Karsen Liotta To Headline Indie Anthology Pic Handed SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement

EXCLUSIVE: Isabella Gomez (One Day at a Time, The Goldbergs) is set to star in the indie horror film The Mannequin, from writer-director John Berardo (Initiation).

Fearing they won’t be able to set casts for film packages to sell at key festival markets, indie film producers are appealing to SAG-AFTRA to fast-track interim casting agreements that are holding things up.  

Your Lucky Day, the horror thriller featuring one of the final performances of Euphoria breakout Angus Cloud, has secured a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement for publicity ahead of its Fantastic Fest premiere, Deadline has learned.

Ahead of its world premiere in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, which follows the Presleys from the perspective of the King’s young bride, has secured a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement.

SAG-AFTRA’s Los Angeles Local and the Writers Guild of America will hold a “National Day of Solidarity” rally on Tuesday outside Disney Studios.

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Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Dozens of Hollywood players are staring anxiously at empty Louis Vuitton trunks this week, wondering if A-list stars and select filmmakers will get the greenlight from SAG-AFTRA to attend the rapidly approaching Venice Film Festival. The union’s interim agreements have been a focal point over the past weeks of the contentious strike, as the deals allow some productions to resume and select finished films to engage in publicity.

Editors Note: Bill Mechanic is chairman and CEO of Pandemonium Films and a former top executive at Paramount, Disney and chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment. He is also a former producer of the Oscars and Oscar-nominated films like Hacksaw Ridge and Coraline. He previously advocated for interim agreements as a guest on Deadline’s Strike Talk podcast and his company has applied for them since.

SAG-AFTRA has given an interim agreement to another upcoming fall festival pic with theChristy Hall drama Daddio, starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn. The agreement will allow talent to promote the movie at the upcoming festivals including Toronto, where it has been confirmed as a Special Presentation pic.

SAG-AFTRA on Thursday named NEON’s Michael Mann-directed Ferrari as one of its latest recipients of an interim agreement for publicity.

Following a rapturously received industry keynote on Thursday, veteran indie producer Ted Hope is the talk of the town in Locarno. Attendees on the ground are describing Hope’s ambitious and expansive speech as the much-needed “kick in the ass” Hollywood Execs needed to hear if cinema has any chance of becoming a much fairer and equitable industry. 

Editor’s note: As part of Deadline’s ongoing coverage of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, we want to give voice to other Hollywood workers who are impacted by the work stoppages. This column was written by Jonathan Daniel Brown, the head of Party Crasher Films in New York City. Best known for starring in the 2012 film Project X, his life’s mission is recapture the subversive and countercultural magic of 1970s and ’90s Hollywood through a slate of bold, rebellious and wildly entertaining independent films.

EXCLUSIVE: Dakota Shapiro (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), Ben Groh (God’s Time, Mutt) and Oliver Cooper (Project X, Mindhunter) are to star in psychedelic indie movie The Lemurian Candidate after it received SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement approval.

As Hollywood waits to see what may come out of Friday’s meeting between the WGA and the AMPTP, filmmakers and producers at all levels have been engaged in a complex dialogue on the lightning-rod topic that has emerged during the concurrent actors strike: the SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement.

Luc Besson’s DogMan has become one of the first films to receive a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement that will allow talent to do press during the upcoming festival season. Actors will be allowed to promote the pic at its upcoming premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Sarah Silverman isn’t so pissed off any more about the interim agreements that SAG-AFTRA has been handing out, but the comedian is still pretty “cynical” about the whole thing.

EXCLUSIVE: In a move that might well set a precedent for other A-listers, G20 star Viola Davis has become the first to publicly back away from a project for the duration of the actors and writers strikes, even after the film got the SAG-AFTRA interim agreement necessary to start production.

Actor-comedian Sarah Silverman is confused about the large volume of projects that have been granted interim agreements by SAG-AFTRA to film during the actors strike. And she is not alone.

EXCLUSIVE: Bella Thorne (Divinity) and Jack Kilmer (Palo Alto) have been set to topline The Tower, one of 102 projects to have been granted a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement following the launch of the actors strike. Also set for the fantastical drama, from filmmaker Adam Sigal (Nandor Fodor and The Talking Mongoose), are Cam Gigandet (Violent Night) and Chris Mullinax (Chariot).

G20, an action-thriller from Amazon and MRC that Viola Davis was set in November to both produce and lead, has been granted an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA, the guild revealed via its website on Friday.