Jerrod Carmichael Comedy Documentary Series Ordered At HBO

One of Stanley Kubrick’s lost projects, a large-scale biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, has been in the works for HBO for the last seven years.

Guy Lodge Film Critic On stage, drag artist Aphrodite Banks is a femme fatale: Caked in war paint, with a waterfall of braids whipping around her waist, she’s possessed of the white-hot glare and forthright confidence to match her Amazonian height and bearing. Off stage, as Jules, he’s simply femme: that term for gay men who present or express themselves in a more feminine way, too often used as a slur or a dismissal even by their community brethren. (Open up a cruising app like Grindr and see how frequently “no fems” comes up as a requirement.) The former identity connotes swaggering strength; the latter, to many, delicate weakness. How those associations and stigmas battle each other in one man’s body is the driving conflict in “Femme,” a tense, sometimes startling revenge drama from British freshmen Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping.

Two Doors Down fans have been left buzzing after it was confirmed on Tuesday that the much-loved Scots sitcom would be returning for a seventh series later this year.

Emiliano De Pablos Banijay’s Endemol Shine Israel and Munich-based producer Neuesuper (“8 Days”) have inked German adaptation rights to Israeli hit comedy series “Nevsu,” to air on public broadcaster ZDF.  Israel’s “Nevsu” won the International Emmy Award for best comedy series in 2018. Its German adaptation, “I Don’t Work Here,” sees three generations from two worlds come together to form one family. Revolving around Laura and Dawit, a young multi-racial couple, and their daughter, the pair are battling living with her parents and facing huge scrutiny from her mother-in-law. 

Holly Jones The stars are aligning on political thriller “The Chauffeur’s Son,” a six-part series from acclaimed Spanish creative duo Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo.  It is one of five projects that has pulled down a muscular €1.5 million ($1.6 million) grant from Catalonia’s ICEC film-TV aimed at ensuring potential production partners that the series can bring series money to the table. It comes after the two which won two Golden Shells at San Sebastian, for “The Double Steps” (2011) and “Between Two Waters” (2018), have demonstrated their chops for directing broad audience drama series, directing and in Campo’s case writing two episodes in Movistar+’s series “Offworld,” a Variety 2022 Best International TV Series.    

Japanese broadcaster Nippon TV has finalized a deal with Netflix to produce ten-part unscripted comedy series Ariyoshi Assists. 

Selome Hailu A month after Jerrod Carmichael used the Golden Globes stage to mock Tom Cruise for his involvement in the Church of Scientology, Judd Apatow got in a few similar jabs while emceeing the Directors Guild of America Awards. The jokes began with the topic of the “Top Gun” star’s height: “The special effects in ‘Maverick’ were so top notch, I couldn’t even see the stack of phone books Tom Cruise sat on to reach the flight controls.” “Remember when Tom Cruise jumped up and down on the couch and we all thought, ‘What a lunatic!'” Apatow said, referring to the infamous 2005 incident on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” “And now he rides a motorcycle off a cliff and BASE jumps and we’re all like, ‘Tom’s fine!'”

Naman Ramachandran Nathan Stewart-Jarrett is ready for his close-up. After making a mark with TV’s “Misfits” and “Utopia” and in the film “Candyman,” the British actor is set to explode upon the world stage with “Femme,” world premiering at the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand. Stewart-Jarrett plays Jules, whose alter-ego is Aphrodite, a celebrated drag queen in a gay club in London whose life is destroyed by a homophobic attack. After he spots one of the perpetrators (George MacKay) in a gay sauna, Jules plots revenge.  “Femme” is based on the BAFTA-nominated short of the same name by directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping. Stewart-Jarrett had played a former drag queen in the Tony- and Olivier Award-winning theater production of “Angels in America” and built on that during the “Femme” preparation.

Comedian Marlon Wayans’ third comedy special for HBO Max, “Marlon Wayans: God Loves Me” will address “the slap” of Chris Rock by Will Smith that took place at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony. The hourlong performance was filmed at the Center Stage Theater in Atlanta. It will debut March 2 on the streamer.After recounting what happened at the 2022 Oscars, Wayans jokes, “That had nothing to do Will, l nothing to do with Jadam nothing do with Chris.

What really makes a family? HBO’s new comedy series “Rain Dogs” explores a dynamic that doesn’t fit into standard conventions. This project — made in conjunction with BBC One — focuses on a family built around a single mother, her young daughter, and a gay friend.

“Love & Death” is the second project in a year to focus on Candy Montgomery, a killer accused of murdering Betty Gore, the wife of Allan Gore, with whom she had an extramarital affair. Montgomery was portrayed by Jessica Biel in the Hulu series titled “Candy,” which saw Melanie Lynskey and Pablo Schreiber play Betty and Allan Gore, respectively.

EXCLUSIVE: A comedy series adaptation of Laura Vorreyer’s popular book The Pet Sitter’s Tale is in the works for the small screen with Tara Reid (American Pie, Ghosts) set to star and produce.

“Saturday Night Live” cast members are touring this year.Just a few of the most high-profile alum on the road over the next few months include Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Tracy Morgan and Martin Short (with Steve Martin) to name just a few.However, none have demanded overnight buzz quite like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s upcoming four-show ‘Restless Leg’ Comedy Tour.On their first-ever tour, Tina Fey promised the shows will be “an evening of comedy, conversation, improv, maybe a little slow dancing between us” on Instagram.The duo, who co-anchored “SNL’s” Weekend Update, portrayed Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton on the show and hosted the Golden Globes together four times, begin the quick run where they’ll celebrate “30 years of friendship” at April 28 at Washington, D.C.’s DAR Constitution Hall.From there, the “30 Rock” and “Parks and Recreation” stars (as well as “Baby Mama” and “Sisters” co-stars) will hit Chicago’s Chicago Theatre on May 20, Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway on June 9 and finally Atlantic City’s Etess Arena at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on June 10.And if you want to treat yourself to tickets to see the “Only Murders In The Building” and “Upright Citizens Brigade” stars live as soon as today, you can.Although inventory isn’t available on Ticketmaster until Friday, Feb.

Entertainment Weekly.The “Restless Leg Tour” is scheduled to kick off on April 28 at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. followed by show dates in Chicago, Boston and Atlantic City.Tickets for the shows are set to go on pre-sale on Feb.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “The Penguin” series at HBO Max has added Rhenzy Feliz to its cast, Variety has learned. Feliz joins previously announced series stars Colin Farrell, who will reprise the role of Oswald “The Penguin” Cobblepot from “The Batman,” as well as Cristin Milioti. Details on Feliz’s character are being kept under wraps. The eight-episode series is said to continue the story of the film. It is believed to take place in the immediate aftermath of the events of “The Batman.” Milioti will star as Sofia Falcone, the daughter of Gotham mob boss Carmine Falcone. The role means Feliz has now held roles in both the Marvel and DC Universes. He previously starred in the Marvel series “The Runaways,” which aired for three seasons on Hulu. He also recently lent his voice to the hit Disney animated film “Encanto.” His other TV credits include “American Horror Stories” and “Teen Wolf,” while his other film credits include the George Clooney directorial effort “The Tender Bar.”

NBC has given a comedy pilot order to Amber Ruffin’s “Non-Evil Twin,” which the late-night host will star in, write and executive produce. The multi-cam series is part of NBCU’s ever-expanding relationship with Ruffin and producing partner Jenny Hagel’s banner, Straight to Cards.The logline for “Non-Evil Twin” is as follows: “A woman is forced to step into her sister’s role as the leader of a Fortune 500 company despite knowing little about business and even less about the way her sister has been running the corporation.”Hagel serves as EP along with Kenny Smith.

Hulu has bought U.S. rights to British comedy horror Wreck.

EXCLUSIVE: The Good Place creator Mike Schur has reunited with the hit comedy’s star Ted Danson for The Mole Agent, a new serialized comedy, which has hit the premium/streaming marketplace, sparking heated bidding, sources tell Deadline. The project is based on the 2020 Chilean feature documentary The Mole Agent and hails from Schur’s longtime studio home, Universal Television. I hear the networks/platforms pursuing the show include Netflix, Apple TV+, Prime Video and HBO/Max.

For the past several years, Ben Stiller has focused almost completely on his filmmaking career. The acting roles have dwindled to almost entirely bit parts in films or quick cameos.