Daniel Brühl and Macaulay Culkin have joined the cast of the Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia directed thriller, Rich Flu, which we told you about back at EFM with Rosamund Pike attached to star. Production is expected to start in the fall.
10.05.2022 - 17:11 / variety.com
K.J. Yossman Independent Entertainment have boarded M.
Cahill’s “Porcupine” and will launch international sales at the Cannes Marche.Vertical Entertainment have the North American rights and have set a summer 2022 release for the film, which was written and directed by Cahill.Featuring Jena Malone (Hunger Games franchise) and Robert Hunger-Bühler (“Vacuum”), “Porcupine” is based on a true story about “a woman’s longing to belong.”In the offbeat feature, Malone plays Audrey, a woman who is estranged from her family and struggles to hold down a job, having been fired seven times in two years. Afflicted by the unspoken pandemic of loneliness, she finds solace in going down YouTube rabbit holes.
One day that changes when she stumbles across a video about adult adoption and decides to try it out for herself. Audrey soon gets herself adopted by a family as dysfunctional as she is but finds an unlikely companionship in its patriarch Otto (Hunger-Bühler).
Like Audrey, he is “rough around the edges” and struggles to maintain relationships. The two soon discover that “sometimes the best kind of family is the one we choose.”“Porcupine” has won awards for excellence in storytelling and best performance (for Malone) at the SCAD Film Featival, director’s choice award at the Portland Film Festival, audience choice award at the Woodstock Film Festival and ‘best of fest’ at the Ashland International Film Festival.Cahill produces the Blackbird Film production alongside Lawrence Inglee (“Swiss Army Man”) and Joanna Colbert (“Standing Up, Falling Down”).
Daniel Brühl and Macaulay Culkin have joined the cast of the Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia directed thriller, Rich Flu, which we told you about back at EFM with Rosamund Pike attached to star. Production is expected to start in the fall.
Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSinger Elissa, soprano Hiba Tawaji, composer Oussama Rahbani, trumpetist Ibrahim Maalouf and more than 50 musicians performed at the “Night of Hope” at Lebanon’s Forum de Beirut on Sunday night in the largest concert to be held in the country’s capital since the devastating explosion in August of 2020 that killed more than 200 people, left an estimated 300,000 homeless and caused more than $15 billion in damage. The Forum de Beirut was also destroyed by the blast, but has been rebuilt.The concert paid tribute to the families of the explosion’s victims in a brief video, and patriotic songs were performed as part of a broader call to unite the country, which has seen its economy devasted in recent years.
Naman Ramachandran Indian actor Jackie Shroff (“Sooryavanshi”) will play the lead in Singapore-France-India co-production “Slow Joe,” it was revealed at the Cannes Film Market.Shroff will play the late Indian musician Joseph Manuel Da Rocha, known as Slow Joe, a former heroin addict and drug dealer who was born in Mumbai, was disowned by his family, heartbroken at 50 and who moved to Goa and cleaned up. On a trip to Goa in 2007, Lyon-based French musician Cédric de la Chapelle met Joe, now a frail 64-year-old who was making ends meet as a hotel room broker. Joe, also a poet and musician, sang for de la Chapelle, who was captivated by his voice and recorded some of his a cappella songs.Back in France, de la Chapelle played Joe’s songs for music producer Olivier Boccon-Gibod of Horizon Musiques, who was also entranced.
Naman Ramachandran The European Genre Film Foundation (EGFF), aimed at restoring and raising awareness of classic genre films in Europe and globally, launched at Cannes on Tuesday.The non-profit organization, headquartered in Stockholm, will work with film libraries, archives, rights holders, academics, film festivals and other institutions. It is modelled on Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation and the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) in the U.S.Among the first projects of the EGFF will be an academic study of historic female genre film makers in Europe and raising funds for a 4K film scanner set-up dedicated to digitizing and restoring genre films and related material that is languishing in archives.
Leo Barraclough International Features EditorSales agency Beta Cinema has revealed the casting of further lead roles for action thriller “The Climb”: Hero Fiennes Tiffin, star of the global box office franchise series “After,” as well as the upcoming Sony/Tristar feature “The Woman King,” and IMDB break-out star Hannah John-Kamen, best known for her performances in “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “Black Mirror,” will star alongside Cara Delevingne, who was announced earlier this year.After Signature Entertainment picked up the project ahead of the Marché du Film in Cannes for U.K. and Ireland, Beta Cinema has closed further deals for Germany, Austria and Italy (Koch Films), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Spain (Youplanet Pictures) and Middle East (Front Row).
Anne Hathaway is channeling one of her most iconic characters. On Thursday, the 39-year-old actress stepped out for a screening of her new flick, , at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, and gave off serious Mia Thermopolis vibes.Hathaway stunned on the red carpet in a custom, white Giorgio Armani Privé gown that included a train and oversized bow.
Leo Barraclough International Features EditorErotic love story “99 Moons,” which has its world premiere in Cannes’ ACID sidebar today, has kicked off international sales. Berlin-based M-Appeal is handling the rights to the film, which is directed by Jan Gassmann.Arthouse VOD platform Filmin has taken the rights in Spain, and arthouse distributor StraDa Films has taken the films for Greece. France and Latin America are in negotiation.
Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNeon has purchased North American distribution rights to Mark Jenkin’s “Enys Men,” ahead of the horror film’s premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.The film, which sounds very shades of “The Wicker Man,” stars Mary Woodvine and Edward Rowe. Jenkin wore a lot of hats on this one.
K.J. Yossman Bobby Cannavale is set to star in comedy drama “Inappropriate Behavior” from “Conviction” director Tony Goldwyn.
EXCLUSIVE: UK management firm YMU is launching a U.S. entertainment division under the leadership of former UTA agent April Tombs.
K.J. Yossman Andy Armstrong’s directorial feature debut, “Squealer,” is set to launch sales in Cannes.VMI Worldwide are handling international rights on the feature, which was produced by Walk Like A Duck Entertainment’s Jason Armstrong and Rob Goodrich, Shaun Sanghani of SSS Entertainment and Walk Like a Duck’s Cameron Goodrich.Paradigm are repping North American sales.As well as directing “Squealer,” Andy Armstrong co-wrote the screenplay with Danielle Burgio.
EXCLUSIVE: Clara Rugaard (I Am Mother) and Kit Harington (Game Of Thrones) are set to star in a new movie about the life and circle of Frankenstein scribe Mary Shelley.
TWICE have officially launched personal Instagram accounts.Today (May 17), the members of the group – comprising Jihyo, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu – shared their first posts on their newly established individual Instagram accounts. Previously, the girl group shared personal photos through a shared account.Since the accounts were launched, each member of TWICE has amassed around 2million followers.
EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Hans Canosa’s film, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, from international sales agent Mister Smith Entertainment. Currently in post-production, the film is slated for release in theaters this fall.
EXCLUSIVE: Eddie Cochran, the American rock n roll star behind songs such as “Twenty Flight Rock” and “Summertime Blues,” is getting the feature documentary treatment.
EXCLUSIVE: Stephen Root (Barry) and Tim Blake Nelson (Old Henry) have signed on to star alongside Oscar and Emmy winner Kathy Bates, two-time Oscar nominee and Emmy winner John Malkovich and Lewis Pullman in Thelma, an upcoming indie to be directed by two-time Emmy nominee Ken Kwapis (#BlackAF, The Office). The Exchange will be introducing the title to international buyers at the 2022 Cannes Film Market, with ICM Partners and UTA Independent Film Group handling domestic.
Vincent Cassel will reunite with David Cronenberg for “The Shrouds,” a new thriller from the director of “A History of Violence” and “Dead Ringers.” The film, which Cronenberg will write as well as direct, centers on Karsh (Cassel), an innovative businessman and grieving widower, who builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud.Cassel and Cronenberg previously teamed up on “Eastern Promises” and “A Dangerous Method.” Their latest collaboration seems very much in the same envelope-pushing vein. According to the official longline for “The Shrouds,” Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery are vandalized and nearly destroyed, including that of his wife.
EXCLUSIVE: TriCoast Worldwide has locked down international sales rights to the coming-of-age film Dear Zoe, starring Stranger Things‘ Sadie Sink, with plans to screen the pic for potential buyers and festival reps at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTaiwan- and Los Angeles-based Organic Media Group will launch rights sales in Cannes for “Gimme My Money,” a female-led, kung-fu action comedy.The film, which completed principal photography last week in Los Angeles, stars Marci Miller, Raymond J. Barry and veteran Chinese-American actor, James Hong.
EXCLUSIVE: Scoot McNairy (Narcos: Mexico), Jack Reynor (Midsommar) and Emily Browning (American Gods) are set to lead cast in psychological thriller Brightwater, which James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain) is aboard as executive producer.