‘Dumbsday’ Production Company Sets Star Trond Fausa Aurvag on ‘Still Looking,’ Quirky Comedy About Being Single (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Noah Hawley has named Michael Garcia as President of 26 Keys, his Austin-based production banner. Hawley has additionally brought on Maddy Bilder as Project Director at the company. Garcia and Bilder join 26 Keys as Hawley continues to grow and build the company’s overall slate of film and television projects.

Selling the OC‘s first two seasons debuted in 2022 and 2023 respectively, and season three will now be arriving on Netflix in just a few weeks on May 3, 2024.

Dave Myers, one half of the Hairy Bikers, has left his substantial fortune and TV production company to his wife following his death less than two months ago.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Mckenna Grace, the in-demand actor who appeared in “I, Tonya” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” and recently starred in “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” is set to lead the upcoming film “Everything I Never Did.” The young adult-targeted picture is written by screenwriters D.J. McPherson and Scott Taylor and will be directed by Australia’s Jeremy Sims (“Last Cab to Darwin”).

Kevin Hart and his entertainment company Hartbeat have signed with WME for representation in all areas. Hart continues to develop, star, and produce feature films, television, commercials and podcasts via Hartbeat. The move to WME comes as Hart and Hartbeat continue to expand their portfolio of multi-platform IP.

EXCLUSIVE: Rising Saudi Star Mohammed Elshehri has been announced as master of ceremonies at the 10th edition Saudi Film Festival, running from May 2 to 9 in the Eastern Province city of Dhahran.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Leading distribution company Beta Film has come on board four-part Norwegian drama “A Better Man,” created by Thomas Seeberg Torjussen. The show, which was commissioned by Norwegian broadcaster NRK and German broadcaster ZDF‘s platform ZDFneo, is produced by Synnøve Hørsdal and Christian Fredrik Martin at Norway’s Maipo Film. “A Better Man” centers on Tom, Norway’s number one internet troll.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Rebecca Ferguson went viral during her “Dune: Part Two” press tour in late February after she revealed on the “Reign With Josh Smith” podcast that she once had an “idiot” co-star who made her cry on set. The story led to a guessing game across social media platforms where people tried to figure out who exactly Ferguson was talking about, although the actor recently said on SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show” that she was “not expecting” that to be the takeaway from her comments. “Number one, yes, I kind of enjoyed the grab,” Ferguson admitted.

EXCLUSIVE: After six years as a manager at More/Medavoy, Stephen Belden is going it alone, having launched his own management and production company, Death Wish Entertainment.

Annika Pham Picked by Variety as one of the hottest shows at MipTV, ZDF Studios’ comedy drama “The ‘Zweiflers” about a colourful, dysfunctional yet loving Jewish family in contemporary Germany, had a rapturous reception April 7 at its world screening in Canneseries. “It was a profound experience to see how much [the Cannes] audience loved it, not only because of the way it was done but because of the subject matter,” said Aaron Altaras (“Unorthodox”), cast as Samuel, grandson of the patriarch Symcha Zweifler (Mike Burstyn), torn between his Jewish origins and his love for his British Caribbean girlfriend and mum-to-be (Saffron Coomber).

It’s a little shocking to realize that filmmaker and King of smut, John Waters (“Pink Flamingos”), hasn’t made a feature film effort since 2004’s “A Dirty Shame.” That said, things appear to be on the upswing, and the filmmaker seems optimistic about getting his next two movies made in the near future after a twenty-year hiatus.  Over the weekend in Los Angeles, Waters hosted a candid commentary for his first two short films (“Hag In A Black Leather Jacket” and “Roman Candles”) at the Academy Museum.

Annika Pham Norwegian broadcaster NRK has excelled in recent years at bringing bold and thought-provoking shows to the world. After their latest Canneseries winners “Power Play” (2023), “Afterglow” (2022), “Countrymen” (2021) and “State of Happiness” (2018), their latest bet “Dumbsday” (“Dummedag”) has its international premiere April 8 in the French TV festival’s main competition. It first aired on the Norwegian pubcaster Nov.

Annika Pham One of the Nordic region’s biggest providers of premium series, Copenhagen-based REinvent International Sales, will make a splash at this week’s Canneseries festival and MipTV market. For the second consecutive year, the sales, financing and packaging banner has two titles in competition: the Danish drama thriller “Dark Horse”, due to world premiere in the main competition, and the short form Swedish dramedy entry “Painkiller”, which initially bowed at the Göteborg Film Festival. “Last year we had the Norwegian political drama “Power Play” which won best series, and the Swedish romantic dramedy “Out of Touch” in the short form section.

Brent Lang Executive Editor It’s going to take a live action version of “Moana” a little longer to swim to shore than Disney first expected. The film, originally slated to open in 2025, has been pushed back to July 10, 2026. That news came as part of a deluge of Disney release date announcements and shifting debuts.

EXCLUSIVE: Longtime Industry Entertainment managers Adam Levine, Brandy Rivers and Michael Hepburn have left to start a new management/production company that they have named Amplified. The trio, who come from talent (Levine, Hepburn) and lit (Rivers) backgrounds, are bringing all of their clients to the new venture.

EXCLUSIVE: Actor-turned-executive Ella Wahlestedt on Wednesday announced the launch of Quarterlife Pictures, an L.A.-based production company dedicated to developing and producing women-centric and impactful narratives across film and TV.

EXCLUSIVE: House of Ninjas creator Dave Boyle and the star and co-EP of the Netflix series, Kento Kaku, are opening the doors to their new production company, Signal181.

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, opened up about her single life in a rare relationship admission during a radio appearance. Sarah, who also goes by the name of Fergie, was married to Prince Andrew from 1986 until their divorce in 1996, and together they have two daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice.

Today was supposed to be a happy day for the cast and producers of Prime Video’s Gen V as they were supposed to reconvene for the superhero series’ first Season 2 table read this afternoon ahead of the start of filming, scheduled for April 8 in Toronto.

As its public dispute with TikTok continues, Universal Music Group has set an expanded strategic relationship with Spotify.