Ashley Judd To Topline Vertical Thriller ‘Lazareth’ From Writer-Director Alec Tibaldi

EXCLUSIVE: Wagner Moura (Narcos, Elite Squad, The Gray Man) is set to star in the upcoming biopic Angicos about Brazilian educator and author Paulo Freire. Felipe Hirsch will write and direct and Adriana Tavares of Café Royal will produce alongside Paula Linhares of Cenya Productions and Marcos Tellechea and Guilherme Somlo of Reagent Media.

Senegalese and French director Ramata-Toulaye Sy is only the second Black woman to make it into Competition in Cannes. Her debut feature, Banel & Adama, which had its debut Saturday, follows in the footsteps of Mati Diop’s 2019 Atlantics.

You know an artist must be doing something special when even Andrew Bujalski, the godfather of mumblecore, calls their work “excruciating and extraordinary.” But this is where Brooklyn-based director and comic-book writer Joanna Arnow is right now, after a string of darkly funny shorts that might be said to combine the sexual candor of early Chantal Akerman with the sardonic humor of Todd Solondz.

Refresh for updates…Sean Penn, asked about the current state of big wig studio chiefs and the plight of writers and directors, said today at the Black Flies presser, “The industry has been uspending the writers and directors for a long time. I fully support the situation with writers guild, of course.”

Tony winner Lena Hall is set to star in a new Broadway-aimed musical from the & Juliet writing and directing team and featuring the hit songs of rock & roll pioneer Roy Orbison.

In case you hadn’t heard, mermaid-core is set to be the next big beauty trend, with Pinterest searches for ‘mermaidcore’ skyrocketing by 614% according to a new analysis from fashion site Nasty Gal. With Google searches for mermaid style also rising by 736% worldwide over the past year, it looks like the power of Disney’s long anticipated live action remake of The Little Mermaid has already found its way into the makeup bags of beauty fans everywhere.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Well Go USA Entertainment has taken North American distribution rights to “Mercy Road,” a new psychological thriller from Arclight Films. The film stars Australian actor Luke Bracey, who was most recently seen in Baz Lurhman’s “Elvis” and the re-make of “Point Break.” “Mercy Road” follows a flawed everyman who commits an impulsive and vicious crime. In this ultimate journey to redemption, he discovers how far he is willing to go to save his child.   It was written and directed by John Curran, the director of such acclaimed dramas as “Chappaquiddick” and “The Painted Veil.”  Chris Pelletier and Jesse Heffring penned the script. Susie Porter (“Cargo”) and Huw Higginson (“The Nightingale”) co-star with Toby Jones (“Poor Cow”). Well Go USA will release “Mercy Road” in late 2023. 

EXCLUSIVE: Jessica Alba (Sin City), Russell Harvard (Fargo), and Daniel Durant (CODA) are attached to star in sports feature film Flash Before the Bang, inspired by the true story of an all-deaf high school track and field team in 1980’s Oregon.

EXCLUSIVE: 1883 breakout Isabel May is set to star opposite Jurnee Smollett in the thriller Sunflower, which Misha Green is directing for Lionsgate, in her feature debut.

EXCLUSIVE: Ashley Moore (I Know What You Did Last Summer) and Camren Bicondova (Gotham) will topline Festival of the Living Dead, a Tubi film inspired by the classic 1968 zombie pic Night of the Living Dead co-written and directed by George A. Romero.

EXCLUSIVE: Alison Oliver (Saltburn), Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country), Marc Maron (To Leslie) and Odessa Young (The Staircase) have closed deals to join The Order, the crime thriller to be directed for Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios by Justin Kurzel, which is heading into production on Wednesday.

Judd Apatow is opening up about the ongoing writers’ strike.

EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Phillippe (American Murderer), Emile Hirsch (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Mena Suvari (American Horror Story) will topline Kalahari, a new action thriller from Vertical, which has wrapped production.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Inkas the Ramferinkas,” a story about a small flying dinosaur, is being adapted into an animated feature film. Independent film producer Niels Juul and Sherman Theatrical Entertainment have teamed up to develop the project, which is inspired by music from the Sherman Brothers. It’s the first and final musical from the late Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the songwriting duo behind Walt Disney classics from “The Jungle Book,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” and “Mary Poppins.” The Sherman brothers won Oscars for their work on “Mary Poppins,” including best song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee” and best score. They went on to earn nine Oscar nominations, two Grammy Awards, 23 gold and platinum records and have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Perhaps their biggest contribution to the pop culture landscape, however, is writing the song “It’s a Small World (After All).”

Elizabeth Debicki and director Giuseppe Capotondi teamed up in 2019 for “The Burnt Orange Heresy,” a devilish thriller about the art world, forgery, and the lengths one will go to protect one’s image. Now THR reports that the duo will work together again on a new thriller from producer James Ivory.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Alan Ritchson (“Reacher,” “Fast X”) has been set as the lead in “Motor City,” an action thriller from director Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted,” “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”). Black Bear Intl. will launch sales at Cannes. Ritchson will play John Miller, a Detroit man released from prison, who unleashes a rampage of brutal vengeance on those who framed him. The Detroit-set film will be “characterized by immersive visual storytelling, with stunningly choreographed and stylized action sequences,” according to a statement. Greg Silverman and Jon Berg will produce for Stampede Ventures, alongside Cliff Roberts and Chad St. John, who also penned the script. Executive producers include Chris Bosco and Gideon Yu for Stampede Ventures and John Friedberg for Black Bear Intl.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In an ultimate show-must-go-on moment in country music history, Wynonna Judd was not about to let the legacy of the Judds slip quietly into the sunset, rather than go out as spectacularly as intended, after her mother, Naomi Judd, died by suicide in April 2022. And so the Judds farewell tour that had been scheduled for last fall did proceed, against all probabilities, with a bevy of top stars trading places as Naomi’s stand-in each night. The emotional end of that road was captured for not just one but two new specials premiering on different Paramount platforms — “Wynonna Judd: Between Hell and Hallelujah,” a feature-length documentary that debuted Wednesday on Paramount+, and “The Judds: Love Is Alive — The Final Concert,” a two-hour performance special bowing tonight on CMT.

EXCLUSIVE: Lulu Wilson (The Wrath of Becky), Omari Hardwick (Power) and Trae Romano (Stargirl) are set to star in Xeno, a new film that writer, director and VFX Artist Matthew Loren Oates (Farewell Bender) will direct for Kevin Hart‘s Hartbeat, from his own script.

EXCLUSIVE: Danny Dyer’s new short film Stepping Stone will launch on UK streamer ITVX during next month’s Mental Health Awareness Week.

Netflix has greenlit a Keira Knightley-starring thriller, the latest series from The Crown producer Left Bank and a Bank of Dave sequel.