Tamsen Fadal’s Nationally Syndicated Broadway Show Gets New Name (EXCLUSIVE)

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaSaban Films is getting in the Nicolas Cage business.The studio has acquired “Butcher’s Crossing,” a frontier epic that stars the off-beat, Oscar winner as a buffalo hunter. The deal covers rights in North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia.Gabe Polsky, who directed the documentary “Red Penguins,” slides behind the camera on this one.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNitehawk Cinema is expanding its programming team.The chain, which has branches in Williamsburg and Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, N.Y., has hired Cristina Cacioppo and Desmond Thorne to augment its programming staff.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaSearchlight Pictures has promoted Taylor Friedman to senior vice president of production and elevated Richard Ruiz to vice president of production.Friedman, who has been with Searchlight since 2009, previously served as vice president of production, and Ruiz, who joined the indie label in 2015, previously served as director of production.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaJaime King, Antonio Banderas and Tommy Flanagan have joined the cast of “Banshee,” an action film from director Jon Keeyes.The film follows a freelance assassin, codenamed Banshee (King), who is ambushed by Anthony Greene (Flanagan), a powerful mercenary who killed her father, and who is now seeking to collect a bounty on Caleb (Banderas), her former black ops mentor.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaDianne Doan has joined the cast of “Reunion.”The film centers on a murder that takes place during a high school reunion party and has already attracted a cast of comedy heavyweights and in-demand actors. Doan will appear alongside Lil Rel Howery, Billy Magnussen, Jillian Bell, Nina Dobrev, Jamie Chung, Michael Hitchcock and Chace Crawford.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaIt was an acting challenge that Naomi Watts couldn’t pass up.In “Lakewood,” the Oscar-nominated star of such grueling exercises in cinematic heroics as “The Impossible” and “King Kong,” spends the bulk of the movie running through the forest, struggling with spotty cellphone reception while trying to make her way to her teenage son’s school, which is under lockdown with an active shooter.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaJannat Gargi has been named senior vice president and head of documentaries at Westbrook, where she will be tasked with making non-fiction features and premium series. She joins the media company from Vice Studios, where she most recently held the role of vice president of documentaries.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaLeslie Odom Jr. and Audra McDonald will split emceeing duties for the Tony Awards and the special celebration of all things Broadway that will accompany the annual handing out of statues.

The upcoming Broadway show Diana: The Musical hasn’t even premiered yet, but it will soon be streaming on Netflix for anyone to watch at home!

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Love Actually? The Unauthorized Musical Parody,” a sendup of the beloved Richard Curtis rom-com classic, will return to the stage. The Off-Broadway production, which is produced by Right Angle Entertainment, will begin performances on Wednesday, Nov.

Linda Kahn, a children’s TV executive for more than 40 years who also was a former board president of New York Women in Film & Television, has died. She was 72. NYWIFT said she died August 30 but did not provide details.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaWhen Namir Smallwood took the stage for the first preview of his first show on Broadway, the audience gave him and his “Pass Over” co-star Jon Michael Hill a thunderous standing ovation.

Sledgehammer Games has turned New Zealand’s national war hero into an Australian in Call Of Duty: Vanguard.The upcoming World War II shooter is set to introduce four heroes to the game who are each inspired by real-life people, including the Russian Polina Petrova, the British Arthur Kingsley, the American Wade Jackson and the Australian Lucas Riggs.However, Lucas Riggs, who is based on the real New Zealander Charles Upham, the only man to be awarded two Victoria crosses for his service in

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaUri Singer has obtained the rights “Invitation to a Beheading,” a surrealist and politically charged work by Vladimir Nabokov, the author of “Lolita.”Singer has been carving out a niche for himself by developing literary classics into potential films.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaReed Birney, the stage and screen veteran best known for his Tony-winning turn in “The Humans,” has joined the packed cast of Mark Mylod’s “The Menu.” The Searchlight Pictures dark comedy has already lined up an impressive ensemble of heavyweight talent, including the previously announced Anya Taylor Joy and Ralph Fiennes.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNina Dobrev, Jamie Chung, Michael Hitchcock and Chace Crawford will round out the cast of “Reunion,” an ensemble comedy from Artists Road. They join the previously announced Lil Rel Howery, Billy Magnussen and Jillian Bell in the film about a murder that takes place during a high school reunion party.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaFemale directors had a better chance of having their documentaries screened at film festivals than their narrative features, according to a new study.Women accounted for 42% of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers on documentaries that were featured in Sundance, SXSW, AFI, New York Film Festival and other annual celebrations of moviemaking.