‘All Quiet’ Director Ed Berger to Direct Kurt Vonnegut Drama ‘Helltown’ at Amazon Studios

Amazon Studios has closed an exclusive multiyear first-look film deal with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, the company announced on Friday.Under the pact, Amazon Studios will have a first look on narrative features and documentaries Imagine Entertainment intends to produce.“Whether it’s a captivating drama like ‘Thirteen Lives’ or a poignant documentary like ‘Lucy and Desi,’ the team at Imagine Entertainment has an incredible gift for storytelling,” Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon and MGM Studios said in a statement. “As we look forward to more exciting projects on the horizon, we are honored to make our longstanding relationship official and to bring more powerful, engaging stories to audiences around the world.”“Brian, Ron, and I, along with our entire team at Imagine including Karen Lunder, President of Imagine Features, and Sara Bernstein, President of Imagine Documentaries, couldn’t be more excited to have a home at Amazon and continue our shared desire to make tentpole films that inspire, elevate, and entertain audiences,” Justin Wilkes, President of Imagine Entertainment added.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has closed an exclusive multiyear first-look film deal with Imagine Entertainment. In making Amazon its new movie home, co-founders Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will give Amazon first look on narrative features and documentaries Imagine intends to produce.

Amazon Studios has signed an exclusive first-look deal with former Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada. Under the deal, Quesada will be developing series and films for Prime Video, focusing on adapting existing and new comic book IP.

EXCLUSIVE: In competition, Amazon Studios is in final talks for the package The Pick Up, with Eddie Murphy eyeing to star and Tim Story attached to direct. John Davis and John Fox will produce through his Davis Entertainment banner. Murphy and Charisse Hewitt-Webster are also in talks to produce through Eddie Murphy Productions, and Story will also be producer.

K.J. Yossman Former Amazon Studios Europe boss Georgia Brown has revealed her first industry role since leaving the streamer last year. She is set to chair a skills task force for the U.K. screen industry with the intention of focusing on critical labor shortages in the production sector. Joining her on the task force will be senior representatives from major U.K. broadcasters BBC, ITV and Channel 4 as well as international studios and streamers including Prime Video, Netflix, Disney and NBCUniversal, key orgs such as ScreenSkills, PACT and the British Film Commission and national screen agencies. The British Film Institute (BFI) have convened the task force following a skills review commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport showing crew shortfalls will soon reach breaking point. Its remit is to produce and support a plan of action that will result in growth, training and increased retention in the screen sector as well as improvements in equity, diversity and inclusion and mental health. Where appropriate, the task force will make recommendations to the U.K. government.

Scarlett Moffatt has given fans a glimpse inside her baby's nursery as she prepares to welcome her first child. The former Gogglebox favourite, 32, is expecting a son with long-term boyfriend Scott Dobinson.

Former Amazon Studios Europe boss Georgia Brown is to chair the BFI’s Skills Task Force, which has been assembled to address major skills shortages in the UK film and TV sector over the next five years.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Amazon Studios’ head of international originals, James Farrell, who started overseeing Europe six months ago, said at Series Mania Festival that the service isn’t pulling out of local content but is keeping an eye on costs. Farrell, who previously worked at Amazon Studios in Japan where he backed the creation of the original format behind “LOL” in 2016, said Amazon “won’t cut down on the number of shows or films” they’re doing, but “want to continue to be really good corporate stewards.” “The world is having a tough time. There’s wars, you know, political situations are tough. That means, you know, you got to be thoughtful about what you spend,” said Farrell.

Bobby and Freddie Brazier were spotted taking part in a walk to mark the anniversary of their mother Jade Goody's passing on Wednesday. EastEnders star Bobby, 19, and his younger brother Freddie, 18, took part in the walk, which took place in Piccadilly Circus in London, on 22 March to commemorate the 14th anniversary of their mum's death. Jade died from cervical cancer in March 2009 when she was just 27 years old.

Amazon Studios is taking to the streets to promote Ben Affleck’s “Air,” which chronicles the beginnings of the iconic Air Jordan sneaker brand. The studio has teamed up with iconic sneaker culture icon Jason Markk to host a multi-city consumer experience, dubbed “Fresh Air,” which ties into the film’s social campaign, “A shoe is just a shoe until I step into it.” The activation will see guerilla street teams flood U.S. cities including Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Chicago, in a unique opportunity to bring together sneakerheads and celebrate the culture and history of the sneaker community. The street team will also have a presence at the Jason Markk flagship store in L.A.

EXCLUSIVE: Jharrel Jerome, the Emmy winner, Moonlight actor and EP/star of the upcoming Prime Video series, I’m a Virgo, which just premiered at SXSW, has signed on to star in Artists Equity’s tentatively titled Unstoppable, the Jennifer Lopez starring, Billy Goldenberg directing project we first told you about yesterday.

EXCLUSIVE: As Amazon Studios is set to debut Artists Equity’s first movie, Air, at SXSW’s closing night, the Ben Affleck-Matt Damon production company is in final talks to make their second feature, currently titled Unstoppable, starring Jennifer Lopez.

Ed Meza @edmezavar This year’s Malaga Festival and its industry section’s Latin American Focus are celebrating Peruvian cinema and talent. A number of Peruvian films are screening in the festival and industry section, including “El Caso Monroy,” by Josué Mendez, and Leonardo Barbuy’s debut feature “Diógenes,” which unspool in the fest’s main section and Zonazine sidebar. As a meeting point for producers and directors from Latin American and investors from Spain and the rest of Europe, the Malaga Festival Industry Zone (MAFIZ) serves as a key hub that promotes the co-production of Latin American projects aimed at the international market.

EXCLUSIVE: Christopher Reich’s Simon Riske book series is headed to the screen as Netflix has re-teamed with Edward Berger, the Oscar-winning director, co-writer and producer of the streamer’s All Quiet on the Western Front, on a drama series adaptation, sources tell Deadline. Berger is set to direct the international spy thriller, in early development at Netflix UK, which is being written by Rowan Joffe (Tin Star, The Informer). The first season will focus on the first book in the series, The Take, I hear. Netflix declined comment.

Newly minted Oscar winner Ed Berger, director, co-writer and producer of All Quiet On the Western Front, which was named Best International Film last night, is set to direct and executive produce Helltown, an eight-episode crime thriller in development at Amazon Studios from Mohamad El Masri (Severance), Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey’s Team Downey. Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight) is in discussions to star in and executive produce the project, based on the book of the same name by Casey Sherman.

BreAnna Bell Oscar Isaac is in discussions to lead “Helltown,” sources say. The series is currently in development at Amazon. According to the logline, the hour-long, 8-episode crime thriller follows the life of Kurt Vonnegut before he became known to the world as a renowned author. Per Amazon, “In 1969 Kurt was a struggling novelist and car salesman living life with his wife and five children on Cape Cod. When two women disappear and are later discovered murdered underneath the sand dunes on the outskirts of Provincetown, Kurt becomes obsessed and embroiled in the chilling hunt for a serial killer and forms a dangerous bond with the prime suspect.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The blockbuster French cast of Amazon Prime Video’s third season of “LOL: Qui rit, qui sort” speaks volumes about the Japanese variety format’s tremendous popularity in France. The Amazon Original series, adapted from the format “LOL: Last One Laughing,” scored its biggest launch to date on Prime Video in France since bowing on March 10. The show is one of the streamer’s first unscripted originals in France and has been a major coup as a brand exercise that’s succeeded with limited resources — certainly in comparison to scripted comedy. Adaptations of “LOL” have also thrived in Italy and Germany where they have ranked as the most watched local titles on the service, respectively. Local versions are also available in Spain, Canada, Mexico and Australia (hosted by Rebel Wilson).

Last night, director Edward Berger officially became an Oscar-winning filmmaker thanks to the Best International Film win for “All Quiet on the Western Front.” And it doesn’t appear that Berger is going to even stop to take a breath as the filmmaker’s next project has just been announced. According to Deadline, Edward Berger is signed on to direct and produce a new Amazon series, “Helltown,” which will be produced by Robert Downey Jr.

Production designer Christian M. Goldbeck gave a shout-out to All Quiet on the Western Front‘s director Edward Berger and his team of APDs following the film’s Oscar win for Best Production Design.

Amazon Studios & MGM Boss Jennifer Salke and Citadel star Priyanka Chopra Jonas sat down today in what is one of few entertainment business discussions here at SXSW and interviewed each other on an array of topics including pay parity for lead actresses and launching a tentpole series for a global audience. Spy series Citadel, produced by AGBO’s Russo Brothers, drops its first two episodes on Prime on April 28.