‘Liaison’ Producer Leonis Sets William Boyd’s Period Spy Thriller ‘Paris Interzone,’ Andrew Haigh in Talks to Direct (EXCLUSIVE)

Julia MacCary editor Apple TV+ dropped the trailer for the upcoming rom-com turned thriller “Ghosted,” which stars Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. The trailer shows Evans’ character Cole certain that Sadie (de Armas) is not just “ghosting” him, or ignoring his texts, after one date. Convinced they are meant to be together, he travels to London in what he hopes to be a romantic gesture, only to discover Sadie is not the person he thought, and is actually part of the CIA. What ensues is a spy-thriller where “action speaks louder than words.” De Armas joins the film after her recent Oscar nomination for “Blonde.” Her credits also include “Deep Water,” “Blade Runner 2049” and “No Time to Die.” Evans has played Captain America in several Marvel Cinematic Universe films, as well as performed in “Before We Go,” “Gifted” and “Playing It Cool.” Evans and de Armas previously acted together in “Knives Out” and “The Gray Man.”

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic For 25 years, I have never been much of a Guy Ritchie fan. I found the in-your-face-and-over-the-top crime dramas that made his reputation — “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch,” “Revolver,” and “RocknRolla” — to be empty-flashy exercises in the too-muchness of genre kinetics, overly infatuated with their post-Tarantino cutthroat cool. It was clear that Ritchie had talent, but the way just about every shot in his movies was designed to remind you of that turned the films into layer cakes that were more frosting than cake. After a while, he dropped the badass glitz and settled into a more conventional career, and some of those movies were okay. I confess that I enjoyed his remake of “Swept Away” (yes, the one with Madonna), and he had fun applying what was left of his high-froth ADD style to the Robert Downey Jr. “Sherlock Holmes” franchise. Yet I could never escape the feeling that Guy Ritchie had trapped himself on a hamster wheel of trying too hard. I’ve liked a few of his films. But I’ve never loved one.

King Charles has reportedly evicted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from their UK base of Frogmore Cottage following the publication of Harry's memoir Spare earlier this year.The book saw the Prince share some intimate details of his personal and royal life, including claims that his brother Prince William physically attacked him, and that it was Charles who first called him the "spare" - almost immediately after he was born. And now the Sussexes frosty relationship with the Royal Family has been hit by another blow, with the couple reportedly being kicked out of Frogmore Cottage.The couple are thought to be arranging for any items they still have at Frogmore to be sent to their home in California, ahead of the change in residence.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Music Box is unveiling the trailer for “Revoir Paris,” a French drama boasting a Cesar-winning performance by Virginie Efira. The movie, which bowed at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight and played at Toronto, will have its New York premiere on June 23 at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Film Center. A meditation on healing, the film tells the story of Mia (Efira), a married translator who survived a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant, and feels haunted by the trauma, yet unable to recollect memories of the tragic attack. Determined to reconstruct the sequence of events and reestablish a sense of normalcy, Mia finds herself repeatedly returning to the bistro where the shooting happened. In the process she forms bonds with fellow survivors, including banker Thomas (Benoît Magimel) and teenager Félicia (Nastya Golubeva). Efira, who just won a Cesar Award for her role in the film, stars opposite Magimel, the Cesar-winning actor of “Pacifiction,” as well as Grégoire Colin (“Both Sides of the Blade”) and Golubeva (“Annette”).

Paris Hilton opened up about Kim Kardashian‘s advice on becoming a mother and so much more in a new interview.

There’s a new couple in town!

It looks like Hollywood has a hot new couple.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Elsa Zylberstein, one of the most famous – and bankable — faces of French cinema, known for her Cesar-winning performance in “I’ve Loved You For So Long,” is preparing to emerge as a major film producer. Having recently set up banners in France and the U.S., Zylberstein is actively developing a raft of films and series, working with the likes of Oscar-winning Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad (“The Cave”), Ted Braun (Darfur Now”) and Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton (“The Father”), among others. These include “Kingdom of Hope,” a movie about Elise Boghossian, a French acupuncturist and humanitarian worker in a war zone who has healed children victims of ISIS . The movie will be directed by Fayyad, who is based in Berlin, and is being penned by Braun, based on Boghossian’s autobiographical book “Au royaume de l’espoir, il n’y a pas d’hiver.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Emily Atef, who is presenting her latest film, “Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything,” in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, just moved to Paris to direct “La Maison,” a series depicting a fictional family-owned French luxury fashion empire. While discussing “Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything” ahead of its world premiere, Atef told Variety that “La Maison” will be filled with a lot of drama and tragicomedy. “It’s very Shakespearean. There’s so much beauty and luxury with old mansions in Brittany, Parisian ‘hotel particuliers,’ and then behind all that there’s so much human poverty, and you see them ripping each other appart for power,” said Atef, who will direct the pilot and three more episodes.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The César Awards are characterized as France’s answer to the Oscars. And just like their awards show cousin halfway across the world, the Césars are embroiled in controversy after failing to nominate any women directors.  This year’s Academy Awards were slammed by advocacy groups after ignoring the likes of Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”) and Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”) in favor of an all-male contingent of auteurs. The Césars have followed suit with an all-male group of directing nominees, despite a banner year for French female filmmakers. It’s one that saw directors from Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”) to Claire Denis (“Stars at Noon”) dominating the festival circuit and scoring prizes, only to come up short when the Césars unveiled their contenders on Jan. 25. The omission has sparked a debate about gender equity and sexism in the French film business, as well as social media protests emblazoned with the hashtag #CesarsSoMale, an allusion to the #OscarsSoWhite campaign that erupted in 2015 when the Academy nominated an all-white group of acting nominees. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Paradiso Media, the leading French podcast company launched three years ago, is set to produce several film and TV adaptations in partnerships with well-established players. Paradiso, which is kicking off its second fundraising round, has optioned seven podcasts for film and television. The banner has teamed with Cinefrance, the studio behind Cannes’ Directors Fortnight title “Falcon Lake,” to shoot the film adaptation of Paradiso’s podcast “En Tongs au pied de l’Himalaya” (“In Flip-Flops at the Base of the Himalayas”). Written by John Wax and Marie-Odyle Weiss, the project marks the first feature film based on a podcast in France. The story recounts a mother’s journey when her 8 year-old son is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and features testimonies from other parents, educators, health professionals, and people with ASD. Lensing will begin in February.

EXCLUSIVE: Writer-director Aysulu Onaran (Balaban) has wrapped principal photography on her latest feature film, Rebirth Island. The film is a historical spy thriller based on true events from the Cold War.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Charades has secured a flurry of deals on Charlotte Regan’s British dramedy “Scrapper,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Starring Harris Dickinson (“Triangle of Sadness”) as a downbeat dad, “Scrapper” has been sold to Spain (Caramel), Australia (Madman), Poland (Against Gravity), Baltics and CIS (Arthouse), Greece (Cinobo) and Airlines (Aardwolf). “Scrapper” has already sold to the U.K. (Pictures House). Charades is currently negotiating deals for Japan, Israel, USA, Scandinavia and South Korea. The film follows Georgie, a dreamy 12-year-old girl who lives happily alone in her London flat, filling it with magic. Suddenly, her estranged father turns up and forces her to confront reality.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Charades and WTFilms have teamed on “Vermin,” a horror movie set in the French projects with a cast of local up-and-coming actors, who star alongside real spiders. The movie will mark the feature debut of Sébastien Vaniček, who previously directed critically acclaimed shorts such as “Mayday.” Harry Tordjman at My Box Films (“Bref,” “A voix haute”) is producing. “Vermin” stars Théo Christine (“Suprêmes”), Finnegan Oldfield (“Final Cut”), Jérôme Niel (“Smoking Causes Coughing”), Sofia Lesaffre (“Les Misérables”) and Lisa Nyarko. The film is currently in shooting in Paris, with a March 3 end date. It will distributed in France by Tandem. France Télévisions pre-bought the movie and Netflix got the pay TV window in France.

Andrea Riseborough thinks some important conversations need to happen in Hollywood.

Netflix just dropped the trailer for the final episodes of Season 4 of “You”, and although Joe has attempted to escape his past, he appears to be in the middle of a new murderous mystery.

debuted as Netflix’s most-watched TV title, with viewers logging 92.07 million hours in its first week. Part 2, which consists of episodes 6-10, premieres on March 9.Watch the full trailer above.

Netflix is still releasing pretty much everything (outside of some reality shows) in their patented binge model. All of the episodes, all at once.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Films Boutique has closed a flurry of deals on “Subtraction,” Mani Haghighi’s Iranian noir thriller which world premiered at Toronto in the competition Platform section. The Berlin-based company has closed deals in France (Diaphana in association with Kinovista), Russia and CIS (A One), Canada (Films We Like), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Middle East (Fron Row), Poland (Mayfly), Taiwan (Proview Ent.), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Switzerland (Trigon) and Benelux (September Films). The movie is headlined by Taraneh Alidoosti, the Iranian star of “The Salesman” and “Leila’s Brothers” and Navid Mohammadzadeh (“Leila’s Brothers”). Both Haghighi and Alidoosti have recently been targeted by Iranian authorities. Alidoosti was temporarily arrested, while Haghighi had his passport confiscated as he was about to board a flight to attend the BFI London Film Festival.