Natalia Dyer, Rachel Keller and Danny Ramirez Starring in Queer Love Triangle Drama ‘Chestnut’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaWhen the Gotham Award nominations were announced this week, Reed Birney was the sole member of the “Mass” ensemble recognized for his work in the searing drama about two couples grappling with the aftershocks of a school shooting. Some prognosticators were surprised that Birney and not Ann Dowd or Martha Plimpton, who have more emotional, galvanic moments in the film, made the cut for his pared down and minimal performance.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaKeith Redmon has joined Teddy Schwarzman’s Black Bear Pictures as a partner. He’s being tasked with heading up Black Bear Global, a newly created division which will focus on building strategic alliances and co-productions between the company and talent, production companies and partners overseas.Redmon, who was at Anonymous Content for two decades, will also help build Black Bear’s management portfolio.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaProducers Isaac Robert Hurwitz and Seth A. Goldstein are teaming up to launch Hugo Six, a transmedia production company that will focus on Broadway content and talent.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaSaban Films President Bill Bromiley and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Shanan Becker have renewed their contracts with the Los Angeles-based global film acquisition and distribution company through the end of 2024. The new deals keep the two critical executives in the fold.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaScreen Media has acquired all North American rights to “La Soga Salvation” following its premiere at 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, where it screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaJuno Films has acquired global rights to “A Song for Cesar,” following the film’s debut at the Mill Valley Film Festival this October. Directed and produced by Abel Sanchez and Andrés Alegria, the film is a celebration of the organizers, musicians and artists comprising Cesar Chavez’s Farmworkers movement.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaMichael Shannon will portray U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, a venal politician so evil he spawned his own -ism, in the aptly named film “McCarthy.”The two-time Oscar nominee, known for off-beat performances in the likes of “Nocturnal Animals” and “Revolutionary Road,” will try to find the dark heart of the demagogue who used show-trials and red-baiting to rise to power on a wave of anti-communist hysteria.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaCress Williams, Kellan Lutz and Anne Heche are starring in “What Remains,” a murder mystery that is shooting in Texas.The film centers on a small town pastor (Williams) forced to contend with an act of forgiveness when the convict (Lutz) he forgave for murdering his wife returns to town five years later.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaJez Butterworth will adapt Don DeLillo’s “The Silence” for the screen, Variety has learned. Producer Uri Singer, who is also producing and helped put together Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of another DeLillo novel, “White Noise,” has secured the rights to the book, which was published in 2020.“The Silence” unfolds at a dinner party in Manhattan during Super Bowl Sunday in the year 2022.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaArtists, Writers, and Artisans (AWA) has tapped Aaron Rabin to adapt its graphic fiction series “Old Haunts.” This marks the second feature film project from AWA Studios, the recently launched film and TV studio arm for AWA. This is the first project announced that the company is financing development of internally.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaSaban Films has acquired U.S., Canadian and Spanish rights to the survival thriller “Borrego” from writer and director Jesse Harris. The film stars Lucy Hale (“Truth or Dare,” “Pretty Little Liars”), Nicholas Gonzalez (“The Good Doctor,” “Narcos”), Olivia Trujillo (“Vivo,” “For All Mankind”) and Leynar Gómez (“Narcos,” “Towards the Battle”).

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaStanley Nelson and Firelight Films have partnered with Independent Lens on a new trilogy of films that will chronicle pivotal moments in American history driven by Black artists, cultural leaders, and everyday people.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaColman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman and Audra McDonald will star in “Rustin,” an upcoming biopic about gay, civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. The film is the first narrative feature to be produced by Higher Ground, Michelle and Barack Obama’s production company.George C.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaDarren Mann, Alyssa Goss, Sonja Sohn and Celia Rose Gooding have been cast in “Breakwater.” They join Dermot Mulroney in the crime thriller, which is written and directed by James Rowe, and produced by Loose Cannon Pictures. The film starts principal photography this week in North Carolina.Mann stars as Dovey, a young ex-con charged with finding the estranged daughter of fellow inmate Ray Childress (Mulroney).

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaMagnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired North American rights to “You Are Not My Mother” following its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The movie, an Irish folk horror-thriller, screened in the festival’s Midnight Madness section.It’s the feature debut of Irish filmmaker Kate Dolan.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaTilda Swinton, George MacKay and Stephen Graham will star in “The End,” a new musical about the last human family.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaInvestor and philanthropist Todd Boehly has been appointed interim chief executive officer of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaMatthew López, who made history on Sunday as the first Latiné playwright to win the Tony Award for best play, will have his feature directorial debut with the LGBTQ+ romantic comedy “Red, White & Royal Blue.” The Amazon Studios production is an adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s 2019 best-seller of the same name.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaSydney Theatre Company and Michael Cassel Group have signed a commercial first look agreement for all future works produced by the theatre company.As part of the pact, STC’s productions will have the opportunity to be transferred or remounted as commercial productions in new markets, with the intention of touring across Australia and internationally.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaCatherine Davis has landed a leading role in the upcoming action thriller “Banshee.” She joins a cast that includes Jaime King (“Sin City”), Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”) and Tommy Flanagan (“Sons of Anarchy”).The film follows a freelance assassin, codenamed Banshee (King), who is ambushed by Anthony Greene (Flanagan), a powerful mercenary who killed her father and who is now seeking to collect a bounty on Caleb (Banderas), her former black ops