024, to mark Aznavour’s centenary.
The movie will chart Aznavour’s rise to stardom in the 1950s and his friendships with many artists, including Edith Piaf, who took...
Titled “Monsieur Aznavour,” the biopic will be directed by singer-turned-filmmakers Mehdi Idir and Grand Corps Malade (“Patients”), and produced by Jean-Rachid Kallouche’s Kallouche Cinema and Mandarin & Compagnie, the banner behind Francois Ozon’s and Anne Fontaine’s films.
Kallouche, who teamed with Eric and Nicolas Altmayer at Mandarin on Grand Corps Malade and Idir’s previous films, is married to Katia Aznavour, the daughter of the late artist. Filming will kick off in the summer for an estimated delivery in 2024, to mark Aznavour’s centenary.
The movie will chart Aznavour’s rise to stardom in the 1950s and his friendships with many artists, including Edith Piaf, who took...
- 2/15/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Louis Garrel’s “The Innocent” and Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th” are leading the race at the 48th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars.
Nominated for 11 Cesar nominations, “The Innocent” is a heist romantic comedy starring Garrel, Roschdy Zem and Noemie Merlant, who previously starred in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and most recently in “Tár.” Produced by Anne-Dominique Toussaint at Les Films des Tournelles, the crowdpleaser world premiered out of competition at Cannes for the 75th anniversary of the festival.
“The Night of the 12th,” meanwhile, is in the running for 10 Cesar awards. The brooding topical procedural, which also opened as part of Cannes’ Premiere section, stars Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners as two cops trying to solve a gruesome murder. The movie, produced by Haut et Court (“The Class”), delves into issues of gender and violence.
Other top Cesar contenders include Cedric Klapisch’s dance-filled “Rise,...
Nominated for 11 Cesar nominations, “The Innocent” is a heist romantic comedy starring Garrel, Roschdy Zem and Noemie Merlant, who previously starred in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and most recently in “Tár.” Produced by Anne-Dominique Toussaint at Les Films des Tournelles, the crowdpleaser world premiered out of competition at Cannes for the 75th anniversary of the festival.
“The Night of the 12th,” meanwhile, is in the running for 10 Cesar awards. The brooding topical procedural, which also opened as part of Cannes’ Premiere section, stars Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners as two cops trying to solve a gruesome murder. The movie, produced by Haut et Court (“The Class”), delves into issues of gender and violence.
Other top Cesar contenders include Cedric Klapisch’s dance-filled “Rise,...
- 1/25/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Jacques Audiard, the Oscar-nominated French director (“A Prophet”), is finally getting ready to shoot his next film, “Emilia Perez,” this spring with a cast led by Karla Sofia Gascón, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña.
After “Paris, 13th District,” an intimate black-and-white film about millennial love, Audiard is aiming to build a larger canvas for “Emilia Perez,” a musical crime comedy which Audiard tells Variety will lense in a studio near Paris instead of Mexico, as originally planned.
Gascón, a rising Argentinian trans actor, will play a feared Mexican cartel leader who undergoes a sex change to get away from the law, becoming the woman he’s always wanted to be.
Audiard says the idea for “Emilia Perez” came to him more than two years ago as “an opera libretto in four acts,” and that’s how he wrote the treatment.
“It was the first time that an idea [for a film] came to...
After “Paris, 13th District,” an intimate black-and-white film about millennial love, Audiard is aiming to build a larger canvas for “Emilia Perez,” a musical crime comedy which Audiard tells Variety will lense in a studio near Paris instead of Mexico, as originally planned.
Gascón, a rising Argentinian trans actor, will play a feared Mexican cartel leader who undergoes a sex change to get away from the law, becoming the woman he’s always wanted to be.
Audiard says the idea for “Emilia Perez” came to him more than two years ago as “an opera libretto in four acts,” and that’s how he wrote the treatment.
“It was the first time that an idea [for a film] came to...
- 1/23/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
France’s new Oscar committee has pre-selected five films to represent the country in the international feature film race.
The five films are Alice Diop’s “Saint-Omer,” which just won Venice’s Silver Lion and Lion of the Future; Eric Gravel’s drama “Full Time” starring “Call My Agent!” star Laure Calamy; Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s “The Worst Ones,” about the moral dilemma of shooting of a film with young non-professionals in a working-class town; Alice Winocour’s “Revoir Paris” starring Virginie Efira as a survivor of the Paris attacks in 2015; and Mia Hansen-Love’s “One Fine Morning” starring Lea Seydoux as a single mother who embarks on a romance with an emotionally unavailable man.
This year’s committee includes international sales agents Hengameh Panahi, Grégoire Melin, producers Philippe Rousselet (“Coda”), Didar Domehri (“Girls of the Sun”), and directors Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet”) and Michel Gondry (“L’ecûme des jours...
The five films are Alice Diop’s “Saint-Omer,” which just won Venice’s Silver Lion and Lion of the Future; Eric Gravel’s drama “Full Time” starring “Call My Agent!” star Laure Calamy; Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s “The Worst Ones,” about the moral dilemma of shooting of a film with young non-professionals in a working-class town; Alice Winocour’s “Revoir Paris” starring Virginie Efira as a survivor of the Paris attacks in 2015; and Mia Hansen-Love’s “One Fine Morning” starring Lea Seydoux as a single mother who embarks on a romance with an emotionally unavailable man.
This year’s committee includes international sales agents Hengameh Panahi, Grégoire Melin, producers Philippe Rousselet (“Coda”), Didar Domehri (“Girls of the Sun”), and directors Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet”) and Michel Gondry (“L’ecûme des jours...
- 9/15/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Iconoclast, the international production group behind Romain Gavras’ Venice competition film “Athena,” is setting a wide-ranging slate of projects with emerging filmmakers from different audiovisual fields, including Leo Berne from the artists collective Megaforce, Elias Belkeddar and Said Belktibia from the collective Kourtrajmé. The company is also producing the next projects of Harmony Korine and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, among others.
In a rare interview, Nicolas Lhermitte, who co-founded Iconoclast with Mourad Belkeddar and Charles-Marie Anthonioz, says the company has emerged from the pandemic with a record number of developed projects. “We took the opportunity during the pandemic to develop a lot of projects, and today we have around 30 projects in the pipeline, spanning films and series that are set up at our studios in France, the U.S. and Germany,” says Lhermitte, who adds that Iconoclast aspired to “accompany multi-disciplinary artists to venture from one field to another, films, TV series,...
In a rare interview, Nicolas Lhermitte, who co-founded Iconoclast with Mourad Belkeddar and Charles-Marie Anthonioz, says the company has emerged from the pandemic with a record number of developed projects. “We took the opportunity during the pandemic to develop a lot of projects, and today we have around 30 projects in the pipeline, spanning films and series that are set up at our studios in France, the U.S. and Germany,” says Lhermitte, who adds that Iconoclast aspired to “accompany multi-disciplinary artists to venture from one field to another, films, TV series,...
- 9/3/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The 66th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express has announced the contenders for the Best Film Award; this year’s Official Competition selection is presented in association with Sight and Sound.
The 2022 nominated films showcase a remarkable range of filmmaking talent from across the world with 13 countries represented across the selection. From a thrilling and uncompromising Argentinian political drama to a chilling British folk horror tale; and a breathtaking story of brotherly love to the poignancy of family displacement during the Syrian conflict in Damascus, the films selected for Official Competition celebrate passionate and inspired global filmmaking.
Established in 2009 and first won by Jacques Audiard for A Prophet, recent winners of the Best Film Award include Sudabeh Mortezai’s Joy, Alejandro Landes’ Monos and, in 2021, Panah Panahi’s Hit the Road.
Also in news – Stephen Graham to joins period drama series ‘A Thousand Blows’
The 8 films in the Official Competition are:
Argentina,...
The 2022 nominated films showcase a remarkable range of filmmaking talent from across the world with 13 countries represented across the selection. From a thrilling and uncompromising Argentinian political drama to a chilling British folk horror tale; and a breathtaking story of brotherly love to the poignancy of family displacement during the Syrian conflict in Damascus, the films selected for Official Competition celebrate passionate and inspired global filmmaking.
Established in 2009 and first won by Jacques Audiard for A Prophet, recent winners of the Best Film Award include Sudabeh Mortezai’s Joy, Alejandro Landes’ Monos and, in 2021, Panah Panahi’s Hit the Road.
Also in news – Stephen Graham to joins period drama series ‘A Thousand Blows’
The 8 films in the Official Competition are:
Argentina,...
- 8/25/2022
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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