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Leonardo DiCaprio to Produce YA Adaptation ‘Sandcastle Empire’ for Paramount
13 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Paramount Pictures has optioned the YA novel “The Sandcastle Empire” with Leonardo DiCaprio on board to produce.
Jennifer Davisson, DiCaprio’s partner at Appian Way, is also attached to produce through their production banner.
The novel was written by Kayla Olson and is set in 2049 when the Earth is at a breaking point due to climate change, coastal flooding and overpopulation. A radical faction known as the Wolfpack overthrows the government and takes control.
The story centers on a young woman named Eden who escapes a Wolfpack labor camp, joining three others fleeing to an island. During her journey, she will find clues as to what happened to her missing father and find out that she is the key to bringing down the Wolfpack.
The book’s theme of climate change is an important one for DiCaprio, as he’s been vocal about the environmental issue, speaking out on it »
- Justin Kroll
Gwendoline Christie confirms Captain Phasma return in Star Wars: Episode VIII
1 February 2016 3:12 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
British actor hopes mainstream success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will encourage more women to audition for parts originally written for men
Gwendoline Christie has confirmed she will return to the role of imposing villain Captain Phasma in the forthcoming sequel to box-office record-breaker Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Speaking to People magazine at the Screen Actors Guild awards on 30 January, Christie also said she hoped her achievement in winning the part of a character originally written for a man would encourage greater diversity in Hollywood.
Continue reading »
- Ben Child
Keira Knightley in Talks to Star in ‘Carol’ Producers’ ‘Colette’
1 February 2016 1:54 AM, PST | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
London — Keira Knightley is in talks to star in biopic “Colette,” which reunites the producers behind “Carol,” Number 9 Films and Killer Films. “Still Alice’s” Wash Westmoreland is directing the film.
Bold Films will finance and co-produce the pic, with HanWay Films handling worldwide sales. The screenplay is by Westmoreland and the late Richard Glatzer, who co-wrote and co-directed “Still Alice.” Filming will start in May in Budapest.
Pam Koffler and Christine Vachon (“Carol,” “Still Alice”) produce for Killer Films and Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley (“Carol,” “Made in Dagenham”) will produce for Number 9 Films. Bold Films’ chairman Michel Litvak will produce for Bold Films. CEO for Bold Films Gary Michael Walters will executive produce.
The film tells the true story of Colette, one of France’s leading female writers. Her first marriage was to a larger-than-life character: Willy Gauthier-Villars, a celebrated Parisian wit, critic and man about town. »
- Leo Barraclough
Noomi Rapace Won’t Return for ‘Alien: Covenant’
21 hours ago | Slash Film | See recent Slash Film news »
Title notwithstanding, Alien: Covenant is a Prometheus sequel, and as such we’ve been expecting it to pick up where that earlier adventure left off. But it seems at least one major development will have taken place by the time we revisit that universe. Director Ridley Scott confirms Noomi Rapace will not return as archaeologist Elizabeth Shaw, leaving Michael Fassbender‘s murderous android David the […]
The post Noomi Rapace Won’t Return for ‘Alien: Covenant’ appeared first on /Film. »
- Angie Han
‘Revenant,’ ‘Mad Max,’ ‘Game of Thrones’ Win Art Directors Guild Awards
31 January 2016 10:03 PM, PST | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
“The Revenant,” “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Martian” walked away with film honors at the Art Directors Guild’s 20th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards Sunday night. “Game of Thrones,” “House of Cards” and “American Horror Story: Hotel” were among the TV champs.
“The Revenant” fended off composition in the period category from “Bridge of Spies,” “Crimson Peak,” “The Danish Girl” and “Trumbo.” “Mad Max” won over “Cinderella,” “Jurassic World,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Tomorrowland” in the fantasy field, while “The Martian” topped “Ex Machina,” “Joy,” “Sicario” and “Spectre” in contemporary.
All three film winners were Oscar-nominated.
Owen Benjamin hosted the ceremony at the Beverly Hilton International Ballroom in Beverly Hills, Calif. Special honors were given to David O. Russell and Robert Osborne. Bill Anderson, Harrison Ellenshaw, William J. “Bill” Newman II and Patrizia von Brandenstein received lifetime achievement awards.
See the full list of winners below. »
- Variety Staff
Tom Riley, Mamie Gummer, Richard Coyle, Frances de la Tour Join Amazon’s ‘The Collection’
1 February 2016 12:00 AM, PST | Variety - TV News | See recent Variety - TV News news »
London — “Da Vinci’s Demons” star Tom Riley, “Ricki and the Flash” thesp Mamie Gummer, Richard Coyle and Frances de la Tour are to lead the cast of Amazon Prime’s fashion-house drama “The Collection” from showrunner Oliver Goldstick, whose credits include “Ugly Betty” and “Desperate Housewives.”
Amazon Prime has the exclusive rights in the U.K. to the eight-part drama series, which is co-commissioned and distributed by BBC Worldwide internationally. Lookout Point, whose credits include “Ripper Street” and “War and Peace,” produces the show.
“The Collection” is the story of an illustrious Paris fashion house, emerging from the dark days of the Nazi Occupation, now ushering in a new golden age of design and business. Centered on two very different brothers, the drama “exposes the grit behind the glamour and the treachery beneath the trappings of this empire, and all who work there.”
Coyle (“Crossbones,” “Life of Crime,” “Going Postal”) plays Paul Sabine, »
- Leo Barraclough
'Straight Outta Compton' screenwriters Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff dish Oscar nomination (Video)
50 minutes ago | Gold Derby | See recent Gold Derby news »
Although Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff were both excited by their Oscar nominations for penning “Straight Outta Compton,” the pair told us during a recent webcam chat (watch above) that they couldn’t help but be heartbroken by the film's shutout in every other category, including Best Picture. “We think that absolutely their work deserved to be recognized,” said Berloff of director F. Gary Gray and the actors who helped bring rap group N.W.A.'s story to life. “We wish that they had been along for the ride.” -Break- Subscribe to Gold Derby Breaking News Alerts & Experts’ Latest Oscar Predictions “We were telling their story,” adds Herman. “There would be no movie without Gary Gray and Ice Cube and Dr. Dre and Scott Bernstein (producer) and the wonderful actors O’Shea (Jackson Jr.), Corey Hawkins, and Jason Mitchell. They all were such an indelible part of this movie. We »
Ford Foundation, Cannes Film Market Launch Docu Push Against Inequality (Exclusive)
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
The Ford Foundation’s and Cannes Film Market’s networking mini-mart Doc Corner announced Tuesday a two year-partnership to raise global awareness on social justice, working against inequality.
Driving to hike the profile, market networking and distribution of social justice docu features at Cannes, the initiative was first mooted months before Hollywood began worrying about an All White Oscars. That debate, however, will only serve to focus more attention on the groundbreaking Ford Foundation-Cannes new push.
Partnership establishes a large presence at Cannes for the Ford Foundation’s five-year-old JustFilms, a film financing, social awareness and education program that has backed
visual story tellers, new media projects and organizations that work to this end. Multiple doc features it has supported, to give just two instances, include Marc Silver’s “gripping” – per Variety – 2015 Sundance winner “3 ½ Minutes” and the “fascinating”- Variety again – “Best of Enemies,” about the televised clash between conservative »
- John Hopewell
Berlin Film Festival to Pay Tribute to David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Ettore Scola
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
London — The Berlin Film Festival will pay tribute to David Bowie, Alan Rickman and Italian director Ettore Scola by presenting special screenings in their honor.
To commemorate Bowie, the festival will show Nicolas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth” at Friedrichstadt-Palast on Feb. 12.
“David Bowie was a tremendous musician, an avant-garde artist who expressed his creativity in many disciplines,” festival director Dieter Kosslick said.
Bowie’s ties to Berlin go back to the time he spent in the city from 1976 to 1978. At the festival, he appeared in the documentaries “Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart,” “Scott Walker — 30 Century Man” and “Let’s Dance: Bowie Down Under,” as well as the fiction films “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and “Mr Rice’s Secret.”
To commemorate Rickman, the Berlinale will show Ang Lee’s “Sense and Sensibility,” winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 1996. The screening »
- Leo Barraclough
Sony Pictures Co-Produces, Takes World on Zeta Cinema Comedy ‘Karma’ (Exclusive)
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Madrid –In a decisive play for a movie that is shaping up as one of Spain’s biggest B.O. bets of 2016, Sony Pictures Spain is teaming with Antonio Asensio’s Madrid-based Zeta Cinema to co-produce romcom “No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas (“Don’t Blame Karma for Being a Jerk”).
Sony Pictures has also acquired worldwide distribution rights. It plans a Nov. 11 Spanish theatrical release for “Karma” – prime box office dating for Spain.
Toplining Clara Lago, the star of B.O. juggernauts “Spanish Affair” and “Spanish Affair 2,” the highest-grossing movies in Spain in 2014 and 2015, “Karma” marks the big-screen makeover of the Planeta-published novel of the same title by Laura Norton, which sold 100,000 copies in Spain.
It also reteams Lago, director Maria Ripoll (“Tortilla Soup,” “Traces of Sandalwood”), Zeta Cinema and Sony Pictures Spain, all involved in romantic comedy “It’s Now or Never,” which »
- John Hopewell
Visual Effects Society Awards predictions: 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' 'The Revenant,' 'Inside Out'
1 hour ago | Gold Derby | See recent Gold Derby news »
No surprise that "Mad Max: Fury Road" is favored to take the top prize at Tuesday's Visual Effects Society Awards. After all, it is the clear frontrunner for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars. Its closest rival for the Academy Award -- "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" -- picked up seven nominations at the 14th annual edition of these kudos, which take place at the Beverly Hilton. -Break- Subscribe to Gold Derby Breaking News Alerts & Experts’ Latest Oscar Predictions Both of these sci-fi epics vie in the Ves equivalent of the Best Picture race -- visual effects in a visual effects-driven feature motion picture -- along with rival Oscar nominee "The Martian" as well as "San Andreas" and "Furious 7." "The Revenant," which is the only Oscar contender among the supporting visual effects nominees, is predicted to prevail over "Bridge of Spies," "Evere..."' »
Guild awards scorecard: Emmy champ 'Game of Thrones' leads among TV dramas
1 hour ago | Gold Derby | See recent Gold Derby news »
Illustrative of the “peak television” age, the industry guilds and societies nominated 45 dramas this year (listed below) in forty-one categories. “Game of Thrones” was cited by all 13 guilds that have an equivalent Emmy category. It has more than double the nominations of any other drama, mirroring its success at the most recent Emmys when it set a record with 12 wins. However, unlike the Emmys, most of the guilds use the calendar year for eligibility; only the producers and casting directors follow the Emmys’ lead and use June to May. -Break- Subscribe to Gold Derby Breaking News Alerts Thus, this schedule pits series that finished in the first half of 2015 such as “Mad Men,” which contended at last fall's Emmys, against new shows like “Mr. Robot” that are only eligible at the next Emmys. Similarly, “Game of Thrones” is nominated at most guilds for the spring season that has already been »
Clive Owen Joins Meryl Streep on Berlin Film Festival Jury
2 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
London — U.K. actor Clive Owen, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher and Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska have joined Meryl Streep on the international jury of the Berlin Film Festival.
Also on the jury are French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, “Sight & Sound” editor Nick James and German actor Lars Eidinger. As previously announced, Streep is the president of the jury.
Owen, who stars in Steven Soderbergh’s TV series “The Knick,” will appear in Luc Besson’s “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” which starts to shoot in the spring.
Rohrwacher’s credits include Luca Guadagnino’s “I Am Love,” Marco Bellocchio’s “Dormant Beauty” and Alice Rohrwacher’s “The Wonders.” She also starred in Laura Bispuri’s 2015 Berlinale competition entry “Sworn Virgin.”
Szumowska has had several films in Berlin, including “Elles,” which opened Panorama, and “In the Name of,” which was in competition and won the Teddy Award. She was in competition again with “Body, »
- Leo Barraclough
Legendary-Wanda Deal Approved by U.S. Commerce Department
2 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
The $3.5 billion move by China’s Dalian Wanda group to acquire leading Hollywood producer Legendary Entertainment has received the green light from the U.S. Commerce Department.
The deal was formally unveiled in Beijing less than a month ago by Wanda’s Wang Jianglin and Legendary’s Thomas Tull.
It is subject to ongoing regulatory scrutiny within China, from both the National Development and Reform Commission and from the Ministry of Commerce.
“It is quite a feat for an acquisition to be approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce in such a short time,” Wanda said in a statement on Tuesday. “This reflects the positive attitude that the U.S. government has towards Sino-u.S. cultural exchange.
Wanda, which has deep roots in property development, made its first overseas move in the entertainment sphere in 2012 when it agreed to pay $2.3 billion for the AMC cinema chain. The move has »
- Patrick Frater
French Animation/VFX Expects a Major Boost from its 30% Trip Rebate Hike
3 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Paris -. France is increasingly vying with the U.K. as the leading hub in Europe for animation and visual effects services.
The sector has been one of the prime beneficiaries of France’s Trip tax rebate scheme since its launch in 2009, and the recent rate hike to 30% will further intensify the sector’s growth.
“This is the sector where the Trip scheme has had its biggest impact,” says Olivier René Veillon, executive director of the Paris region Ile de France Film Commission. “We have five-to-six companies that have attained an international level and are able to work on major projects with American companies.”
Since 2009, 26% of the 96 projects approved under Trip have been animation or VFX projects – eight animation features, 11 animation series and six VFX feature film projects – but they rep 48.5% of the total spend under the scheme.
In 2015, the sector was responsible for two-thirds of total spend under Trip »
- Martin Dale
A Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens Video Game Is Coming, Promises to Fill in Some of the Story Gaps Between Episodes VI and VII
4 hours ago | Vulture | See recent Vulture news »
The next major way you'll be able to quench your Force Awakens fandom will be in the form of a Lego video game. Polygon notes that the Xbox Store, late Monday night, might have prematurely published its Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens product page ahead of a big announcement that was being teased for the next morning. The move nonetheless revealed some of the game's details, which, according to Xbox, promise a Tfa-based journey — and "exclusive playable content that bridges the story gap between Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens." That sounds fun, but unfortunately you'll have to wait till June 28 to learn what that truly entails. For the meantime, roll the leaked trailer above to see how some of the film's most memorable scenes have received the Lego treatment, and, perhaps more importantly, how Rey's speeder has been »
- Sean Fitz-Gerald
Film Review: ‘The Little Gangster’
4 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
A clever Dutch family comedy, “The Little Gangster” finds our grade-school hero managing to escape constant bullying by convincing his classmates — and an entire neighborhood — that his milquetoast father is in fact a Mafia don. Those who expect kid pics to have a constructive message might take exception to this one’s apparent takeaway that a little intimidation can be a good thing, so long as you really mean no harm (and target only actual bullies). For everyone else, Arne Toonen’s slick feature will go down easy as an entertaining, neatly plotted comedy that could tempt limited offshore specialty sales and remake bids.
Motherless Rikkie Boskamp (Thor Braun) wishes he had a “cool” father — certainly not one like bespectacled accountant Paul (Henry van Loon), who seems permanently depressed and distracted. Paul is so passive that even his status as a grieving widower doesn’t spare him co-workers’ cruel practical jokes. »
- Dennis Harvey
Witness: George Miller Will Preside Over This Year’s Cannes Festival Jury
5 hours ago | Vulture | See recent Vulture news »
George Miller will serve as president of the 69th Cannes Film Festival, taking place May 11 to 22. The fest announced Miller's role — which, among other things, entails heading the jury and handing out the Palme d'Or — on Monday night. "To be there in the middle of this storied festival at the unveiling of cinematic treasures from all over the planet," the Australian helmer said in response. "To spend time in passionate discourse with fellow members of the jury. Such an honor." In his charge, the Mad Max mastermind follows last year's Coen brothers, 2014's Jane Campion, and 2013's Steven Spielberg; no stranger to the fest, Miller was there last year with Fury Road, and, as Variety points out, has adjudicated two other times. ("I’ll be there with bells on!" Miller added, because sometimes it's important to be as enthusiastic as Nux when exciting opportunities arise.) The rest of the jury, »
- Sean Fitz-Gerald
Film Review: ‘A Present From the Past’
5 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Personal filmmaking on the fly doesn’t get more charming than “A Present From the Past,” Kawthar Younis’ delightful autobiographical essay whose rough, largely hidden-camera visuals somehow add to its appeal. Thirty years ago, Younis’ father broke off a relationship with a woman he met while studying in Italy; as a birthday present, Kawthar buys tickets to Rome so they can find his former love together. The father and daughter’s playful relationship, along with the delicious anticipation of whether they locate his ex, should make “Present” a winning fest item anywhere.
Mokhtar Younis, a cinema professor in Cairo, doesn’t know his daughter is filming when she presents him with two tickets to Rome as a gift for his 75th. (Presumably) happily married for nearly three decades, Mokhtar never hid his past relationship with a certain Patrizia, the Italian he romanced and abandoned years earlier in Rome. He’s »
- Jay Weissberg
Film Review: ‘Eat That Question: Frank Zappa In His Own Words’
6 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
“Eat That Question: Frank Zappa In His Own Words” pulls together interview, concert and behind-the-scenes footage to commemorate one of the rock era’s most idiosyncratic star musicians. Thorsten Schutte’s entirely archival assemblage is most likely to be appreciated by the previously converted, as its stimulating if somewhat patchy overview of a multi-various career skims over or omits too many aspects to comprise a definitive introduction. Sony Classics picked up worldwide rights (excluding France and Germany) at Sundance.
A self-taught composer and multi-instrumentalist primarily interested in avant-garde music, the young Zappa is seen wresting sounds from an adapted bicycle (accompanied by studio band) on the syndicated “Steve Allen Show” in 1963. Also heavily influenced by free jazz, such experimentation won much attention if not wide commercial success with 1966’s “Freak Out,” his first album with the Mothers of Invention.
It established him as a challenging outlier in the rock field, »
- Dennis Harvey
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