‘Small Body’ Producer Tomsa Films Boards Andrei Epure’s First Feature ‘Don’t Let Me Die’ (EXCLUSIVE)

K.J. Yossman Jamie Laurenson and Hakan Kousetta’s 60Forty Films has inked an overall deal with Apple TV+, Variety can exclusively reveal. They are already in production on upcoming Apple TV+ thriller series “Hijack,” starring Idris Elba, which they are producing alongside Idiotlamp Productions and Elba’s company Green Door Pictures. “Hijack” tells the story of Sam Nelson (played by Elba), an accomplished business negotiator whose quick-thinking, smooth-talking skills become crucial when the plane he is on is hijacked. Laurenson and Kousetta have worked closely with Apple for a number of years, including on Gary Oldman-starrer “Slow Horses” (pictured above) and “The Essex Serpent,” starring Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston, both of which the duo lead exec produced.

Annika Pham Swedish helmer Mika Gustafson, one of a roster of promising Swedish voices with “Clara Sola”’s Natalie Álvarez-Mesén at Stockholm-based Hobab, has finalised the cast for her directorial debut “Sisters.”  The feature is in final stages of filming, and co-produced by Italy’s Intramovies, Denmark’s Toobox and Finland’s Tuffi Films. Ida Engvoll, who broke out in Netflix romcom “Love & Anarchy,” plays Hanna, a young woman drawn into an unexpected adventure when she encounters Laura (16), eldest of a trio of socially-deprived sisters. 

Ander Herrera is set for an emotional return to Athletic Bilbao in the summer transfer window after agreeing to terminate his contract with Paris Saint-Germain two years early.

“John Wick” director Chad Stahelski will take his love of assassin films to Warner Bros. as director and producer of the action film “Shibumi,” which now has “Operation Finale” screenwriter Matthew Orton attached to pen the script. Orton will adapt the script from the 1979 novel of the same name written by Rodney William Whitaker under the pen name Trevanian.

Annika Pham Former Oslo Pictures CEO-producer Dyveke Bjørkly Graver and producer Andrea Berentsen Ottmar have set up their own shop, Eye Eye Pictures, Variety has learned.The Norwegian producers were both behind the Cannes-winning and double Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World” by star Norwegian director Joachim Trier. The Nordic romcom, released by Neon in the U.S., earned Renate Reinsve a Cannes Festival best actress award in 2021.Besides Trier, Bjørkly Graver and Berentsen Ottmar have brought another visionary Norwegian auteur to Cannes: Kristoffer Borgli, whose satire “Sick of Myself” world premiered at the festival’s Un Certain Regard strand this year.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThe international trailer has been debuted for Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears,” which has its world premiere on Sept. 9 in competition at Venice Film Festival, before moving to Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival. Celluloid Dreams, which is handling world sales, has revealed territory deals with several distributors.

Anna Marie de la Fuente When Chile’s preeminent documentarian, Patricio Guzman, receives a lifetime achievement award at the Santiago Int’l Film Festival (Sanfic) on Aug. 16, he’ll also be marking his 81st birthday.Born on Aug. 11, 1941, Guzman has made more than 20 documentaries at an average of one every two to five years.

Mary Kromolowski. It tells the story of the Italian-born painter and sculptor Modigliani as he lived in Paris in 1916. After long considering himself a critical and commercial failure, Modigliani navigates a turbulent and eventful 48 hours that will become a turning point in his life, ultimately solidifying his reputation as an artistic legend.Production expects to begin in the spring of 2023 in Europe.

Johnny Depp is due to hop back into the director’s seat for the first time in 25 years with Modigliani, a feature film about the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, which he will co-produce alongside Al Pacino.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterJohnny Depp is set to direct a movie for the first time in a quarter of a century.The actor will return behind the camera for “Modigliani,” a biographical drama about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. Al Pacino is producing the film along with Barry Navidi.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorJi.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival has revealed to Variety the projects that the participants of its 2022 Emerging Producers program are working on. The producers were asked to deliver an elevator pitch for their projects.Every year since 2010, the festival has selected 18 up-and-coming producers of documentary films (17 European and one representing a non-European guest country), which are then provided with educational, networking and promotional support.There are almost 200 alumni of the program, many of whom have gone on to win awards at major festivals.The 2023 participants will be announced by Ji.hlava during the Sarajevo Film Festival on Aug. 15.“All Roads” (working title)Producer: Charlotte Hailstone, Hailstone Films (U.K.)Director: Laura WadhaSynopsis: A decade after the war began, a Scottish/Syrian filmmaker tries to reconnect with her fractured Syrian family, scattered around the world. She embarks on a journey, exploring the breakdown in communication between loved ones she hasn’t seen since 2010, wondering to what extent this has actually been caused by the war.Pitch: Laura’s debut feature builds on her successful short documentaries, including Berlinale Crystal Bear-winning “Born in Damascus.” This intimate film shows the audience what happens long after the initial upheaval of war. A timely light shone on the lasting impact this trauma has on lives and relationships.

Johnny Depp is royalty in iconic French director Maïwenn’s love story “Jeanne du Barry”.

EXCLUSIVE: Director Bill Oliver has rounded out the cast for his drama Our Son, with Andrew Rannells (Girls5eva), Robin Weigert (American Horror Story) and Kate Burton (Inventing Anna) signing on for roles, along with Phylicia Rashad (This Is Us), Cassandra Freeman (Bel-Air) and Isaac Powell (Dear Evan Hansen).

Holly Jones Paris-based sales company Alief has swooped on international sales rights to horror-political thriller “Matadero” (“Slaughterhouse”), the awaited fiction feature debut of Argentina’s Santiago Fillol, co-scribe on Oliver Laxe’s Cannes winners “Mimosa” and “Fire Will Come.”Co-written by Fillol, “Matadero” world premieres this week in Locarno’s main International Competition.The film takes a stark look at a historic tale through the maniacal lens of U.S. filmmaker Jared (Julio Perillán), as he shoots a big-screen version of a 19th-century text by Argentine writer Estaban Echeverría, exploiting the times and their trappings to create a piece of cinema meant to dig itself into the collective consciousness.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“The Batman” actor Andy Serkis is set to showrun and direct “Madame!,” an epic period series about the life of Marie Tussaud, the visionary French artist known for her wax sculptures and the world-famous museum Madame Tussauds.Newen Connect, the distribution arm of TF1 Group-owned Newen Studios, has signed a deal with Imaginarium Productions, the company founded by Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish, to co-develop and distribute the series which Serkis created. Cavendish will produce alongside Marie Guillaumond at Felicita Films.The compelling series will shed light on this ruthless yet pioneering business woman who built her business, starting in 18th century Paris, during the age of enlightenment, the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, before travelling to England.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentOne year after she dazzled at the Cannes Festival, winning its Golden Eye for best documentary for “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” Payal Kapadia’s fiction debut “All We Imagine as Light,” has attracted the most potent production partner support of any project introduced at this year’s Locarno Match Me!“Night’s” producers. Petit Chaos’ Thomas Hakim, Julien Graff  in France and Ranabir Das (also DP and editor on “Night”) at India’s Another Birth will produce “Light.”Also on board, confirmed early July, is Oliver Pere at Arte France Cinéma.  Further co-producers take in Zico Maitra and Aastha Singh (Chalk & Cheese, India), Frank Hoeve (Baldr, Netherlands), Gilles Chanial (Les Films Fauves, Luxembourg and, in the latest addition to partners, Denise Lee and Roberto Minervini (Pulpa Films, Italy).