Sean Baker Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Thanks to early official announcements a number of the movies debuting at this year’s 77th edition of the Festival de Cannes are already known. Quentin Dupieux’s “The Second Act” will open the festival.

Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov returns to Cannes once again this year with Limonov: The Ballad starring Ben Whishaw, for which we can share a first-look image from above. 

Greek weird wave filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, known for Academy Award-nominated favorites like “Poor Things” and “The Favourite,” is heading back to the Cannes Film Festival once again this year with his new film, “Kind Of Kindness.” And Searchlight Picture is wasting no time celebrating by releasing a new trailer for the film. READ MORE: Cannes 2024: New Films From Yorgos Lanthimos, Frances Ford Coppola, Sean Baker & Andrea Arnold “Kind of Kindness” is an anthology film drama that follows three different stories.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Fusion Entertainment has signed Bria Vinaite, an actress who got her breakout role as a woman living on the economic fringes in Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project.” The Lithuania-born actress was discovered by filmmaker Baker when she was working in the fashion industry and cast in the lead part of a struggling single mother raising her daughter in a motel. Her performance earned Vinaite multiple award nominations from critics groups including Chicago Film Critics Association and San Diego Film Critics Association.

What’s Sean Baker have in store for audiences next? Variety has the scoop there, reporting that the “Red Rocket” director teams up with FilmNation Entertainment again for his upcoming film “Anora.” And the movie is already in post-production, although plot details remain under wraps. As for who stars in Baker’s latest, there’s one confirmed name: Mikey Madison, who audiences will recognize from “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood…” and “Scream 5.” READ MORE: Sean Baker Warns “Censorship” Could Be Coming To American Cinema As He Wraps Production On His Newest Film Baker shot his upcoming film in Brooklyn earlier this year.

Brent Lang Executive Editor FilmNation Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to Sean Baker’s new romantic dramedy film “Anora.” Following the acquisition, FilmNation sold rights internationally to Le Pacte in France, Lev in Israel, Kismet in Australia and New Zealand and Focus Features and Universal Pictures International in the rest of the world, excluding North America. The film was written and directed by Baker, who is best known for directing “Tangerine” and “The Florida Project.” It shot on location at the beginning of the year in Brooklyn and stars Mikey Madison, who appeared as Manson Family follower Susan “Sadie” Atkins in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Plot details are being kept under wraps.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Fusion Entertainment has signed on to manage Joanna Arnow, an acclaimed acclaimed writer, director, actor and editor whose narrative feature debut “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed” impressed audiences and critics when it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors Fortnight section.The film was later acquired by Magnolia Pictures. It will be released domestically in 2024 after having its U.S.

Jaden Thompson Actor Alexandra McVicker has signed with Fusion Entertainment for management. McVicker, who is transgender, hails from Lexington, Kentucky. Prior to her transition, she was known for her breakout role on the HBO show “Vice Principals,” a dark comedy starring Danny McBride and Walton Goggins as conniving high school vice principals vying to run the school.

Julia Fox is dabbling in the Canadian film industry.

Sean Baker has made a name for himself as one of the most acclaimed indie filmmakers working today. And when you talk about “indie” cinema, Baker isn’t making small Netflix features.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Joanna Arnow’s “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed.” The film, which recently world-premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section and is executive produced by Sean Baker, is a comedy about a 30-something New York woman, who is played by Arnow. It follows her as time passes in her long-term casual BDSM relationship and low-level corporate job, and chronicles her quarrelsome Jewish family.  Critics liked Arnow’s witty and fresh take, with Variety calling it one of the festival’s true discoveries and hailing the filmmaker as “a raw, intimate and more importantly extremely funny new talent.“ The film is Arnow’s narrative feature film debut following shorts including “Bad Dancing,” which won the Berlinale Silver Bear, “Laying Out,” and the feature doc “I hate myself:).” 

Brent Lang Executive Editor Pan Distribution has acquired French rights to Joanna Arnow’s dark comedy “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed” following its Cannes Film Festival debut. Loco Films is handling international sales on the title.  The film is a major breakthrough for Arnow, who not only makes her narrative feature directing debut, but also wrote, edited and stars in the picture. Critics liked her vision, with Variety‘s Catherine Bray praising “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed” as “brilliantly sardonic” and adding that “you would hope that this is the kind of film that would lead to fame and fortune for Arnow.” The film follows the life of a thirtysomething woman named Ann, as she engages in a casual BDSM relationship, grapples with her low-level corporate job, and deals with her bickering family.  

Catherine Bray Festival reviews just love to hype a breakout performance, to the extent that one worries about becoming the little critic that cried breakout. But here goes: Talia Ryder, lead actor in “The Sweet East,” is a star. There’s something of Kristen Stewart about her, not merely in terms of physical resemblance, but more in her gift for not just acting but reacting. That’s fortunate, because her character is generally surrounded by extremely chatty blowhards, most of them interested only in the role she might play for them in their own lives. She lies constantly about her identity and where she’s from, and these lies go down easy because nobody is particularly invested in who she might actually be — they’re too keen to fit her into their own mythology.

Film Independent has announced the presenters for the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Saruul is studying to be an engineer when she agrees to take the last job her cosmopolitan but still relatively conservative Mongolian parents would ever imagine their daughter doing: selling intimacy aids (of the vibrating, silicone and inflatable variety) in a basement-level sex shop. Technically, Saruul’s just filling in for a shy friend at school who trusts her to be discreet, but this temporary gig has a subtle yet life-changing impact on the title character, who looks like she could be 14 years old at first, but blossoms into a more self-aware young woman over “The Sales Girl’s” slightly overlong running time. The top prize winner of the New York Asian Film Festival, veteran director Sengedorj Janchivdorj’s umpteenth feature takes a frank, sex-positive approach to the titillating world in which it’s set. But that doesn’t make this an erotic film. Instead, “The Sales Girl” focuses mostly on the unlikely friendship between Saruul (Bayartsetseg Bayangerel) and her Russian-speaking boss Katya (Enkhtuul Oidovjamts), a surly ex-dancer who takes a linking to her naive new employee. In a funny way, the film shares the slightly edgy but ultimately sentimental vibe of certain underground comics (“Ghost World” comes to mind) or the work of American indie director Sean Baker, whose last four features (dating back to “Starlet,” the film this most resembles) have had the honesty to acknowledge the role sexuality plays in modern life and commerce.

J. Kim Murphy Clu Gulager, a veteran actor known for his roles in the NBC series “The Virginian” and the 1985 horror-comedy “The Return of the Living Dead,” has died of natural causes. He was 93 years old.Gulager’s son, John, shared a photo of his father on his Facebook as a tribute.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaFusion Entertainment has signed filmmaker Ira Sachs, actor Mya Taylor and writer-director-actor Jude Dry. The management company, which was founded this year by Chris Evans and Adam Kersh, hails the signings as an important step in bolstering their roster of LGBTQ+ talent.Kersh and Sachs have had a long association, having worked together for a decade. Kersh helped spearhead the publicity campaigns for the Sachs’ queer-positive NYC triptych “Keep the Lights On” (2012), “Love Is Strange” (2014), and “Little Men” (2016).

EXCLUSIVE: Soo Joo Park (Sense8), Brock O’Hurn (The Righteous Gemstones), Bella Thorne (Measure of Revenge), Laird Hamilton (Point Break) and Duke Nicholson (Us) are the latest additions to the cast of the dark comedy The Trainer, which Tony Kaye (American History X) is directing from a script by star Vito Schnabel and Jeff Solomon.

Apple would really like you to think the new iPhone 13 Pro can be used as a cinema camera. Sure, we’ve seen filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh and Sean Baker use older iPhones to create feature films, but for the most part, there’s no way a big-budget feature would actually use a smartphone as a camera.

Red Rocket, has died, aged 60. Brenda Deiss in ‘Red Rocket’The news was confirmed by the film’s director, Sean Baker, who wrote on Twitter on Wednesday (16 February): “I have some very sad news to report. Brenda Deiss, who played Lil in Red Rocket, passed away on Monday after suffering a stroke.

Brenda Deiss, the former secretary who was cast by Red Rocket writer-director Sean Baker to play the mother-in-law of Simon Rex’s lead character Mikey Saber, died Monday at Clear Lake Hospital in Clear Lake, Texas, from complications suffered in a stroke last month. She was 60.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaBrenda Deiss, a former NASA secretary who became an unexpected movie star with her role as a tough-talking matriarch in “Red Rocket,” died Monday in Clear Lake, Tex., from complications following a stroke she suffered in January. She was 60. A spokesperson for “Red Rocket” confirmed Deiss’ death to Variety.Deiss came to acting late in life.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaChris Evans and Adam Kersh have launched Fusion Management, an artist-driven management company that will focus on actors, filmmakers and creators.Their initial management roster features a number of notable clients with a particular focus on indie multi-hyphenates and auteurs. The list includes Sean Baker, who earned raves for “Red Rocket”; filmmaker and actor Amy Seimetz, the co-creator of “The Girlfriend Experience” on Starz and the star of “No Sudden Move”; Cooper Raiff, a writer, director, producer and actor whose film “Cha Cha Real Smooth” premiered at Sundance this week to critical acclaim; and Kelly O’Sullivan, the writer and star of the award-winning “Saint Frances.”Evans, formerly a manager at One Entertainment, and Kersh, co-founder of Brigade Marketing, bring more than two decades of combined experience within the entertainment industry.

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

Red Rocket (★★★★☆), isn’t the cleverest liar, but he knows how to sprinkle just enough truth on his lies to make them believable. And if one lie doesn’t work, he always has another, or a ready excuse, a joke, or a compliment, whatever he thinks might ingratiate him with whomever’s on the receiving end of whatever angle he’s working.

How does Sean Baker do it? No, we’re not questioning his writing or directing talent. Over the past decade, he’s consistently demonstrated he’s one of the most exemplary American auteurs working today.

A24 presents Red Rocket in six theaters this weekend ahead of a limited expansion in New York and LA, adding Chicago, Austin and San Francisco next weekend with a wider rollout over the holidays to several hundred screens.

EXCLUSIVE: Red Rocket breakout Bree Elrod has signed with Anonymous Content for representation.