Dennis Quaid Joins Zazie Beetz, Elizabeth Debicki in Psychosexual Sci-Fi Drama ‘This Blue Is Mine’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Ben Croll French animation outfit Blue Spirit (the studio behind Netflix sensation “Blue Eye Samurai”) will introduced an in-house digital creation and development label under the moniker Blue Spirit Creative. Offering full-service creative and graphic development for features, series, ads and games, the creative label will be run by the Paris-based team behind Digital Banana, which Blue Spirit acquired last year. “We can now offer a one-stop-shop,” says Blue Spirit CEO Olivier Lelardoux.

Emma Corrin and Elizabeth Debicki, the road to “The Crown” began with failed auditions. Each performer was up for a guest part in the Netflix series’ early seasons; both ended up playing Princess Diana at different ages. Corrin was Emmy-nominated for portraying the newly wed and then increasingly disillusioned princess in Season 4.

EXCLUSIVE: BritBox International has named Diana Pessin as its Chief Marketing Officer, while striking U.S. and Canada deals for UK drama The Inheritance.

Police boarded a plane shortly after it landed at Manchester Airport and escorted a 'disruptive passenger' off. The drama unfolded shortly after the easyJet flight from Belfast International touched down at Terminal 1, at around 11:30pm last night (Sunday).

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Midas Man,” an upcoming drama about Brian Epstein, the visionary manager who helped turn the Beatles into the biggest thing in pop culture, has sold North American distribution rights to Briarcliff Entertainment. The company will distribute the movie in collaboration with Studio POW and American Entertainment Investors. It stars Jacob Fortune-Lloyd of “The Queen’s Gambit” as Epstein.

Elizabeth Debicki is opening up about her choice of roles.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Distributor La Vingt-Cinquième Heure has acquired the French rights to Egyptian-American director Dina Amer’s politically sensitive drama “You Resemble Me.” The film tells the story of Hasna Aït Boulahcen, who in 2015 was wrongly believed to be Europe’s first female suicide bomber. The film is a deeply researched character study of the young Muslim woman, who became linked to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris even though she didn’t participate in them.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events It’s two weeks after Elizabeth Debicki attended the Met Gala. She’s now in Los Angeles for Emmy campaigning for her work as Princess Diana on “The Crown.” I meet her Netflix’s FYC pop-up in Hollywood for quick chat before she takes part in a panel discussion with “The Crown” creator Peter Morgan. We grab a couple of seats in the “Ripley” room.

K.J. Yossman “Daisy Jones & the Six” star Camila Morrone is set to join Tom Hiddleston in a new season of “The Night Manager.” The hit show, based on John le Carré’s bestselling novel of the same name, is returning for two new seasons from BBC and Prime Video, which will see Hiddleston reprise his role as Jonathan Pine, who works in a hotel after leaving the army. The new season, which is set to start shooting later this year, will pick up eight years after Season 1.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Match Factory has finalized global sales for the Cannes competition title “The Substance,” directed by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. The Match Factory has sold to Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Spain (Elastica Films), Scandinavia (Nonstop Entertainment), South Korea (Challan), Hong Kong (Golden Scene Company), CIS (VLG.FILM LTD.), Ukraine and Baltics (Adastra Cinema), Taiwan (Catchplay), Australia and New Zealand (Madman Entertainment), Poland (Monolith), Greece (Feelgood Entertainment), the former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Bulgaria (Beta Film) and Romania (Independenta Film 97).

K.J. Yossman Former Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA boss Priya Dogra has joined Comcast-owned Sky in the newly-created role of chief advertising and new revenue officer.

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s regular strand that shines a light on breakout series and films that are shaking up the international market. In a globalized industry, a hit show can come from anywhere and local success stories can become international sensations.

Demi Moore‘s new horror film The Substance has landed a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival.The new film from director and writer Coralie Fargeat is a body horror that focuses on the titular product, which allows people to create a younger and more perfect alter ego.The movie, which also stars Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, made its debut at the festival yesterday (May 19), and critics have shared their praise, with the film debuting with 100 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.IndieWire called The Substance a “camp-adjacent instant classic [that] aspires to cast off with some of the most spectacularly disgusting body horror this side of The Fly or the final minutes of Akira.”Screen International said that “this potent body horror is executed with skill and compassion, bringing fresh insights alongside generous helpings of graphic gore”.“The Substance draws excellent performances from Demi Moore as a has-been Hollywood star and Margaret Qualley as the younger, prettier version she creates by injecting herself with the titular serum,” they added.Deadline suggested the film is like “David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive fused in a telepod with David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers“, calling it “the perfect breakout genre movie of the year”.The ongoing Cannes Film Festival recently saw the premiere of Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited passion project Megalopolis, which has drawn a mixed reaction including some boos from the audience.The film, which stars Adam Driver as an architect-scientist who wants to improve a fictional version of New York City called New Rome, currently sits at 52 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.The Guardian called the film “a passion project without passion”, though The

EXCLUSIVE: Whitney Peak (Hocus Pocus 2, Molly’s Game, Gossip Girl) has been cast in Aisling Walsh’s Ethel, alongside the previously announced cast of Shira Haas and Sarah Paulson. Bankside Films first launched the title, which is currently in pre-production, earlier this year and has completed a number of international pre-sales in Cannes. 

Jamie Lang Brazil’s O2 Play, the distribution arm of O2 Filmes group, will host a Cannes market screening for director Marcelo Gomes‘ latest feature, “Portrait of a Certain Orient,” on Friday, May 17 at 1:30 p.m. in Lerins 4. Ahead of the screening, O2 has given Variety exclusive access to the romantic period drama’s international trailer.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian-born and Texas-based director Roberto Minervini is known for making hard-hitting documentaries that dissect the backwaters of American society, such as his so-called Texas trilogy comprising “The Passage,” “Low Tide” and “Stop the Pounding Heart.” His most recent doc, “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?,” about a community of Black people in New Orleans during the summer of 2017 – when a string of brutal killings of Black men sent shockwaves throughout the country – launched from the Venice competition section in 2018. “The Damned,” which premieres on Thursday in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and is Minervini’s first fiction feature, is set during the American Civil War in the winter of 1862.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Bob Yari’s startup mini-major Magenta Light Studios has found its first in-house film production in “Summerhouse,” a period drama set against the anxiety of the Vietnam War. “Bombshell” and “Halloween” star Malcolm McDowell will lead the project with Jacob Ward, an up-and-comer who made his debut in Ray Romano’s 2022 film “Somewhere in Queens.” Ed Kaplan (“2 Graves in the Desert”) will write the script and direct, with Shelly Jonson (“Greyhound,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”) as director of photography. Production will begin in Connecticut this month.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent European powerhouse Mediawan has appointed Italian film and TV producer Carlo Degli Esposti – who is founder and chief of its Rome-based Palomar shingle – as a member of its board of supervisors and strategic committee. Degli Esposti in his new role will be involved “in all strategic decisions” at Mediawan, a statement said, adding that he “will make his experience available to the group’s activities in the Italian market and, in particular, for future development operations and acquisitions in this important European territory.” Mediawan, which is a global production conglomerate comprising more than 85 labels around the world — it recently announced its acquisition of German production-distribution outfit Leonine — is clearly in expansion mode in Italy where, besides Palomar, they are in final stages of acquiring a 51% stake in Our Films, the new company being launched by prominent producers Mario Giananani and Lorenzo Mieli after their recent exit from the Fremantle fold.

Alex Ritman Bill Murray has joined the cast of “Riff Raff,” the upcoming crime comedy from director Dito Montiel set to feature Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”), Ed Harris (“Love Lies Bleeding”) Gabrielle Union (“The Inspection”), Lewis Pullman (“Top Gun: Maverick”), Emanuela Postacchini (“Robots”), Miles J. Harvey (“American Vandal”) and Pete Davidson (“The King of Staten Island”).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The first-look photo of Pierce Brosnan and Amir El-Masry on the set of “Giant,” written and directed by Rowan Athale, has been revealed. The sports drama is shooting in Leeds, England.