Disney+ and Nat Geo’s ‘Genius: MLK/X’ Sets Ensemble Cast

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor CANNES — International TV sales veteran Jim Packer has set a multi-year deal with Lionsgate that will keep him on the senior management team as president of worldwide TV distribution. News of his contract extension was revealed Oct. 17, just as the Mipcom content marketplace kicks off this week in Cannes, bringing the global TV community together for the first full time in three years. Packer has been with Lionsgate since 2011. The news that he has re-upped comes at a time of uncertainty for the studio. Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has said the company, which is home to the Lionsgate studio and Starz pay TV platform, is considering options for separating those assets, possibly by selling off the studio to focus on building up Starz.

The January 6th Committee holds what may be its last public hearing on Thursday, as it tries to present the public with a narrative of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Madonna memorably made her film debut in the 1985 comedy “Desperately Seeking Susan”, and a new interview with the movie’s director suggests that she has the son of the head of the movie’s studio to thank for it.

Madonna memorably made her film debut in the 1985 comedy “Suddenly Seeking Susan”, and a new interview with the movie’s director suggests that she has the son of the head of the movie’s studio to thank for it.

Manori Ravindran International Editor BBC Film boss Eva Yates has set out her new editorial team, with the BFI’s Kristin Irving joining as a commissioning executive, and Anu Henriques boarding as a development executive. Meanwhile, Claudia Yusef has been named commissioning executive, expanding her responsibilities across development and production. Irving was a senior production and development executive at the BFI’s Film Fund. She formerly worked in a number of development roles including for production company Portobello Pictures on films such as Pawel Pawlikowski’s Oscar-winning “Ida.” She also worked across sales at sister company, Fandango Portobello. At the BFI she has exec produced films including “Rye Lane,” “A Gaza Weekend” and “The Origin.” She joins BBC Film in November.

EXCLUSIVE: The cast for Craig Gillespie’s next film Dumb Money keeps getting better as sources tell Deadline Shailene Woodley is set to join the A-list cast of the upcoming film at Black Bear Pictures. She joins Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan and Pete Davidson with Gillespie directing. The pic based on bestselling author Ben Mezrich’s book The Antisocial Network, the script was adapted by Rebecca Angelo & Lauren Schuker Blum. Ryder Picture Company’s Aaron Ryder, Black Bear’s Teddy Schwarzman and Gillespie will produce. Principal photography is currently underway.

EXCLUSIVE: The MGM Snoop Dogg sports comedy The Underdoggs has added Tika Sumpter, Mike Epps, Andrew Schulz and George Lopez while casting the kid team of actors which includes Jonigan Booth, Adan James Carrillo, Kylah Davila, Caleb Dixon, Alexander Michael Gordan and Shamori Washington.

EXCLUSIVE: Addie Weyrich, Sydney Kuhne and Sabrina Wu are set as leads in FX’s untitled half-hour comedy written by Lauren Ludwig (American Auto, Rob Riggle’s Ski Master Academy).

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The FX comedy pilot “English Teacher” has found its main cast, Variety has learned exclusively. Stephanie Koenig (“Lessons in Chemistry,” “The Offer”), Enrico Colantoni (“Just Shoot Me,” “Station Eleven”), and Julian Sergi (“Ramy,” “War Dogs”) have all joined as series regulars. Carmen Christopher (“The Bear,” “Killing It”), Jordan Firstman (“Big Mouth,” “Ms. Marvel”), Yissendy Trinidad (“Babylon,” “You’re Not Alone”) and Langston Kerman (“Insecure,” “The Boys”) will all appear in recurring roles. “English Teacher” was originally ordered to pilot in June. Production is now underway. Brian Jordan Alvarez wrote the pilot and stars as Evan, a gay high school English teacher in Austin, Texas. The show follows him and his fellow teachers “trying to balance the competing demands of the students and their parents in a world where the rules seem to change every day.” Alvarez is also an executive producer on the pilot along with Paul Simms, who is currently an executive producer on the FX shows “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Atlanta.”

Call Her Daddy this week. Watch Below: Hailey Bieber joins Call Her Daddy podcastThe episode, which was released on Wednesday, saw Hailey open up about her husband's previous relationship with singer Selena Gomez, revealing all the details on the murky timeline. “Your husband was in a very public relationship” explained Alex, “people were obsessed with them [Justin and Selena] being together.” “Were you ever with Justin romantically, at the same time as her?” Hailey quickly denied the accusation, replying “No, not one time.”  Hailey was the guest star on Call Her Daddy.“When him and I first ever started hooking up or anything of that sort he was not ever in a relationship - ever at any point” Hailey explained. “It’s not my character to mess with someone's relationship - I would just never do that. I was raised better than that.

Hailey Bieber is setting the record straight about those Selena Gomez chants at the 2021 Met Gala. Nope, she wasn't crying.The 25-year-old model addressed the ordeal during her in-depth conversation on the podcast with Alex Cooper, who asked Hailey what happened when she and her husband, Justin Bieber, were on the red carpet at the ritzy affair posing for the throng of photographers amid boisterous «Se-le-na!, Se-le-na!» chants from the frenzied crowd.«I could hear everyone screaming and, again, I think there's a certain part of you that has a numbness of just like, I was like, really surprised,» Hailey said on the podcast that dropped Wednesday on Spotify.

EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ and National Geographic have set the lead cast for Genius: MLK/X, the fourth installment in the anthology series, which will focus on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Taika Waititi’s cast for his Apple TV+ comedy series “Time Bandits” has assembled. Led by “Friends” alum Lisa Kudrow, who is playing ‘Penelope, the series will also star Kal-El Tuck (“Unseeing Evil,” “Band in the Sand”) as Kevin; Charlyne Yi (“Knocked up,” “Paper Heart,” “The Second Act”) as Judy; Tadhg Murphy (“Conversations with Friends,” “Black Sails,” “Brassic,” “Undergods”) as Alto; Roger Jean Nsengiyumva (“You Don’t know Me,” “Tomb Raider”) as Widgit; Rune Temte (“Eddie The Eagle,” “The Last Kingdom,” “Captain Marvel”) as Bittelig; Kiera Thompson (“Martyrs Lane,” “Salisbury Poisonings”) as Saffron; and Rachel House (“Heartbreak High,” “Thor Ragnarok”) as Fianna.The “Time Bandits” series “is a comedic journey through time and space with a ragtag group of thieves and their newest recruit: an eleven-year-old history nerd,” per Apple TV+. It takes inspiration from the 1981 film of the same name, but is its own reimagining, TheWrap has learned.Waititi directed the first two episodes of the show.“Time Bandits” is produced for Apple TV+ by Paramount Television Studios, Anonymous Content’s AC Studios and MRC Television.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The “Time Bandits” TV series at Apple from Taika Waititi has found its main cast, Variety has learned. Joining the series are: Lisa Kudrow (“Friends,” “The Comeback” as Penelope; Kal-El Tuck (“Unseeing Evil,” “Band in the Sand”) as Kevin; Charlyne Yi (“Knocked up,” “Paper Heart”) as Judy; Tadhg Murphy (“Conversations with Friends,” “Black Sails”) as Alto; Roger Jean Nsengiyumva (“You Don’t know Me,” “Tomb Raider”) as Widgit; Rune Temte (“The Last Kingdom,” “Captain Marvel”) as Bittelig; Kiera Thompson (“Martyrs Lane,” “Salisbury Poisonings”) as Saffron; and Rachel House (“Heartbreak High,” “Thor Ragnarok”) as Fianna.

Hailey Bieber is finally revealing the truth about those Justin Bieber/Selena Gomez rumours.

K.J. Yossman Warner Bros. Discovery Intl President Gerhard Zeiler has set out the company’s post-merger strategy, re-iterating his belief in cinema as well as his commitment to “local stories,” despite the fact that HBO Max recently halted local original programming across a number of European territories, including in the Nordics, Central Europe, the Netherlands and Turkey. “If you want to be a global player, you have to have relevant local stories,” Zeiler said at the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) annual convention in London on Tuesday morning. “I mean don’t misunderstand me, the big kids will always be the Batmans, the Elvises, the Black Adams, which premieres next month here in the U.K.” He also pointed out that WBD invests in local films, citing productions in Japan and Germany, as well as streaming content.