‘Grand Budapest’ and ‘Shape of Water’ Oscar Winner Alexandre Desplat Composed Netflix’s ‘Nyad’ Score (EXCLUSIVE)

Billy Miller, a three-time Daytime Emmy winner known for his roles on “The Young and the Restless” and “General Hospital,” died Friday, Sept. 15. He was 43, but would have celebrated his 44th birthday today.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic The loftier and more dangerous the goal, the finer the line that separates the Guinness Book of World Records from the Darwin Awards. At a certain point, surviving is the only real difference. Do-or-die marathon swimmer Diana Nyad dreamed of swimming from Cuba to Florida.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jessica Chastain earned stellar reviews out of the Venice and Toronto film festivals for her performance in Michel Franco’s “Memory,” but the role might have never materialized for the actor had Franco listened to some wrongful advice. Speaking to IndieWire, Chastain and Franco revealed that he was warned she’d be “a nightmare and a diva” to work with after winning the Oscar for best actress. Chastain went to film “Memory” shortly after winning the Academy Award for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” “Because I have been doing bigger things sometimes and have gotten a lot of attention as of late, [there’s been the idea] that I would not be interested in being on a set without a trailer,” Chastain said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar-winning Korean actor Youn Yuh-jung (“Minari,” “Pachinko”) will headline the Actors’ House section of the upcoming Busan International Film Festival, it was announced on Thursday. Introduced in 2021, Actors’ House is a special series that connects audiences and film enthusiasts with iconic actors from the current generation through its in-depth discussions. “There’s much anticipation to hear her words of wisdom, as she’s known for her insightful observations,” said the festival. Others this year include: Han Hyo-joo, Song Joong-ki and Korean-American actor and author John Cho.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning film, is one of the five movies shortlisted by France’s Oscars committee to represent the country in the international feature film race. The movie, which was acquired by Neon at Cannes, was pre-selected alongside “The Taste of Things” (previously titled “The Pot-au-Feu,” a culinary romance starring Juliette Binoche which won best director at Cannes for French-Vietnamese filmmaker Trần Anh Hùng); “The Scent of Green Papaya”; Clement Cogitore’s “Goutte d’or”; Thomas Cailley’s supernatural coming-of-age drama “The Animal Kingdom”; and Denis Imbert’s “Sur les chemins noirs.” The year’s selection committee includes sales agents Sabine Chemaly and Tanja Meissner, producers Charles Gillibert and Patrick Wachsberger, directors Olivier Assayas and Mounia Meddour, and Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat.

France has unveiled the five titles in the running to be its entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

Danny Elfman‘s score to Batman is to be performed by a live symphony on a 35th anniversary tour of North America and Europe.Across 14 dates ranging from January to June 2024, the DC in Concert series will bring the iconic score to theatres across the States and to gigs in Paris and London.At the shows, the score will be performed in front of a projection of the original Batman, which starred Michael Keaton in the titular role and Jack Nicholson as the Joker.The gigs begin in January in Los Angeles, and run until late April in the US. The tour then wraps up with a gig at Paris’ Le Grand Rex on May 24, and at London’s Barbican two days later.Pre-sale tickets go on sale on September 13 at 10am local time, with a general sale beginning at the same time on September 15.

Carole Horst Oscar-winning doc makers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin chose an appropriate subject for this move into traditional narrative feature: Diana Nyad, the athlete who swam from Cuba to Florida in 2013 at the age of 64. The “Nyad” directing duo won an Oscar for rock climbing doc Free Solo in 2019, and earned much critical praise 2015’s “Mero” and 2021’s “The Rescue” (which, even though it’s not an extreme sports movie, does feature physical acts of courage and daring). Nyad burned with a passion to complete the swim, a feat that she had to abort four times before; her first time in her twenties. So at an age when most people are planning retirement, she planned a hundred-mile swim.

Christopher Vourlias When U.K. writer-director Jonathan Glazer approached Polish cinematographer Łukasz Żal about “The Zone of Interest,” a provocative Holocaust drama adapted from a 2014 novel by Martin Amis, he had a bold proposition for the film, which centers on the domestic life of an Auschwitz commandant and his family living in the shadow of the notorious concentration camp. What if, Glazer suggested, they shoot the scenes inside the Höss family home without a single camera on set? Working on location, production designer Chris Oddy and his crew built a replica of the camp commandant’s real-life house.

The first trailer for Nyad just debuted online!

How can one small business stand up to corporations? It might seem an unlikely question for a funeral home, but even that industry faces these issues. Maggie Betts’ “The Burial” looks at what happens when a small funeral home encounters corporate entities determined to corner the market on death care. The film, premiering at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival, finds a skilled acting duo in leads, Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx.

EXCLUSIVE: Talk about a potentially sweet gig: Fly on the Wall Entertainment has partnered with online candy retailer Candy Funhouse to create an unscripted TV series that will crown the first ever Chief Candy Officer.

TELLURIDE – The life of Diana Nyad is the sort of true story that’s absolutely ripe for a movie biopic. A record-setting distance swimmer in her 20s, she retired at the age of 30 to pursue a career in sports journalism.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Indie studios IFC Films and Neon are facing off with the hopes of one of their films being selected as France’s official submission to the Oscars for the international feature film prize. Neon aims to position Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall” as the best option for the country. IFC is making its case for “The Taste of Things” from French-Vietnamese filmmaker Trần Anh Hùn, who won the director prize at Cannes.

The first clip and poster for Nyad have debuted online!

Ben Croll Bertrand Bonello’s sci-fi drama “The Beast,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, follows a star-crossed duo, trying — and failing — to make love work across three timelines. Moving between 1910, 2014 and 2044, the film mixes period drama, speculative sci-fi and bouts of genuinely chilling horror — particularly in a middle section set in contemporary Los Angeles. There, aspiring actress Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) catches the attention of Louis (George MacKay), a self-described incel with a violent hatred for women.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor In “Nyad,” the titular character is entitled, mean, self-centered and treats people around her terribly… and she’s our hero? Supporting actors Jodie Foster and Rhys Ifans manage to keep the film moving along, but the main subject, played passionately by Annette Bening, is one who is difficult to connect with and root for in this modern take on a sports drama. A still Oscar-less Bening could be a possibility for traction in the best actress race – at least, Netflix hopes so.

EXCLUSIVE: The Telluride Film Festival, held in an old mining town high up in a picturesque alpine valley in the Rockies, marks its 50th anniversary this week, and Oscar-winning Moonlight filmmaker Barry Jenkins undoubtedly is one of its favorite sons.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Evil Does Not Exist,” the new film by the Oscar-winning auteur Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, has sold to several additional territories. The film will world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, will have its North America premiere as a special presentation at Toronto, and will go on to screen at New York and San Sebastian. Hamaguchi received Oscar nominations last year for directing and adapted screenplay, shared with Takamasa Ôe, for “Drive My Car.” The film was also nominated in the best picture category and won the international feature film Oscar.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The Oscar race got a shake-up this week with Warner Bros. officially moving “Dune: Part Two” to 2024. It’s a game changing move that could benefit the summer’s second-highest blockbuster “Oppenheimer.” The two seemed destined to dance at the upcoming Academy Awards in several artisan races.