Florian Zeller Joins Forces With Mediawan, CAA Executive to Launch Blue Morning Pictures

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Stephanie Nur is the latest addition to the cast of Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming Paramount+ drama series “Lioness,” Variety has learned exclusively. Nur joins previously announced series regulars Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, James Jordan, LaMonica Garrett, and Dave Annable in the series. Per the show’s official logline, “‘Lioness’ is based on a real-life CIA program and follows Cruz Manuelos (De Oliveira), a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within. Saldaña will play Joe, the station chief of the Lioness program tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives.”

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off her feature directorial debut world premiere of Emily at TIFF, actress-turned-filmmaker Frances O’Connor has inked with WME.

K.J. Yossman The first image has been released of Bill Bailey and Adjoa Andoh’s characters in upcoming BBC short film “The Smeds and The Smoos.” Based on Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s picture-book of the same name, it tells the story of two warring families whose children, Bill and Janet, fall in love and run away together. Hotly pursued by their grandparents, Grandfather Smed (Bailey) and Grandmother Smoo (Andoh), the two young aliens lead their families on a chase across space, giving them the opportunity to find out they have more in common than they think. Rounding out the cast are Ashna Rabheru as Janet, Daniel Ezra as Bill, Rob Brydon as Uncle Smoo, Meera Syal as Aunt Smed and Sally Hawkins as the narrator.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Candle Media’s Exile Content Studio has joined forces with Trojan Horse Media, the team behind the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary, “Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado,” to produce premium content with international appeal. This will include scripted, unscripted and audio content. The new partners first collaborated on the podcast series “More Than a Movie: American Me,” which dropped on Sept. 15. The podcast series delves into the true story of Edward James Olmos’s 1992 cult film classic, “American Me,” and the legacy the polemical film left behind. The 12-episode audio-documentary is hosted by Trojan Media’s Alex Fumero.

Patti LaBelle has joined the cast of ABC’s for Season 2 in the role of Shirley Williams, mother of Dulé Hill’s character Bill.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Veteran film executive Kylie Munnich has joined leading Australian independent producer Goalpost Pictures as its CEO. She takes up the newly-created position from Nov. 1, 2022, after recently departing from Screen Queensland, which she headed for the past three years. Prior to Screen Queensland, Kylie worked as a scripted sales and co-production executive for Seven Studios, Australia. Before that, she was senior VP for distribution Asia-Pacific for Sonar Entertainment overseeing sales for premium drama series such as Tom Hardy’s “Taboo” and Pierce Brosnan’s “The Son.”

Kid Cudi has shared another preview of his imminent ‘Entergalactic’ album, a chilled-out joint with Ty Dolla $ign titled ‘Willing To Trust’.READ MORE: Kid Cudi – ‘Man On The Moon III: The Chosen’ review – an art piece of epic highs and honest lowsIt marks the second track to drop from Cudi’s eighth studio album, following the June release of lead single ‘Do What I Want’. It’s also the second time he and Ty have linked up for a song, with Cudi having a guest spot on Ty’s 2020 track ‘Temptations’.‘Entergalactic’ itself will arrive on September 30, the same day that an accompanying animated film will be released on Netflix.

There’s huge Wicked movie news that just broke!

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorJonathan Bailey is in talks to join the cast of Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” movies.The “Bridgerton” star will play Fiyero in the two-part feature adaptation headlined by Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. The Universal Pictures films are set for release on Christmas in 2024 and 2025.“Wicked” is a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” telling the story of how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.“We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one ‘Wicked’ movie but two!” Chu wrote in a statement when announcing the two-parter. “With more space, we can tell the story of ‘Wicked’ as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.”

Crush has revealed that his upcoming single will feature BTS rapper J-hope.Earlier today (September 19), the 30-year-old singer shared the first music video teaser for his new digital single ‘Rush Hour’ featuring J-hope. The clip is soundtracked by a groovy hip-hop instrumental while time flows in reverse around Crush.

EXCLUSIVE: Tanner Stine (Impulse) and Kaylee Bryant (Legacies) will lead the supernatural horror Spin the Bottle from director Gavin Wiesen (The Art of Getting By), with Justin Long (Barbarian) and Ali Larter (The Rookie) to play supporting roles.

The Son and The Father director Florian Zeller will direct, write and co-produce the upcoming big-budget TV adaptation of Tony Award-winning play The Lehman Trilogy, his debut TV project.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Florian Zeller, the French filmmaker behind the Oscar-winning “The Father” and “The Son,” is set to make his TV debut with the adaptation of Stefano Massini’s play “The Lehman Trilogy.” Zeller will write, direct and co-produce the series under his newly formed Blue Morning. Lorenzo Mieli at The Apartment Pictures, a Fremantle company, and Domenico Procacci at Fandango are executive producing the series. The pair previously teamed on the acclaimed series “My Brilliant Friend” based on the Elena Ferrante novels. Massini’s epic drama charts the history of one of the global financial institutions that helped spark the 2008 recession. The original production inspired Sam Mendes to stage an English-language version of Massini’s five-hour play. Adapted by Ben Power, the production won five Tony Awards earlier this year, including prizes for Sam Mendes’ direction and for the lead performance of Simon Russell Beale.

festival debut of his new film “The Son,” Florian Zeller has signed on to write, direct and co-produce a television adaptation of the Tony-winning play “The Lehman Trilogy.”The series will mark the first project under the Oscar-winner’s newly formed Blue Morning Pictures banner alongside Mediawan and Federica Sainte-Rose. Lorenzo Mieli will produce for The Apartment Pictures, a Fremantle company, while Domenico Procacci will produce for Fandango.

Madonna and her daughter, Lourdes Leon, were just two of the major stars sitting front row at the Tom Ford fashion show during 2022 New York Fashion Week held at Skylight on Vesey on Wednesday night (September 14) in New York City.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor If the past few years and months have proven one thing, it’s the importance of voting in the United States. While Census Bureau’s estimates confirmed that 2020 voter turnout was the highest in nearly 30 years — 66.8%, 5 points higher than 2016 — the forthcoming midterm elections, which traditionally have much lower turnout than presidential ones, are vitally important as well. In that spirit, Lizzo, who released her stellar second major label album “Special” over the summer, has joined forces with the nonprofit, non-partisan voter-engagement organization HeadCount to encourage her fans to get out to the polls and make their voices heard this election season.

Oscar winner Florian Zeller (The Father), fresh off Venice Film Festival drama The Son, is launching production firm Blue Morning Pictures with backing from European studio Mediawan (Call My Agent).

Kendall Jenner and Devin Booker are enjoying a night out!