Mark Duplass, Natalie Morales on Their Secret COVID Film ‘Language Lessons’

Mark Dacascos (John Wick: Chapter 3), Janel Parrish (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise), and Celestino Cornielle (Bosch) have been cast in The Ray, an indie action thriller directed by Christopher Borrelli. They are joining previously announced stars Ben Milliken, Richard Kind, Brad William Henke, Alison Thorton, and Hudson Yang.

Natalie Portman and Lupita Nyong’o are to star in a limited series adaptation of Laura Lippman’s book Lady In The Lake for Apple TV+.

EXCLUSIVE: MarVista Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights for the indie coming of age pic The Miseducation of Bindu directed by Prarthana Mohan and executive produced by Jay and Mark Duplass.

Jimmy Fallon is putting his own unique spin on some of TikTok’s most well-known songs.

In Language Lessons, Natalie Morales —best know for supporting roles on Parks and Recreation, The Grinder and Santa Clarita Diet — has crafted almost the perfect pandemic movie. Written together with her co-star Mark Duplass, the Berlinale-bowing film features just two characters, who are never in the same room together, barely move across only a handful of mostly interior locations and communicate entirely over technology.

EXCLUSIVE: Nzingha Stewart, who most recently directed the Netflix film Tall Girl, has been tapped to co-write and direct Badass Biker Chicks of Marrakesh, a film that is being developed by Wayfarer Studios and Ethos Entertainment.

As Disney prepares to release “Raya and the Last Dragon” in theaters and as a premium on-demand title this Friday, CEO Bob Chapek says that he thinks the experimentation his studio and others in Hollywood are doing with releasing movies during the pandemic will permanently change the movie business.“The consumer is probably more impatient than they’ve ever been before,” Chapek said during a Q&A at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference, “particularly since now

You have to wonder about the shelf life of all the compact film productions being stitched together around COVID pandemic restraints, particularly those in which the visual field is limited to computer desktops.

Whether by accident or design, the ultra-low-budget Language Lessons feels like a definitive film for the Covid-19 era, as the two main actors never appear in the same shot together until the very end. Seemingly created on two computers, this exceedingly modest tale of a Spanish-language instructor and pupil who meet online becomes more genially engaging as it goes along, although it never aims very high other than as a technical experiment that more or less succeeds.

As a journalist, Natalie Morales is often the one doing the interviews. But now, she is letting Us ask her the questions! The new correspondent of Dateline and West Coast anchor of Today, 48, exclusively opened up with 25 things you might not know about her — including her biggest fear, her most embarrassing moment on live TV and her dream job (besides the one she has now!). Keep scrolling to learn more about Morales.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has set Winston Duke (Black Panther) to will star as Marcus Garvey in Marked Man. Garvey was a political activist who was a key figure of Black nationalism in the 20th Century. Andrew Dosunmu will direct the drama and Jesse Williams (Little Fires Everywhere) and DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It) are in talks to star.

EXCLUSIVE: Natalie Morales makes her feature directing debut with Language Lessons which will have its world premiere in the Specials section of the Berlin Film Festival next week. Written by Morales and Mark Duplass, the darkly comic drama is an exploration of platonic love. Duplass is also an exec producer along with his brother Jay Duplass. Check out an exclusive clip from the movie above.

EXCLUSIVE: What We Do In The Shadows and Workaholics producer Kyle Newacheck has teamed with music video vet Brandon Dermer for the sci-fi dramedy I’m Totally Fine. Set to lead the project are Jillian Bell and Natalie Morales.

Mark Rylance, Dylan O’Brien, Zoey Deutch and Johnny Flynn are set to star in Graham Moore's crime drama The Outfit. Focus Features has pre-bought the world rights from FilmNation Entertainment to the feature directorial debut of Moore, who earned an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for The Imitation Game.

Unfortunately for studios, there’s no algorithm or tried-and-true formula for creating a great film. And though we can’t predict the future of the upcoming crime drama, “The Outfit,” the formula of adding an all-star cast and writer Graham Moore seems like a good start on the path to success.

EXCLUSIVE: In a hot under-the-radar package, we can reveal that Oscar-winner Mark Rylance (The Trial Of The Chicago 7), Maze Runner star Dylan O’Brien, Set It Up star Zoey Deutch and The Dig actor Johnny Flynn are set to star in Oscar-winning writer Graham Moore’s (The Imitation Game) directorial debut The Outfit.