‘Lamb’ Director Valdimar Jóhannsson Signs With CAA (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAlain Attal, the French producer behind the upcoming $73 million movie “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” is teaming with Studiocanal on Thomas Bidegain’s survival drama “Suddenly,” which will star Gilles Lellouche (“The Stronghold”) and Melanie Thierry (“En Therapie”).Currently in pre-production, “Suddenly” will mark the sophomore directing outing of Bidegain, whose co-screenwriting credits include “Stillwater,” “The Sisters Brothers” and “A Prophet.”The project was previously set up as an English-language project with Jake Gyllenhaal and Vanessa Kirby set to star. Gyllenhaal’s Nine Stories was also a co-producer on the project and is no longer attached.Attal told Variety that Bidegain re-worked the script with Valentine Monteil to make the €14 million ($14.7 million) film with a French cast and produce it entirely out of France with Attal’s Tresor Films and Studiocanal, which is financing, handling international sales and French distribution rights.

video snippet of the series.The Sky Original drama is co-written and directed by Michael Winterbottom. The series, first named “This Sceptered Isle,” is based on Boris Johnson’s first months as UK Prime Minister, showing how the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit Britain.Alongside Branagh, who won the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award for “Belfast” this year, Ophelia Lovibond will star as Carrie, and Andrew Buchan will play Matt Hancock.Highlights of the plot include Johnson’s dealing with COVID-19, Brexit, and the overlapping of his personal and political lives.

How soon is too soon for a COVID-centric miniseries? For Sky Atlantic, not soon enough, as their series on Boris Johnson and the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic “This England” hits small screens this Fall. READ MORE: Michael Winterbottom To Direct A TV Seris About UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s COVID-19 Response Kenneth Branagh stars as the blonde, mop-headed Prime Minister in the five-episode series.

This England, starring Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson.The series, co-written and directed by Michael Winterbottom, is based on Johnson’s first months as prime minister and the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK.A synopsis reads: “The drama takes us inside the halls of power, as Johnson grapples with COVID-19, Brexit, and a personal and political life wracked by controversy.“The events in government are interwoven with first-hand testimonies from around the UK, from the experts and scientists racing against time to understand the virus; the doctors, nurses and care-home workers on the frontline working tirelessly and heroically to contain and overcome it; and ordinary people whose lives were thrown into turmoil.”Alongside Branagh, the show stars Ophelia Lovibond (Feel Good) as Carrie Johnson and Andrew Buchan (The Crown) as former Health Secretary Matt Hancock.While an exact release date is yet to be announced, This England is scheduled to be released on Sky Atlantic and NOW later this year.Branagh was recently cast in Christopher Nolan’s next film Oppenheimer, alongside Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh and Rami Malek.The film follows theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Murphy) and his contributions to the Manhattan Project which led to the creation of the atomic bomb.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentLondon-based Alief has closed North America and French-speaking territories on Icelandic spoof “Cop Secret.” In North America, “Cop Secret” has scored a platform release with Epic Pictures. Extralucid Films has acquired France, Monaco, Luxembourg and French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland.The writer-director feature debut of Hannes Thor Halldorsson, Iceland’s national soccer team goalkeeper, “Cop Secret” will bow in select theaters in North America on July 8 then on VOD on July 12.Alief’s Brett Walker and Miguel Govea are at the Cannes Film Market to continue the international roll-out of “Cop Secret,” which is already impressive. Territories closed take in Japan (AT Ent), Korea (Movement), Taiwan (CCE) and Spain (Twelve Oaks).

The list of the highest paid celebrities based on what they apparently are able to charge per sponsored Instagram post has been revealed…and The Rock is no longer number one!.

Boris Johnson’s government has been warned that it risks breaking international law and starting a European trade war by breaking up the Northern Ireland protocol.

EXCLUSIVE: Emma Mackey, who stars alongside Asa Butterfield in Netflix’s dramatic comedy Sex Education, has signed with CAA for representation.

Jack Johnson has shared the title track from his upcoming new album, ‘Meet The Moonlight’ – listen to it below.The US singer-songwriter’s eighth studio album – the follow-up to 2017’s ‘All The Light Above It Too’ – will arrive on June 24 via Brushfire/Republic Records.Johnson announced the album last month alongside its lead single, ‘One Step Ahead’, a plucky, acoustic guitar-driven cut rich with texture and insightful lyrics.He’s now dropped off the title tack from the forthcoming project. The tranquil number hears Johnson’s guitar weave in and out of a soothing instrumental dreamscape as he repeats the same verse and chorus over.“It’s funny how blind dreams can be/ It seems like they look off too far/ But it’s good to be right here/ It’s good not to miss too many chances to follow love,” he sings on the chorus.You can listen to the track below:Johnson made his upcoming new album with acclaimed producer Blake Mills (Lana Del Rey, Weezer, Norah Jones), recording it at Sound City and EastWest Studios in Los Angeles and Johnson’s Mango Tree studio in Hawaii.“When Blake and I first got in touch we’d send each other playlists, and over time we realised we were drawn to music that sounds effortless despite all the effort put into making it,” Johnson said in a statement.

Ed Meza @edmezavarWriter-director Tinna Hrafnsdóttir’s critically acclaimed Icelandic psychological-mystery drama “Quake” has sold to Juno Films for North America and the U.K. as well as to Njuta Films for Sweden.British-French production, distribution and sales company Alief is presenting the film at the upcoming Cannes Marché du Film.Anita Briem (“Beautiful Beings,” “Journey to the Center of the Earth”) stars as Saga, a single mother fighting to keep her young son while trying to piece together her life after losing her memory.

Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) is attached to star in the upcoming film Pain Hustlers, from director David Yates (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore). Pic will be introduced to buyers at the Cannes Film Market by The Veterans and CAA Media Finance, going into production in late August.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentIconoclastic Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov (“Leto,” “Petrov’s Flu”) will be unveiling footage in Cannes from his new work-in-progress film “Limonov, the Ballad of Eddie,” starring Ben Whishaw as radical Russian poet and dissident Eduard Limonov and Viktoria Miroshnichenko (“Beanpole”) as his wife Elena.Serebrennikov, who will coming to Cannes with his latest completed work “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” premiering in competition, was shooting “Limonov” in Russia when the war broke out. The director has since been able to leave the country and will complete the rest of the shoot in Europe.A “Limonov” promo reel will be unspooled for buyers in Cannes on May 17.

Pussy Riot’s Masha Alyokhina has escaped from Russia as president Vladimir Putin continues to crack down on dissidents in the country.Alyokhina, along with her bandmates, has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times over the past decade and more for publicly protesting Putin’s rule, most recently last year when she was detained for 48 hours after attending protests encouraging others to protest on social media.Amid the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new story in The New York Times reveals that Alyokhina was under house arrest and, when authorities decided to turn that into a 21-day jail sentence last month, she decided to flee Russia.The story outlines Alyokhina’s escape, which included posing as a food courier and being placed on Russia’s wanted list after being refused entry into Belarus on account of her Russian passport having been confiscated by authorities.The report then reveals that Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson was able to assist Alyokhina in getting her a travel document from a European country that allowed her to travel freely from Russia to the EU. It adds that she has now travelled to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.“I still don’t understand completely what I’ve done,” she said in the piece.

EXCLUSIVE: After recently wrapping production on the Pet Sematary origin pic, Paramount is looking to stay in business with writer-director Lindsey Beer as the the multi-hyphenate has entered into a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures to produce, write, and direct feature projects. Beer is already developing several projects under the deal, with several films being kept under wraps. One that isn’t being kept secret is Susie Thunder, which after the studio won a ten-party bidding war, Beer has boarded the movie to develop with Beer producing alongside Epic Magazine’s Arthur Spector, Josh Davis and Josh Bearman. The project is based on the true story of Susan Thunder, one of the first and most infamous hackers in the 1980s.

Mel B was ever the supportive mum on Monday evening as her daughter, Phoenix Chi, placed second in the 100m race on ITV's The Games. The race kicked off the series, as 23-year-old Phoenix battled Chelcee Grimes,30, Rebecca Sarker, 46, Olivia Attwood, 30, Christine McGuinness, 34, and Lucrezia Millarini, 46. Singer Chelcee ultimately took the crown as she and Phoenix battled for the win - with Mel intently watching as she beamed with pride.

Angelique Jackson Marvel star Dominique Thorne has signed with M88 for representation.Thorne will soon make her MCU debut as the comic book character Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, a brilliant inventor who built her own version of the Iron Man suit in an MIT dorm, in the highly-anticipated movie “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Thorne will then go on to headline her own Disney+ series, “Ironheart.”The young actor made her feature film debut in Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins’ critically acclaimed 2018 movie “If Beale Street Could Talk.” She played Sheila Hunt, the younger sister of Fonny Hunt (Stephan James), one half of the movie’s central love story. Thorne next starred opposite Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield in Warner Bros.’ Academy Award-nominated film “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Directed by Shaka King and executive produced by Ryan Coogler and Charles D.

Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino has signed with CAA.  He recently wrapped production on Challengers starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, which MGM recently acquired. Prior to that he had directed Bones and All, starring Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell.