EXCLUSIVE: Stranger Things actor Gaten Matarazzo will return to Broadway this summer in the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. Beginning July 19, Matarazzo will play the role of Jared Kleinman in the long-running musical.
17.05.2022 - 08:23 / variety.com
Christopher Vourlias Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and producer Denis Ivanov are teaming up again after their last collaboration, the ‘90s-set crime drama “Rhino,” premiered in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons sidebar last year.The new feature, “Shining World,” centers on a mother and her young son living in a small American town in the 1960s. Described by Ivanov as a “fairy tale” with echoes of Wes Anderson’s whimsical tone, it unspools in both the real world and in the imagination of its young protagonist after he learns an amusement park is being built nearby.“Shining World” was written by Sentsov while imprisoned on what his supporters insist were trumped-up charges after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Ivanov had originally intended to sell the script to provide a small windfall for Sentsov after his release – a suggestion the director quickly nixed. “Oleh was quite direct and said ‘No, my scripts belong to me.
I want to shoot my movies,’” said the producer. The duo began workshopping the script, sending correspondence back and forth through the prison system.
(Despite the intervention of censors, Ivanov insisted it was more efficient than the Russian postal service.) It was an unorthodox but fruitful collaboration. “Between a director and producer, you don’t always have time to discuss basic questions” of plot and character, said Ivanov, adding drily, “Luckily, we had time to discuss the project in detail.”The contract for “Shining World” was signed within a month of Sentsov’s release, but the director already had two other feature films in the pipeline.
EXCLUSIVE: Stranger Things actor Gaten Matarazzo will return to Broadway this summer in the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. Beginning July 19, Matarazzo will play the role of Jared Kleinman in the long-running musical.
Christopher Vourlias Ukraine’s Film.UA has closed a raft of deals during the Cannes Market, as the production and distribution heavyweight has defiantly continued to do business on the Croisette despite the ongoing war back home.Headlining the company’s Cannes slate is “Mavka. The Forest Song,” an animated feature about a magical spirit who’s responsible for protecting the forest from the outside world but faces her greatest challenge when she falls in love with a human.Manymore Films will be releasing the film in theaters across Scandinavia and has also acquired the rights to other projects in the Film.UA catalog.
EXCLUSIVE: Gersh has signed actor, writer and producer David Koechner (Anchorman) for representation.
EXCLUSIVE: Jeremy Renner is set to star as the journalist who helped blow the lid off the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma’s role in the rampant spread of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin. The two-time Oscar nominee will play Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist David Armstrong in a drama that is being sold here in the Cannes Market through Expanded Media/LBI Entertainment and 101 Studios.
Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaScreen Media has acquired all North American rights to “The Locksmith,” an upcoming action-thriller starring Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth and Ving Rhames.The film was directed by Nicolas Harvard, a veteran first assistant director whose credits include “Hell or High Water” and “Whiplash.” It marks his feature directorial debut. Screen Media is planning a day-and-date, theatrical and on-demand release later this year.In “The Locksmith,” Miller (Phillippe), an ex-con recently released from prison for a bungled robbery, tries to walk a straight line and work his way back into the lives of his ex, Beth (Bosworth), a police detective, and their young daughter.
Christopher Vourlias Ukrainian director Olha Zhurba and producer Darya Bassel are teaming up on a documentary about Ukraine’s refugee crisis after their last collaboration, “Outside,” premiered at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX festival this year.The project, with a working title “Displaced,” is being produced by Bassel’s Kyiv-based Moon Man production outfit in co-production with Germany’s Koberstein Film and Denmark’s Final Cut for Real.Zhurba began filming not long after the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, capturing footage of the thousands of Kyiv residents who had flocked to the capital’s railway station for safety.
The BBC’s Platinum Party At The Palace concert to mark the Queen’s 70 years on the throne will see a huge range of musicians perform including rock band Queen with American pop star Adam Lambert opening. The performance comes 20 years after Queen guitarist Brian May performed God Save The Queen on Buckingham Palace’s roof during a show marking the Golden Jubilee in 2002.
Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaScreen Media has acquired North American rights to “Code Name Banshee,” an upcoming action-thriller with Antonio Banderas and Jamie King. The film will receive a day-and-date theatrical and on-demand release in July.Directed by Jon Keeyes and written by Matthew Rogers, the duo behind “The Survivalist,” the film follows Caleb (Banderas), a former government assassin in hiding, who resurfaces when his protégé, the equally deadly killer known as Banshee (King), discovers a bounty has been placed on Caleb’s head.
Måneskin returned to the Eurovision Song Contest last night (May 14) to give new single ‘Supermodel’ its live debut – check the performance out below.The Italian band, who won the 2021 contest with their song ‘Zitti E Buoni’, have had a massive year since their Eurovision triumph, playing across the globe and announcing a massive arena tour.This week, the band returned with new single ‘Supermodel’, their first new music of 2022, and the track was given its live debut during the half-time break at last night’s Eurovision in Turin.After the track was played, the band then debuted a snippet of an unreleased song called ‘If I Can Dream’, revealing that it was written in collaboration with Baz Luhrmann and set to appear on the soundtrack to his forthcoming Elvis Presley biopic.“We felt a huge connection and we decided to jump on it,” frontman Damiano David said of working with Luhrmann. “We’re really proud of what we did, we can’t wait to see it.”Watch the two performances below:Eurovision 2022 was won by Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra with the song ‘Stefania’, with the UK’s Sam Ryder coming in second, the country’s best placed finish since 1997.
John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentMiguel Bernardeau, Guzmán in Netflix smash hit “Elite,” and Mexico’s Renata Notni will head the cast of “Zorro,” a reboot series from Los Angeles-based Secuoya Studios and John Gertz that will stream in exclusivity on Amazon’s Prime Video in the U.S., Latin America and Spain. The flagship series at Secuoya Studios, “Zorro,” a modern take on the hero, is directed by Javier Quintas, whose credits include episodes of “Money Heist” and “Sky Rojo,” and Miguel Angel Vivas, a director on “Locked Up” and “Unauthorized Living.” Written by Carlos Portela (“Hierro,” “Velvet Collection”), the 10 episode series is executive produced for Secuoya Studios by David Martínez, David Cotarelo and Angela Agudo. John Gertz, founder of Zorro Productions and a producer on “The Mask of Zorro” and “The Legend of Zorro” movies titles, also executive produces along with former Sony exec Andy Kaplan at KC Global Media, Sergio Pizzolante for C&T Mobs, and Jesús Torres and Glenda Pacanins at NoStatusQuo Studios.Bernardeau will play a new version of Diego de la Vega, a landowner and, in disguise, masked hero of the people.
EXCLUSIVE: Production on Showtime’s drama series American Gigolo has been paused again, this time for at least two weeks, as the series’ co-executive producer David Bar Katz has exited the series, produced by Paramount TV Studios. His departure comes three weeks after the Paramount network and TV studio severed ties with the series’ developer, writer, director and executive producer David Hollander following an investigation into allegations of misconduct and almost two weeks after The Offer executive producers Nikki Toscano and Russell Rothberg joined the series as consulting producers.
Ellise Shafer Emily Blunt will star in “Pain Hustlers,” a criminal conspiracy film directed by “Fantastic Beasts” helmer David Yates that will be introduced to buyers at Cannes.From a script by “The True American” writer Wells Tower, the film is produced by Lawrence Grey through his Grey Matter Productions banner and Wychwood Pictures.The movie’s official logline reads: “Dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter, Liza Drake (Blunt), a high-school dropout, lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical start-up in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida. Liza’s charm, guts and drive catapult the company and her into the high life, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences.
CNN will debut Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal, with John Dean offering his first-hand account of the break in that brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency, on June 5.
Vincent Cassel will reunite with David Cronenberg for “The Shrouds,” a new thriller from the director of “A History of Violence” and “Dead Ringers.” The film, which Cronenberg will write as well as direct, centers on Karsh (Cassel), an innovative businessman and grieving widower, who builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud.Cassel and Cronenberg previously teamed up on “Eastern Promises” and “A Dangerous Method.” Their latest collaboration seems very much in the same envelope-pushing vein. According to the official longline for “The Shrouds,” Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery are vandalized and nearly destroyed, including that of his wife.
EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Studios is in development on The First Omen, a prequel to the original 1976 Fox movie The Omen, with Legion and Briarpatch episodic director Arkasha Stevenson making her feature directorial debut.
Game Of Thrones prequel series House Of The Dragon – you can check it out below.Set 200 years before events in the flagship HBO series, House Of The Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood and follows the Targaryen family during the Dance of the Dragons – a civil war among House Targaryen for the Iron Throne.This latest trailer sets the stage for the conflict, as various houses swear allegiance to King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) and his named successor, his firstborn child Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy).“Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne,” Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) tells the young heiress in the trailer.Elsewhere, we see Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), another contender for the throne, encounter a fire-breathing dragon.Along with the trailer, HBO has released a selection of character posters.
Nicola married David's eldest boy Brooklyn in April, David splashed out on a gift that the two could enjoy. The wedding was at Nicola's family's £76 million estate on Palm Beach in Florida and guests at the £3m bash were asked to donate to a Ukraine charity to help those affected by war.
EXCLUSIVE: The Offer executive producers Nikki Toscano and Russell Rothberg have come on board Showtime’s upcoming series American Gigolo, from Paramount Television Studios. They will serve as consulting producers, working alongside Executive Producer David Bar Katz.